The Day the Hockey World Stood Still

"I like you, but I am beginning to like this place less and less."  A quote from Dario Argento's Tenebre, it could just as easily be used when talking about hockey, as in having to go down this road again.  This Summer has not been kind to hockey.

This morning, as I was putting the finishing touches on today's team for the 2011-12 NHL Season preview, this bit of news came across the wire from Dignity After Hockey, a group that aims to help those who gave their all for the game they love with their lives after retirement from the game.  Around 8 AM (local time here in Kansas City), news of a plane crash that claimed the lives of many of those in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team: players, coaches, personnel.  Obviously, this was not how I wished to start the morning, and in many respects, the hockey world came to a crashing halt today.  Like many of the KHL teams, the Lokomotiv team had its share of NHLers, including Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Salei, and coach Brad McCrimmon.

Demitra was possibly the most accomplished member of the team, having established himself as a star in St. Louis and Minnesota.  More recently, he was a star on the Slovakian team in the 2010 Olympic Games.  Vasicek was best known in the NHL for his years with the Carolina Hurricanes, where he a part of two Stanley Cup Finals teams and winning it all in 2006 with the Hurricanes.  Salei was a former first round pick that liked to play physical.  He is best remembered as a Mighty Duck, but also spent time with the Panthers, Avalanche, and Red Wings.  Karlis Skrastins spent time with Nashville, Dallas, Colorado, and Florida, and was best known for being an iron man, appearing in 487 straight games at one point.  McCrimmon played 18 seasons in the NHL before becoming an assistant coach after retiring.  He had recently taken the Lokomotiv coaching job this past May.

Also in the crash were Karel Rachunek, who spent time with Ottawa, New Jersey, and the New York Rangers.  Assistant coaches Alex Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev also had spent time in the NHL as players, and goaltender Stefan Liv was a part of the 2006 gold medal winning Sweden team and was a one time Red Wings prospect.

Today has been a hard day in the world of hockey, as many of the players, coaches, and personnel on the plane had at some point or another, had an impact on their fellow players and fans alike.  Regardless of how you feel about the players or team itself, every one of the people on the plane were a part of the game that they loved.  Condolences and prayers go out to all of their families, and may they find their way to the heavens.