On the morning of September 7, as I was having my morning coffee, something came up on the screen announcing the news that the plane carrying members of the Lokomotiv team had crashed. They were en route to Belarus to play Dynamo Minsk, and some members of the junior squad had also made the trip. Among those lost on that fateful day include Stefan Liv (backup goalie on the 2006 Swedish Olympic team that won gold), Karlis Skrastins (one-time holder of the NHL Iron Man record for most games played), Ruslan Salei (NHL veteran who played in Anaheim, Colorado, Florida, and Detroit), Josef Vasicek (Stanley Cup champion with Carolina in 2006), Pavol Demitra (Slovakian hero in the 2010 Olympics and good NHL career), Brad McCrimmon (long time NHL defenseman who was to have started his head coaching career with Lokomotiv), Igor Korolev (associate coach that played in the NHL), and Alexander Karpovtsev (Stanley Cup champion with the Rangers in 1994). The tragedy affected many of the teams in the NHL, as at one point, those lost had either played for or were associated with the teams. Many tributes were done for the team as Lokomotiv would eventually sit out the 2011-12 season.
The 2012-13 season will see the return of Lokomotiv, and certainly, emotions will run high. Tom Rowe will be coaching the team, and one-time NHL players such as Curtis Sanford, Viktor Kozlov, Sami Lepisto, and Niklas Hagman will be headlining the roster. The road back to the championship won't be easy, ask CSKA recently acquired their ace-in-the-hole in Alexander Radulov, but just getting back on the ice will be a championship in itself for Lokomotiv, and the KHL will be whole again as it sees all of its teams back on the ice. The emotional healing will be a long one, but getting on the ice and playing the first game is a big step in that healing.
A tribute from Dynamo Minsk days after the crash:
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