PLANE CRASH KILLS EX NHL PLAYERS

Hockey world reacts to KHL plane crash
Wednesday, 09.07.2011 / 3:45 PM / News

A sampling of reactions around the NHL to the plane crash that killed at least 43 people, most of whom were members of Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL:Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world -- including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends who at one time excelled in our League. Our deepest condolences go to the families and loved ones of all who perished.-- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

KHL LOKOMOTIV CRASH COVERAGE

Demitra remembered as great friend, teammate
Skrastins made mark as an NHL ironman for d-men
Salei leaves behind three kids, special in own way
New coach McCrimmon carved lengthy NHL career
Rachunek had long history with KHL's Lokomotiv
Winter shares memories of Demitra, Vasicek

We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane.-- Russian Ice Hockey Federation President and Hall of Fame goaltender Vladislav Tretiak

Obviously, it's a tough day around here. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to the family. You're concerned. We know his kids well. He's a good man. Real big part of our organization here.-- Detroit coach Mike Babcock; Lokomotiv coach Brad McCrimmon, who died in the crash, was an assistant with the Wings for the past three seasons

I was told this morning when we were working out; Pavel Datsyuk came in and said there's a plane that went down somewhere in Russia and believed to be a hockey team on there. We haven't heard any confirmation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and we're hoping for the best, but we don't know anything right now.-- Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who played with McCrimmon as a rookie

These things hit you like a ton of bricks. You do your best to deal with them and move on. Right now, we're talking with our different teammates and trying to come to grips with the reality that 'The Beast' is no longer on this Earth.-- Ex-Calgary forward Jim Peplinski, a former teammate of McCrimmon with the Flames

Nothing could prepare the hockey community for the devastating news it received today. The tragic plane crash involving Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League has left all of us beyond words. I had the pleasure of knowing several members of the team, plus the entire coaching staff. In particular, Alexander Vasyunov, who played for us last season, was an outstanding young man and a gifted athlete. Captain Karel Rachunek skated for us in 2007-08. Both were members of the Devils family. On behalf of the entire Devils organization, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the entire Lokomotiv club.-- New Jersey Devils president and GM Lou Lamoriello

Karlis was one of those guys who would do anything for his team. He worked hard and never complained about anything. He was a really nice guy and great family man. There isn't a single bad thing to say about him.-- Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas on the loss of former teammate Karlis Skrastins

The Dallas Stars family is shocked and saddened by the passing of Karlis Skrastins and so many other young lives in a plane crash in Russia today. Our thoughts and prayers are with Karlis' wife Zane and his two daughters, Karolina and Laurena, as well as all of the families and friends who lost loved ones on the plane. Karlis was a wonderful father and husband, as well as a good friend. He will be greatly missed. -- Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk on Skrastins' death

It's tough, because yesterday they were alive and today they're not. It's very, very tough -- former New York Islanders captain Alexei Yashin, who spent the past four years in the KHL and played for Lokomotiv from 2007-09

I think I knew 80 percent of the team. Either I played with them or I played against them. You see each other in different tournaments. Some of them you're really close with, or some them you just say hi and have a couple of laughs with. It struck me when I found out. I was at breakfast and reading the Russian newspapers and all of a sudden, it popped up. It's almost like you don't want to believe something like that. It's tough. You have chills and you just hope that the families will find the strength to fight through something like that.-- New York Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, a Russian who played in the KHL last season

Josef was a key part of the Hurricanes for six years, helping us achieve some of our greatest successes. More importantly, he was a great teammate on and off the ice, and was respected as a person as well as a player.-- Jim Rutherford, Carolina Hurricanes president and GM, on former Hurricanes forward Josef Vasicek

He was one of my best buddies. He was in my wedding. I can't believe this-- Columbus defenseman Radek Martinek, a boyhood friend and former teammate of Vasicek with the Islanders

OTHER NHL DEATHS THIS YEAR-SEPT 1,11 CGY (D)WADE BELAK-AUG 15,11 WPG (C)RICK RYPIEN AND MAY 13,11 NYR (D) DEREK BOOGUAARD.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=587821

09/07/11 PHX (C) RETIRED BRAD MCCRIMMON DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 VAN (LW) PAVOL DEMITRA DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 NJ (D) KAREL RACHUNEK DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 DAL (D) KARLIS SKRASTINS DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 DET (D) RUSLAN SALEI DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 NYI (C) JOSEF VACICEK DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 CHI (C) RETIRED IGOR KOROLEV DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 FLA (D) ALEXANDER KARPOVTSEV DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 CLB (C) IVAN TKACHENKO DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 LAK (C) JAN MAREK DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 DET (G) STEFAN LIV DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 NSH (D) ROBERT DIETRICH DES N PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 NJD (LW) ALEXANDER VASYUNOV DES N PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 OTT (D) VTALY ANEYENKO DIES IN PLANE CRASH
09/07/11 SJS (C) DANIIL SOBCHENKO DIES IN PLANE CRASH

Hockey in shock after Russian jet crash kills 43
AP By LYNN BERRY - Associated Press | AP – SEPT 7,11

TUNOSHNA, Russia (AP) — A private Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff Wednesday, killing at least 43 people in one of the worst plane crashes ever involving a sports team. Two other people on board were critically injured.Both Russia and the world of hockey were left stunned by the deaths of so many international stars in one catastrophic event. The International Ice Hockey Federation said 27 players of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team were killed, along with 2 coaches and 7 club officials.Russian NHL star Alex Ovechkin tweeted: I'm in shock!!!!!R.I.P ...The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed into the shores of the Volga River immediately after leaving the airport near the western city of Yaroslavl, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. The weather was sunny and clear at the time. Russian media said the plane struggled to gain altitude and then crashed into a signal tower, shattering into pieces.Russian television showed a flaming fragment of the plane in the river as divers worked feverishly to recover bodies.The plane was carrying the team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they were to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season. It had 45 people on board, including 37 passengers and eight crew, the ministry said.

Officials said Russian player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crewmember.Their state of health is very grave. But there is still some hope, said Alexander Degyatryov, chief doctor at Yaroslavl's Solovyov Hospital.Among the dead were Lokomotiv coach and NHL veteran Brad McCrimmon, a Canadian, as well as Pavol Demitra, who played for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks and was the Slovakian national team captain. Also killed were Czech players Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, Swedish goalie Stefan Liv, Latvian defenseman Karlis Skrastins and defenseman Ruslan Salei of Belarus, the Emergency Ministry said.Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world — including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.The crash comes on top of an already mournful year for the NHL in which three of the league's enforcers were found dead: Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and recently retired Wade Belak.The cause of Wednesday's crash was not immediately apparent, but Russian news agencies cited unnamed local officials as saying it may have been due to technical problems. The plane was built in 1993 and belonged to a small Moscow-based Yak Service company.

In recent years, Russia and the other former Soviet republics have had some of the world's worst air traffic safety records. Experts blame the poor safety record on the age of the aircraft, weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality.Swarms of police and rescue crews rushed to Tunoshna, a ramshackle village with a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Yaroslavl. One of the plane's engines could be seen poking out of the river and a flotilla of boats combed the water for bodies. Divers struggled to heft the bodies of large, strong athletes in stretchers up the muddy, steep riverbank.Resident Irina Prakhova saw the plane going down then heard a loud bang.It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong, said Prakhova. I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts on.More than 2,000 mourning fans wearing jerseys and scarves and waving team flags gathered in the evening outside Lokomotiv's stadium in Yaroslavl to pay their respects. Riot police stood guard as fans chanted sport songs in honor of the dead athletes.Yaroslavl governor Sergei Vakhrukov promised the crowd that the Lokomotiv team would be rebuilt from scratch, prompting anger from some fans at a perceived lack of respect for the dead.Lokomotiv is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the KHL last year. It was also a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002 and 2003.McCrimmon, who took over as coach in May, was most recently an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Calgary, Hartford and Phoenix.We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane, said Russian Ice Hockey Federation President Vladislav Tretyak.A cup game between hockey teams Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the central Russian city of Ufa was called off in mid-match after news of the crash was announced. Russian television showed an empty arena in Ufa as grief-stricken fans abandoned the stadium.The KHL is an international club league of teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.Russia was hoping to showcase Yaroslavl as a modern and vibrant city this week at an international forum attended by heads of state, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, so the crash came as a particularly bitter blow.

Many in the Czech Republic also took the news hard.Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek, and Josef Vasicek contributed greatly to the best successes of our ice hockey in the recent years, first of all to the golden medals at the world championships in 2005 and 2010, said Tomas Kral, the president of the Czech ice hockey association. The were excellent players, but also great friends and personalities. That's how we will remember them.Fans planned to gather Thursday at the Old Town Square in the Czech capital of Prague, where national team players usually celebrate, to commemorate the three Czech players. Vasicek was on the Carolina Hurricanes' 2006 Stanley Cup team.
In the western Slovak city of Trencin, where Demitra started his career and where he played during the NHL lockout 2004-05 season, hundreds fans gathered outside the ice hockey stadium Wednesday night to light candles in his memory.Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year. The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and about 100 are still being used by Russian carriers.In June, another Russian passenger jet, a Tu-134, crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. That crash has been blamed on pilot error.In past plane crashes involving sports teams, 75 Marshall University football players, coaches, fans and airplane crew died in Huntington, West Virginia, on Nov. 14, 1970, coming home from a game. Thirty-six of the dead were players and 5 were coaches.Some 29 people were killed when a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby club Old Christians crashed in the Andes in 1972, including five crew and some family members.The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team died in a crash en route to the 1961 world championships in Brussels, and 18 members of the Torino soccer team died near Turin, Italy, in a 1949 crash.In 1993, another plane crash claimed 18 members of Zambia's national football team and five team officials in Libreville, Gabon.Vladimir Isachenkov and Peter Leonard in Moscow, Steve Wilson in London and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.