Tragic Plane Crash Claims Lives of Numerous KHL Players

Nearly all of the members of the KHL's
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team have died
in a tragic plane crash.

Just wanted to get on the ol' blog today and do a quick tribute to the Kontinental Hockey League's Locomotiv Yaroslavl team. I just read this morning that nearly all of the players on the team perished in a terrible plane crash this morning.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's roster consisted of several former NHL players, including forward Pavol Demitra, and defencemen Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins. There were a few survivors, but they are are listed as being in critcal condition.

So far, this offseason has been one of the saddest I've ever seen. We've heard about the deaths of NHL enforcers Derek Boogard, Rick Rypien, and most recently, Wade Belak. And now, this happens. These events have been as tragic as they have been saddening.

My heart goes out to the families of the 43 people who were killed in this crash. From what I've been reading, the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players were very much looking forward to the start of their league's new season. It's a shame that things turned out as they did.

May they all rest in peace.

Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy blog has more information on this story here.