Former Ottawa Senator Pavol Demitra one of 43 killed in Russian plane crash
Posted Sep 7, 2011 09:48:31 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MOSCOW – A Russian airliner carrying a professional KHL team, the Russian equivalent to an NHL hockey team crashed, Wednesday, killing 43.
The passenger jet went down in the western section of Russia shortly after take-off and was carrying the pro-hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
The Globe and Mail has confirmed that former Ottawa Senators forward Pavol Demitra is one of the victims of the crash.
Other former NHL’ers on the roster as of August 31st include Karel Rachunek, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastinch.
The head coach is former Flyer, Brad McCrimmon who left the Detroit Red Wings in the spring for the overseas job.
Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo Sports says this is being felt deeply in the hockey community.
“I think this is going to hit hard, especially after the kind of summer, the kind of year we had for hockey. This is just terrible, terrible news,” he says.
The flight was heading to Minsk for the opening of Lokomotiv’s regular season on Thursday.
The plane was a Yak 42, which Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says will be taken out of service starting next year.
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent the country’s transportation minister to the site. At this point, no other names are being released.
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