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NHL players memorialize victims of Lokomotiv crash

Published Sep. 8, 2015 11:45 a.m. ET

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When tragedies happen, most of the memorials come within the first few weeks of the event. But four years after the Lokomotiv plane crash killed 44 people, including 37 members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, NHL players and teams flooded social media Monday to remember the lives lost just outside of a Russian airport.

The Lokomotiv organization was one of the best teams in the KHL four years ago, and on Sept. 7, 2011, the team boarded a plane to Minsk to start off the 2011-12 season. The plane made it just two kilometers from the runway before an error during takeoff caused the aircraft to collide with a beacon tower and burst into flames as it crashed into the riverbank of the Tunoshna River. Flight engineer Alexander Sizov was the sole survivor. 

Many players and coaches in the NHL knew members of the team, but perhaps the most famous player on board was Pavol Demitra, a former Lady Byng Trophy winner and three-time Stanley Cup champion. He was one of many to whom NHL personalities paid tribute on Monday.

Four years after the tragedy, Lokomotiv rebuilt its hockey team. The organization took the 2011-12 season off, but it returned to the ice in 2012-13. The team finished fourth in its division last season and made the KHL playoffs as the 10th seed before losing in the conference quarterfinals. 

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