A Russian jet carrying a local ice hockey team crashed Wednesday while taking off in western Russia, killing 36 people and leaving one critically injured, officials said.
Former NHLers on the team roster include Pavol Demitra and Ruslan Salei and the coach in Canadian Brad McCrimmon. But it was not known whether they were on board the plane.
Mr. McCrimmon, 52, is a native of Saskatchewan. He played defence for six NHL teams � Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix from 1979-80 to 1996-97.
UPDATE 2: One player from Lokomotiv has survived the crash. Alexander Galimov, a 26-year-old forward who has been with the team since 2004, has been hospitalized. Details are here.
I played hockey at lunch today shortly after posting this. Only a few of us heard about it by then and were talking about the names we recognized in the dressing room. When McCrimmon's name was mentioned one of the guys said: "What fuck was he doing there?" I said he was the coach...... then I remembered they were ex-teammates. Put a real damper on the skate.
Vitaly Anikeyenko- Kiev, Ukrainian SSR
Mikhail Balandin- Lipetsk, Russian SFSR
Gennady Churilov- Magnitogorsk, Russian SFSR
Pavol Demitra- Dubnica nad V?hom, Czechoslovakia
Robert Dietrich- Ordzhonikidze, Ukrainian SSR
Alexander Galimov- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Marat Kalimulin- Togliatti, Russian SFSR
Alexander Kalyanin- Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR
Andrei Kiryukhin- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Nikita Klyukin- Rybinsk, Russian SFSR
Ivan Krasnov- Yaroslavl, Russia
Stefan Liv- Gdynia, Poland
Jan Marek- Jind?ich?v Hradec, Czechoslovakia
Sergei Ostapchuk- Novopolotsk, Belorussian SSR
Karel Rach?nek (C)- Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia
Ruslan Salei- Minsk, Belorussian SSR
Karlis Skrastin- Riga, Latvian SSR
Pavel Snurnitsyn- Yaroslavl, Russia
Daniil Sobchenko- Kiev, Ukrainian SSR
Ivan Tkachenko (A)- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Pavel Trakhanov- Moscow, Russian SFSR
Yuri Urychev- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Josef Vasicek (A)- Havl??k?v Brod, Czechoslovakia
Alexander Vasyunov- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Alexander Vyukhin- Sverdlovsk, Russian SFSR
Artem Yarchuk- Yaroslavl, Russian SFSR
Maxim Zyuzyakin- Novokuznetsk, Russian SFSR
Mr. McCrimmon, 52, is a native of Saskatchewan. He played defence for six NHL teams � Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix from 1979-80 to 1996-97.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc ... hl-wp11993
RIP
My condolences to all their families and friends.