KHL's Lokomotiv Involved in Plane Crash - Demitra on board

[dmiles2186]

Several ex-NHL'ers were on the team, including Pavol Demitra. Some numbers have been tossed around, including 36 dead, 1 critically injured.

Sad, sad stuff.

[drwoland]

:\

[cprice12]

From PuckDaddy...

Report: Plane crash kills ‘majority’ of KHL team Lokomotiv
Greg Wyshynski - September 7, 2011

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_d ... hl-wp11993

Tragedy has struck the hockey world again, this time in Russia and this time on a considerable scale. From Russia Today:
Thirty-four people have died in a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia. The majority of victims were member of the local ice hockey team Lokomotiv.
The site reports there were 37 passengers on the flight before the crash, which occurred right after takeoff for a flight to Minsk, where Lokomotiv had a Kontinental Hockey League game scheduled against Dynamo Minsk on Thursday.
SovSport has more:
A terrible tragedy in Russia this morning. A Yak-42 charter plane carrying KHL's Lokomotiv crashed on take off. There were 37 people on board. At this time there are reports of only one survivor. The search and rescue operation is underway.
Witnesses are reporting that the plane was reduced to a pile of charred metal. It is reported that the plane broke off in two and one half fell into water and another one on the ground.
Among the NHL alumni on Lokomotiv's roster as of Aug. 31: Josef Vasicek, Pavol Demitra(notes), Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei(notes), Karlis Skrastins(notes) and Red Wings goalie prospect Stefan Liv.
Former Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon was listed as their head coach.
The KHL's opening day is today, and a Finnish reporter wrote that the game between Salavat Yulaev and Atlas was stopped and then postponed when the news broke.
UPDATE: Puck Daddy's Dmitry Chesnokov reports that "Lokomotiv official tells Sovetsky Sport 'everyone from the main roster was on the plane plus four players from the youth team.' Lokomotiv official said the entire team was on the plane because they were traveling for the 1st game of the season, a celebration."

[cprice12]

Apparently only one survivor...and they may not survive.

Wow.

Pavol Demitra...apparently...dead.

[cprice12]

Now a Russian website is saying 44 dead...2 survivors.

Notable names on the plane...

Pavol Demitra
Josef Vasicek
Ruslan Salei
Karel Rachunek
Karlis Skrastins
Stefan Liv (Red Wings prospect)
Brad McCrimmon

[thedoc]

It's amazing something like this has not happened before. The only thing that comes close is Evansville IN losing there basketball team in a plane crash and thats been 30 years ago or so.

[F Keenan]

Same thing happened to the 1970 Marshall Football team. Sad stuff.

[cprice12]

Same thing happened to the 1970 Marshall Football team. Sad stuff.

Also happened in 1961 to the U.S. figure skating team flying from the U.S. to Czechoslovakia.
The entire team, along with family, friends, etc. died.

[thedoc]

Same thing happened to the 1970 Marshall Football team. Sad stuff.

I forgot about them.

[abc789987]

What a shitty summer for hockey.

[Ruutu15]

What an unbelievable summer for the hockey community.

You know, this probably isn't the time for this, and I don't mean to be insensitive, but unfortunately I can't say that I'm terribly shocked. I know that most KHL teams use the Tupelev planes, some of which are from the Soviet era. I've flown on airplanes of all sizes and age with no worries at all (maybe aside from the DC-9...those things gave me the chills every time). I would never step foot on a Tupelev.

RIP

[cprice12]

Apparently, the plane had trouble taking off, couldn't reach the proper altitude fast enough and hit an antenna tower, then went down. The pilots tried to make it to a river, but didn't quite make it.

[dmiles2186]

The 1957 (I believe) Manchester United soccer team was involved in a plane crash that took most of their players lives too.

I read a tweet that said Ruslan Salei was awaiting the team's arrival in Minsk. Pure speculation as to who/who wasn't on the plane.

I'm just fearing for the worst, especially for our guy, Pavol.

[Ruutu15]

Here's a photo of the actual plane (from the past). http://www.airliners.net/photo/Proton/Y ... 1797881/M/

Here's the thread over at airliners.net (hopefully this is okay, Curt) http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... n/5249965/

[dmiles2186]

Tweet from Tom Casey, ESPN 101 in St. Louis:

TSN's Scott McArthur reporting that former Blue Pavol Demitra is one of those killed in today's plane crash in Russia. Demitra was 36.

There was also a Tweet that Russian officials have confirmed that Ruslan Salei WAS on the flight.

[gaijin]

Simply unbelievable. This is tragic news. Hoping for the best, although it seems there isn't much hope to be had.

[Oz-iz-God]

For what it's worth considering the reliability of Wikipedia, it has listed Alexander Galimov and a flight engineer as the 2 survivors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Lokom ... lane_crash

Damn - tough news about Demitra. He was one of my favorites.

[Mayersfan21]

RIP Pavs- We will always love you in STL!

Dark day for Hockey

[Ruutu15]

And by the way, ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. They've been talking about Texas A&M joining the SEC and David Garrard being cut for the last 45 minutes. Still NO mention of the crash.

[dmiles2186]

And by the way, ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. They've been talking about Texas A&M joining the SEC and David Garrard being cut for the last 45 minutes. Still NO mention of the crash.

And yet if you go to their website, it's the 2nd leading headline. Their TV side is more concerned with the NFL season kicking off tomorrow, I'm sure. Hopefully it gets at least a mention on Sportscenter.