Plane Crashes carrying Top HK Lokomotiv Team

[MadDog2020]

Seems so. Apparently he did name the player in an earlier version of the post but was pressured to remove it, but from context it's clear who he's talking about.

Yeah, had to be Skrastins- I think he was the only guy on the plane who had connections to the Stars. What a heart-breaking piece. I feel so bad for these families. Words can't even express it.

[ghdi]

Karpotzev's wife and kid were in a car accident driving to Yaroslavl. They're okay, minor injuries, holy crap though. Another player's mother died of a heart attack upon hearing the news (Ostapchuk).

This is the moment the crash was announced at the Atlant game (27 is Alex Kovalev)

The team is going to keep going. Looks like they'll have a draft and they're trying to get players with ties to the organization (i.e. Alexei Yashin) to come back. Theres a few current NHL'ers with ties, so it will be interesting to see if any of them go for the year.

Edited September 8, 2011 by ghdi

[jim777]

Saw this on puck daddy:

http://achicksperspe.../reality-check/

That was a tough read, but it's got to be happening all over the place. Sadder and sadder.

[cubanjd305]

I hate this offseason

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

If that is true and Galimov as suffered 90% burns to his body i really really hope he is in a medically induced coma or can't feel anything.

I think that being able to feel that could be a pain worse than death. Still i hope he can recover. Same for the crew member.

[Pepperkorn]

You know what stinks -- I really liked both Rachunek and Vasyunov - when they leave you sort of cut them from your thoughts... I do anyhow... so it's so awful how final this is, you know? There's no coming back -- no forgive and forget... it's just a cold, final gone. I can't even begin to think how the families might feel.

and thinking about those poor little girls with just no clue what's ahead of them....there was no sheltering my little one even when she was 2. Maybe because she's an only child? She always listens to everything and just never misses a trick. And she knows it's too hard for grown ups to talk about sometimes so she doesn't ask or talk -- she just gets so STOIC. I just hope she never has to go through anything like this. Anyhow - it's all dark enough no need for me to

Edited September 8, 2011 by Pepperkorn

[Colin226]

I'm going to give this its own thread, but a bunch of fans are gathering at Championship Plaza tomorrow around 5pm to place items/notes/candles by the silver statue in remembrance of AV and everyone who was lost in the crash, so please feel free to attend..

People are also more than welcome to and place things there later on Friday or Saturday

[MadDog2020]

I'm going to give this its own thread, but a bunch of fans are gathering at Championship Plaza tomorrow around 5pm to place items/notes/candles by the silver statue in remembrance of AV and everyone who was lost in the crash, so please feel free to attend..

People are also more than welcome to and place things there later on Friday or Saturday

That's very nice Colin, its a great show of respect and rememberance. I'm hoping that the team wears a patch for Vas this year too, or maybe the league will step up and have all teams wear a patch to remember the victims. I think that would be the appropriate thing to do.

[Quinn01]

Dynamo Minsk Honors their Fallen fellow players:

Emotional.

[thefiestygoat]

Dynamo Minsk Honors their Fallen fellow players:

Emotional.

Classy move by Dynamo Minsk...so hard to watch though.

[Quinn01]

That's very nice Colin, its a great show of respect and rememberance. I'm hoping that the team wears a patch for Vas this year too, or maybe the league will step up and have all teams wear a patch to remember the victims. I think that would be the appropriate thing to do.

The patch on the jerseys would be a very very nice gesture and I dont think that would slip by Lou. It may be a patch for the whole team. Either way I would be happy to see if they do have some sort of memorial from player to player kind of thing.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Quinn01

[Random Poster]

That's very nice Colin, its a great show of respect and rememberance. I'm hoping that the team wears a patch for Vas this year too, or maybe the league will step up and have all teams wear a patch to remember the victims. I think that would be the appropriate thing to do.

I'd say the odds of the Devils wearing a uniform patch are 99.9% not happening. Anything the Devils do in that sense will pretty much be league mandated. While the Devils will most certainly honor the memories of the team and ex-players lost, they probably would do it tastefully repsectful such as a moment of silence or a short video montage as they well should.

[DevilNurn]

This is devastating news. RIP

[DaneykoIsGod]

I'd say the odds of the Devils wearing a uniform patch are 99.9% not happening. Anything the Devils do in that sense will pretty much be league mandated. While the Devils will most certainly honor the memories of the team and ex-players lost, they probably would do it tastefully repsectful such as a moment of silence or a short video montage as they well should.

Agreed on all points. I mean, the Devils wore a patch for Pat Burns for, what, five games? The only full-season patch I recall was for McMullen.

[Bringbackbrylin]

Edited September 9, 2011 by Bringbackbrylin

[DaneykoIsGod]

Excellent piece by SI's Stu Hackel:

http://nhl-red-light.si.com/2011/09/08/haunted-by-sudden-death-from-the-sky/?sct=hp_t2_a7&eref=sihp

The first coherent thought I had when I woke too early this morning was that it would be great for the NHL to have all its teams wear a patch with the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crest on their jerseys during the first weeks of the season to honor the players who perished on Wednesday. Sometimes first thoughts that rise before the sun vanish along with the morning darkness, but this one stuck around.

And then the plane flew over.

On the nights that I have trouble sleeping, the sound I dread most is that of the first flight out from the airport near my house. It means I don’t have time to fall back asleep. But when I can’t sleep because an air tragedy has shocked me, I dread that sound even more, my mind connecting it with death. I got that dreadful feeling 10 years ago, and it happened again this morning.

Ten years ago, I remember not being able to sleep and hearing jets flying overhead at odd hours, knowing they were military aircraft, the only ones allowed to fly here for a while after 9/11. But it wasn’t the fighter jets as much as the notion that death could come from the sky — the sky for goshsakes! the air we breathe every day — that got to me.

He goes on to share emotions being expressed across the hockey world. This fan-blog post, from The H Does Not Stand For Habs, is particularly poignant:

In a way, though, the way we feel now might be a catalyst for the betterment of the sport, or at least the way we fans behave toward the sport and its practitioners. I know I can't blame Sidney Crosby for whining to the refs anymore, because I just want to see him play again. I can't hate the leafs because I think about the Minsk fans who probably hated to see Lokomotiv come to town, and now they're all dead. That stuff goes beyond hockey. That's real life, and as we know, sports are supposed to be an escape from real life. These athletes are supposed to be heroes who stand above our vices of addiction and depression and avoid our human tragedies. They're not supposed to die. This summer has proven they're not any of that. These players are people with the same needs and shortcomings as the rest of us, and that must change the way we, as fans, look at the game.

Now we know these guys are human beings who just happen to be really good at the game we love. That has to give us some perspective about what we expect of them. I know I don't want any of the Canadiens to goon it up until his brain is damaged or he becomes addicted to narcotics to handle the pain. I don't want any of them to sit at home feeling so inadequate and helpless that he becomes suicidal. At this point, whatever happens on the ice is secondary to making sure the young men who play for our team are healthy, happy and protected. That's a radical shift for a fan who used to only want a Cup, no matter what the cost.

[SterioDesign]

This is so terrible... i remember very well in 2008 when Luc bourdon died in a bike accident like 30 minutes from my place, i knew him and his gf and she was absolutely destroyed (she actually saw him crash, thats even worst) even a year after she couldnt even look at pictures of him but i remember how the whole region was in some kind of cold and sad atmosphere. Letang couldnt even play anymore and he was playing in the cup final, his dream. They did his funeral in the arena of his hometown where he grew up and the place was FULL, even of people who didnt even knew him really.

So now with all those guys gone... i cant even imagine how many people are touched by it and how big will be the repercussions... i know that there's a lot of NHLers who lost really good friends in that crash... they may not be able to compete at 100% for awhile, maybe not but still... so terrible

[Mayday]

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/302070_260289294002133_143648252332905_905369_908941741_n.jpg

RIP

[HellOnICE]

So sad. All around. I can't even imagine. I hate on our fans a lot, but today's gathering was tremendous.

[ghdi]

This is really hard to watch at times

[Quinn01]

Doctors are now reporting that Alexander Galimov will recover from his injuries.

[Colin226]

Doctors are now reporting that Alexander Galimov will recover from his injuries.

I'd pay good money to hear his description of what went down (although I'd respect him if he didn't want to talk about it)

[Dead]

I hope he makes a full recovery, but burns to 90% of his body is very serious. Will take a long time to recovery and to be "out of the woods".

[MadDog2020]

I'd pay good money to hear his description of what went down (although I'd respect him if he didn't want to talk about it)

I actually read that Galimov and the crew member who survived were conscious and trying to help when the plane first went down. I'd post the link, but I'm on a Blackberry right now. The story I read was that two police officers were patrolling the river on their boat when they saw the plane go down, so they rushed to the scene. They saw the crew member trying to help another crew member out of the plane, and Galimov was also trying to help. They said he was talking and aware of what had happened. I was amazed to read that.

[Quinn01]

I actually read that Galimov and the crew member who survived were conscious and trying to help when the plane first went down. I'd post the link, but I'm on a Blackberry right now. The story I read was that two police officers were patrolling the river on their boat when they saw the plane go down, so they rushed to the scene. They saw the crew member trying to help another crew member out of the plane, and Galimov was also trying to help. They said he was talking and aware of what had happened. I was amazed to read that.

Wow. Talk about an inspiring person. That is just unbelievable. I guess their adrenaline was huge in order for them to put 90% of their body burned in the back of their mind and work on helping their crew/team mates. Id like to read that if you can find the link at some point.