Top

Alex Ovechkin Hockey

September 7, 2011 by · Comments Off on Alex Ovechkin Hockey 

Alex Ovechkin HockeyAlex Ovechkin Hockey, A private jet carrying a Russian hockey team fell into a river high moments after takeoff, killing at least 43 people, including coach the Canadian team, one of the worst plane crash ever involving an athletic team.

Both Russia and the hockey world were shocked by the death of so many international stars in a catastrophic event. Two other people aboard were seriously injured.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said the Russian Yak-42 crashed into the river Volga immediately after leaving the airport, near the western city of Yaroslavl, 240 miles northeast of Moscow. The weather was sunny and clear at the time. Russian media said the plane struggled to gain altitude and crashed into a signal tower, breaking into pieces.

Russian television showed a fragment of the plane in flames on the river, divers worked feverishly to recover bodies.

The plane carrying the team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where the team was to play Thursday against Dynamo Minsk in the opening game of the season to the Kontinental Hockey League. The ministry said the plane had 45 people aboard, including 37 passengers and eight crew.

KHL confirmed that Brad McCrimmon Canadian was among the dead. McCrimmon took over as coach in May.

A native of Saskatchewan, at age 52, recently was an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix and Hartford.

Josef Vasicek Czech players, Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, goalie Stefan Liv Swedish, Latvian Karlis Skrastins Salehi defenses and defenses of Belarus Ruslan were among the dead. Slovak national team captain Pavol Demitra, who played in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks, was also among the dead, officials said.

“Although there were thousands of miles from our home arenas, tragedy represents a catastrophic loss for the hockey world – including the family of the NHL, which lost many parents, children, colleagues and friends at a time featured in our league, “commissioner Gary Bettman of the NHL said in a statement.

Russian NHL stars Ovechkin Alex Twitter: “I am in shock!!!!! RIP…”

Montreal Canadiens former Brent Sopel, who now plays in Russia, Twitter: “In the shock prayers to all families KHL.”

Authorities say Alexander Galimov Russian player survived the crash, along with a crewmember.

“His condition is very serious. However, there is still hope,” said Alexander Degyatryov, chief physician at the Hospital Solovyov Yaroslavl.

The accident adds to a year and thought the NHL in which three of the executors of the league were found dead: Derek Boogaard, RYPIEN recently retired Rick and Wade Belak.

The cause was not immediately clear, but Russian news agencies quoted unnamed officials saying that local may have been caused by technical problems.

More than 2,000 fans dressed in black shirts and scarves and flags of the team gathered at night outside the stadium Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to pay their respects. Riot police were also present as the fans chanted songs in memory sports athletes.

Yaroslavl Sergei Vakhrukov governor promised the crowd that the team would be rebuilt from scratch Lokomotiv, which angered some fans on an alleged lack of respect for the dead.

Russia had hoped to show Yaroslavl as a vibrant modern city this week at an international forum for heads of state attended, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, so that the accident was a particularly bitter blow.

In recent years, Russia and other former Soviet republics have some of the worst air registers in the world, traffic safety. Experts blame the poor safety record at the age of the aircraft, the weak government controls, poor pilot training and cost-cutting mentality.

The plane that crashed Wednesday was built in 1993 and belonged to a small company based in Moscow Yak Service.

Swarms of police and rescue teams rushed to Tunoshna, an authentic village, and a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River 15 km east of Yaroslavl. One of the engines could be seen protruding from the river and a flotilla of boats comb the water bodies. Divers battled the weight of the bodies of athletes bigger and stronger on stretchers to the river muddy and steep.

Irina Prakhova resident saw the plane going down, then heard a loud explosion and saw a column of smoke.

“He stumbles in flight, it was clear that something was wrong,” said Prakhova, who said he was en route to a local pump to collect buckets of water. “I saw them throw the bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts.”

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and was third in the last year KHL. He was also a champion of Russia in the league three times in 1997, 2002 and 2003.

The KHL is a club of the International League, which pits teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.

A cup match between Salavat Yulaev hockey teams and Atlanta in the central Russian city of Ufa was canceled halfway after KHL chief Alexander Medvedev announced the news of the accident. Russian television showed an empty stage in Ufa as disconsolate fans left the stadium.

“We will do everything possible to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl not die, and still living people who were on that plane,” said the Russian Ice Hockey Federation President Vladislav Tretyak.

RenĂ© Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey, called it “the darkest day in sports history.”

“This is a terrible tragedy for the global community of ice hockey with large numbers of people involved,” Fasel said in a statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of the victims.”

Tomas Kral, president of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, was surprised to hear the news.

“Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek and Josef Vasicek contributed greatly to the success of our best hockey in recent years, first for gold medals at the world championships in 2005 and 2010,” said Kral. “They were excellent players but also great friends and personalities. That’s the way you remember them.”

Medvedev has announced plans to take the aging Soviet-made planes out of service next year. The short and medium range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and Russian companies are still using about 100.

In June, another Russian passenger plane crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of the Tu-134 has been attributed to pilot error.

In terms of recent accidents involving athletic teams, 75 Marshall University players, coaches, fans and aircrew died in Huntington, West Virginia, on November 14, 1970, on the way home from a game. Thirty-six of the dead were players.

Thirty members of the Christian Uruguayan rugby club old man died in a crash in the Andes in 1972.

In 1979, a plane headed for the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan to carry Minsk Tashkent Pakhtakor football team collided in midair with another airliner, killing 178 people. Seventeen Pakhtakor team members were killed.

The entire 18-member team of U.S. figure skating died in an accident on his way to world championships 1961 in Brussels.

In 1949, the football team lost 18 players Torino near Turin, Italy

A plane crash in 1950 near the Russian city of Sverdlov, now called Yekaterinburg, claimed the lives of 13 players and officials in the selection of Air Force hockey, while the Munich air disaster of 1958 Readers eight Manchester United your life.

Bottom