According to various reports a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League crashed around 4PM Moscow time. The team was taking off from the city of Yarolslavl on their way to Minsk, the capital city of Belarus where they were to open up the season.
36 of the 37 passengers were killed with the lone survivor having “grave” injuries.
Among those part of the Lokomotiv hockey team include former Red Wings assistant Brad McCrimmon, former defenseman Ruslan Salei and former goaltending prospect Stefan Liv.
Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock confirmed Wednesday that McCrimmon was one of those that perished on the flight.
It is unclear whether or not Ruslan Salei was actually on the plane when it crashed. There have been unconfirmed reports that Salei was already in Minsk and not on the flight that included most of the teams main roster and also 4 players of Locomotiv’s youth team.
McCrimmon, 52 was a former Wings defenseman. He was also the teams assistant coach for the past three season before he and the club decided to part ways in May.
Ruslan Salei was a defenseman for the Wings this past season playing in 75 games for the Wings. He recorded two goals and eight assists.
Stefan Liv played 36 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2006-07 but never played for Detroit.
Our thoughts go out to the entire KHL community as well as the friends and families affected by this horrible tragedy.
Stay tuned to The Majors Sports Network for more as it develops.
UPDATE: The Russian Emergency Ministry have confirmed that McCrimmon, Salei and Liv were among those who died in the crash.
Source: Detroit News, Mlive.com, NHL.com, KHL.ru