Ice hockey team Lokomotiv.
Photo from the website of the KHL.
Pavol Demitra, a former Kings forward and a three-time NHL All-Star, was reportedly among the players killed in Wednesday's crash of a jetliner carrying a Russian hockey team.
New coach was man of vision
Former Flyer Brad McCrimmon Confirmed Dead in Russian Plane Crash
New coach was man of vision
Former Flyer Brad McCrimmon Confirmed Dead in Russian Plane Crash
Lokomotiv head coach, 52-year old Canadian Brad McCrimmon, has been confirmed dead in the tragic plane crash outside Yaroslavl that took the lives of at least 43 people. Drafted by the Boston Bruins at the age of 20, Canadian Brad McCrimmon had 18 NHL seasons under his belt, and was considered an outstanding defenseman. As captain of the Calgary Flames, he helped his team win the coveted Stanley Cup in 1989. His impressive 1,222-game total was marked with 81 goals and 341 assists.
The 52-year-old native of Saskatchewan was an assistant coach to the Detroit Red Wings for the last three seasons. McCrimmon accepted the position of head coach for three-time Russian champions Lokomotiv only four months ago, in May 2011. It was not his first time in the Russian city – eight years ago, the then-coach of the Canadian junior hockey team won gold in the Golden Ring town and was later more than happy to make Russia his home. This would have been the first game of the hockey season that McCrimmon’s team would play, and he was certainly ready for it. In an interview given just a few months before his tragic demise, he said his motto was “looking forward” – and that is exactly what he and his team were planning to do.
In what's become a summer of tragic human loss, news outlets have caught onto the latest story in which a chartered plane carrying the KHL's Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team crashed on the Volga River northeast of Moscow.
According to CTV news bulletin, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says a passenger jet carrying a local hockey team has crashed while taking off in western Russia, killing 36 people. It says at least one person has survived but is injured.
Yahoo! Sports' Dmitri Chesnokov added some clarity through translation Tweeting (@dchesnokov), SovSport is reporting that the lone survivor (at this point) is a crew member. No news about any survivors from #Lokomotiv.
And...
The plane carrying Lokomotiv crashed only 2km from the runway; caught fire, broke off in two.
Among those on board were three players with Ottawa Senators connections - Karel Rachunek, Pavol Demitra and Vitaly Anikeyenko (drafted 70th overall, 2005). Former Red Wings assistant coach Brad McCrimmon was also on the plane. If you'll remember, Paul MacLean's former colleague left the Red Wings during the summer to pursue a head coaching position.
There are 26 players listed on Lokomotiv’s roster on the team’s Web site. As of July 9, former NHL players on the team included: Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek, Rusland Salei, Karlis Skrastins and Josef Vasicek. Brad McCrimmon, a former Red Wings and Flyers defenseman was listed as Lokomotiv’s head coach.
Former Washington Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in July, was rumored to join Lokomotiv this summer, but remained with the Avalanche instead. Varlamov played for Lokomotiv from 2004-08.
At least 40 people have died in a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia. The majority of victims were members of the local ice hockey team Lokomotiv.
The plane went down and caught fire shortly after taking to the air. Preliminary reports say it had insufficient lift and hit a beacon tower. The crash site is between 500 and 1,000 meters from the runway, according to different reports.
Some reports say the incident happened just next to the Volga River and that some fragments of the aircraft and bodies of the victims fell into water.
The Yak-42 was on its way to the Belarusian capital Minsk, aviation authorities reported. Emergencies Ministry reported there were 42 people onboard. Two of them survived the crash.
Several of the victims were foreign players for the club. The squad includes players from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden.
The two survivors are in a serious condition and have been taken to hospital. A police source told Interfax news agency that one of the survivor is a crew member. He is a flight engineer, reports Life News website.
It is the first-ever fatal crash involving a sports team in modern Russia. Soviet Union’s worst incident of this kind was the 1979 mid-air collision of two Tupolev Tu-134s in Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine. Seventeen players and staff of the then-Soviet top-division Pakhtakor Football Club team died in the crash.
The Yaroslavl HC Lokomotiv were Russian Champions in 1997, 2002 and 2003. The squad was to play a match against Mink HC Dinamo on Thursday.
The heads of the KHL are currently in an urgent meeting to discuss the measures to be taken following the tragic crash and death of the Yaroslavl team. The Salavat Ulaev versus Atlant match, which is the opening battle of the league season, was cancelled by the KHL.
President Dmitry Medvedev is to visit the crash site on Thursday. He offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims and to fans of the club over the tragedy.
Visitors of the International Political Forum, who are visiting Yaroslavl at the moment, held a minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of the crash. The Russian Hockey Federation voiced its condolences to the Lokomotiv club, the families of the victims and the entire ice hockey community.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the incident and sent a team of forensic experts from Moscow to Yaroslavl, according to the spokesman for the committee, Vladimir Markin.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, a regional regulating body, has launched its own probe into the cause of the crash.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, a regional regulating body, has launched its own probe into the cause of the crash.
Prime Minister Putin ordered Transport Minister Igor Levitin to organize the initial part of the investigation at the scene.
Yakovlev-42 Plane: Fact sheet
The Yakovlev Yak-42 plane series was first designed in the 1970s in the USSR to replace obsolete mid-range Tupolev passenger jets. The Yakovlev plane in its various modifications can carry up to 120 passengers, while the maximum take-off weight is 57,500 kg.
Numerous Yak-42 planes have been sold to other countries, such as Macedonia, China or Cuba. During the Soviet-Afghan war, Soviet troops employed a number of Yak-42 vehicles.
One of the most recent Yak-42 crashes happened in May 2003 on a flight from Kyrgyzstan to Turkey, when a plane crashed into a mountain, taking the lives of all 75 people on board.
Tunoshna Airport: Fact sheet
The Tunoshna airport is located 17 kilometers from Yaroslavl (some 260 kilometers from Moscow) and was previously a military aerodrome. It can serve fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters of all types, including super-heavy planes. Tunoshna can receive 15-17 jets a day, and register up to 150 passengers an hour. The hub is widely used by local sport clubs Lokomotiv ice-hockey club, Shinnik football club, as well as by their guest rivals.
YAROSLAVL, Russia (AP) — A Russian jet carrying a top local ice hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia, killing 36 people and leaving one critically injured, officials said.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. It said one person survived the crash with grave injuries.
There was no immediate word on weather conditions.
The ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl.
The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The league is made up of several ex-Soviet nations.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately sent the nation's transport minister to the site of the crash, 10 miles (15 kilometers) east of Yaroslavl.
President Dmitry 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 dozens are still in service with Russian and other airlines.
In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.
No comments:
Post a Comment