Former Minnesota Wild Player Pavol Demitra Dies in Plane Crash
Former Minnesota Wild forward Pavol Demitra is one of 43 people that were killed in a plane crash in Russia earlier today. The plane was carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl club of the Kontinental Hockey League, and was transporting former NHL players Demitra, Brad McCrimmon, Karlis Skrastins, Alexander Vasyunov, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, and Ruslan Salei. Teammate Alexander Galimov and a crewmember were the only survivors of the crash, but are in grave condition. The KHL consists of hockey teams from Russia, Slovakia, Latvia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
Eye witnesses say that the plane, which had been flying on a clear day, began wobbling before finally crashing into a riverbank. The Yak-42 was taking the club to Minsk, Belarus to take on the hometown Dinamo in the opening game of the season tomorrow. It crashed shortly after takeoff.
Pavol Demitra was a well liked player, and recorded 40 goals and 118 points from 2006 to 2008 in his two seasons with the Wild. His death joins that of Derek Boogaard, who died in May, in the Minnesota hockey community this summer. More details of the crash will be released later.
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