I've kind of concluded there may not be a single other hockey fan on this entire board, but I thought I'd put this up anyway. Just when it seemed like it couldn't get much worse, virtually an entire KHL team almost to a man lost their lives in a plane crash today, along with their Canadian coach. A few of those guys were former NHLers, including two that played for my favourite team. This on the heels of three other deaths over the offseason, all enforcers, one accidental overdose and two suicides. I've been an avid fan since I was about 12 years old, and I can't recall anything like this run of bad luck and grim news.
Yes. :( That's one of the two I was referring to that played for my team. He was drafted by them in 1993. Very sad. I think I mentioned on the board before about how much I admired and appreciated players from Slovakia. I'm sure it pales beside your recent personal loss, but it's still sad when we lose people who are in their way part of our national identities.
German national player Robert Dietrich was also on that plane. You do not need to be a hockey fan to feel with the Russian league - what a terrible loss - a whole team :-(
So right YV. Beyond the human loss, I think it's something a fan of any team sport can instinctively feel like a punch in the gut. The IIHF said there were people from 10 nations lost, so it's not surprising Germany is among them as there are a number of exceptional players from there. Most have probably heard there is one surviving player at this point, though the situation remains critical. I read yesterday that there was another player who was not on the plane and was instead to meet the team in Minsk, but haven't heard any more about it since so it may be one of those early reports that turns out to be wrong. Anyway, what a terrible loss to families, friends, fans and sport. Terrifically sad.