Today was a sad day in the world of sports. Every blind sports fan is probably thinking "Oh I know, Peyton Manning is out this week and his consecutive starts streak is snapped."
Nope not that. A true tragedy occurred earlier in the day in Russia when the plane that the Kontinental Hockey League team Lokomotiv was traveling on crashed into a riverbank, killing 43 players, coaches, and other passengers on board. The tragedy seems almost unreal to imagine, with so many professionals, so young in life, now dead.
Although it happened in Russia, the impact this crash has on America is huge. There were a number of players on the Lokomotiv roster who played in the NHL, making their mark on the league and helping the sport grow. Players such as Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins, Pavol Demitra, Stefan Liv, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, and former NHL player and coach of Lokomotiv Brian McCrimmon have all lost their lives.
The KHL is considered as the second best professional hockey league behind the NHL and is a very popular destination for players to finish off their careers or try to re-start them and get another shot at the NHL. The league's popularity grew during the most recent NHL lockout, becoming the first league that many NHL players attempted to join in order to stay on the ice.
Lokomotiv had won three KHL titles, their first in 1997 and then back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003.
All you can really say is, Rest In Peace.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2011-09-07/russian-jet-carrying-hockey-team-crashes-36-dead
No comments:
Post a Comment