This Day in Hockey History – September 7, 2011 – In Memoriam

Sep 7, 2019

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Remembering tragic events can be painful, but the memory of those lost must be honored. On September 7, 2011, a plane crash took the lives of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) team. The ice hockey world mourned together.

The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl had a lot to look forward to when they boarded the chartered Yak-Service Flight 9633 at Tunoshna Airport bound for Minsk, Belarus. They were on their way to their opening game of the 2011-12 season. Three former NHL players (Ruslan Salei, Pavol Demitra, and Kārlis Skrastiņš) were about to make their KHL debut, led by new coaches, also former-NHLers, Igor Korolev and Brad McCrimmon. As Demitra’s agent, Matt Keator, said after the news broke, “I was just there [for their exhibition game], and saw all those guys. Pavol organized a night out, everyone was happy. And you could tell Brad was just psyched to be there and be the head coach. It was such a lively, fun group of guys. This just doesn’t seem possible.’’

Sadly, they never made it to their destination, having hardly made it out of Yaroslavl. The Yakovlev Yak-42 charter flight crashed due to issues during takeoff. According to the report from the subsequent investigation (released that November), the pilots’ poor training, miscalculations, and improper foot placement on the pedals caused the tragedy. In addition to a few other personal problems with the pilots, the main issue was that they inadvertently activated the wheel brake by stepping on the upper part of the pedal (rather than stepping on the lower part to steer). A test pilot who helped investigate, Ruben Yesayan, explained, “A properly trained pilot would have immediately aborted the takeoff when he saw the nose failing to lift. The plane would simply have rolled past the runway and everyone would have been safe.”

The crew waited too long to try to lift the plane and ended up overshooting the runway. The result was that the Yak-42 briefly lifted off too steeply before crashing along the Volga River and exploding into flames.

Almost all of the 45 people on board were lost. By the numbers, 43 died in the crash. Those killed included, 25 players from 10 nations, 19 of them born in Yaroslavl, with 6 of them having played in the NHL. They made up the entire roster plus 4 members of their youth club. The head coach and 2 assistant coaches who died had all played in the NHL. The team had also brought 8 other staff members. The other 7 who died belonged to the flight crew.

Of the six players and three coaches who had previously played in the NHL. Three of them had their names etched on the Stanley Cup. Coach McCrimmon (Canadian) won with the Calgary Flames 1989; Assistant Coach Alexander Karpovtsev (Russian) with the New York Rangers in 1994, and lead scorer Josef Vasicek (Czech) with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

After an 18-year career as an NHL defenseman, McCrimmon spent the next 12 as an assistant coach before being named head coach of the Lokomotiv. He never made it to the first game. His former Boston Bruins teammate, Steve Kasper, said, “Brad had a passion for coaching, he stuck with it … he didn’t have to tell you – you just knew it, from his passion and enthusiasm.’’

Only two people on board the flight survived. Russian winger Alexander Galimov made it out of the crash but did not last the week due to his injuries. The only actual survivor was a 52-year-old airline mechanic and flight engineer, Alexander Sizov. The month following the crash, he spoke to the media from Sklifosovsky Medical Center, where he was recovering from shock, burns, and fractures.

Sizov had inspected the plane before takeoff, and he said, “I didn’t notice anything wrong.” Upon starting the takeoff process, he immediately knew there was a problem. “I quickly realized that we were on unpaved ground. The plane started falling shortly after takeoff, and it was clear that we were going to crash. On impact, everything started flying. Something hit me hard, that’s why my left side is all busted up. Once in the water, I honestly didn’t see or notice anything around — not the fires, not the plane, nothing.”

Memorial services across the globe were held on September 10. Yaroslavl’s Arena 2000, where the Lokomotiv played, hosted about 100,000 mourners. Many national and NHL teams honored their fallen teammates. At least three countries retired the numbers of their players – No. 38 for Pavol Demitra of Slovakia, No. 20 for Robert Dietrich of Germany, and No. 7 for Kārlis Skrastiņš of Latvia. The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues placed stickers on their helmets with No. 37 for Skrastiņš (of the Stars) and No. 38 for both Demitra and Igor Korolev (of the Blues). Patches were worn by the Hurricanes for Josef Vašíček, by the Ducks for Ruslan Salei, by the Devils for Karel Rachůnek and Alexander Vasyunov, and by the Red Wings for Salei, Stefan Liv, and McCrimmon.

As a result of the tragedy, Russia set policies to improve airline safety. Before September even ended, Yak-Service had its operating license revoked. As lead investigator Alexei Morozov said, “The company practically lacked a proper system of flight oversight and controls over air safety.” The KHL suspended its season by five days. Unsurprisingly, the Lokomotiv canceled their season but made plans to return a year later.