The Hockey World Loses an Entire Team

Today, there was big news in the world of hockey. It may not have actually been “big” news so to speak, but fans of Sidney Crosby were thrilled to hear that he is making significant progress in his recovery from a season-ending concussion earlier this calendar year. However, other events occurred today that are more important than coverage of Crosby's press conference (which I may or may not write about later).

Many hockey fans in North America know only of the NHL. We know our teams in the United States and our friends above the northern border in Canada, but many of the players' names on the jerseys that we wear hail from Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and other European countries. Our own beloved Evgeni “Geno” Malkin and former favorites Sergei Gonchar and Alex Kovalev are on that list.

Early this morning, the sports world was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of a plane crash in Russia that claimed the lives of at least 43 hockey players and coaches from the Lokomotiv, a KHL (Kontinental Hockey League) team. Among those players were many that spent a significant portion of their careers in the NHL, as it is not uncommon for players to spend time in both leagues, sometimes bouncing back and forth between the two.

The news was gut-wrenching. After an offseason that claimed the lives of so many young NHL players, an entire organization was essentially gone in an instant. Some names that domestic hockey fans may recognize would be Brad McCrimmon, who only in May, accepted head coaching duties for the Lokomotiv after working as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings. Other familiar names were Pavol Demitra, Alexander Vasyunov and Josef Vasicek. "We have no team any more," Vladimir N. Malkov, a team spokesman stated in an interview today with The New York Times.

Those words are simply unthinkable.

I can tell you, honestly, that before I knew what team it was and had only heard that a KHL team was involved in a crash, the first thing that sprang into my mind was, “Oh, my God. Was Kovalev on that plane?” Kovy is not playing with the Penguins this season, instead going to the KHL. Via a Tweet this afternoon, it was stated that Kovy could not speak to this tragedy as he is too distraught over the loss of so many friends in one accident.

Many sports fans were outraged all day that ESPN, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, name in sports news, had little to say about the events. Reporter Seth Rorabaugh Tweeted furiously at the 4 p.m. hour that it “took 11 minutes until they talked about the KHL tragedy. The worst part was that the KHL tragedy was just kind of lumped on the end of Barry Melrose's comments of Crosby's health.”

Sports fans are a part of a unique community. Pittsburgh sports fans understand this more than many other cities. The Pens, Steelers, and yes, even the Pirates, unite us. The teams we love are as much a part of our identity as our ethnicity, our religion and our nationality. We define ourselves by the teams we love, and for just a few hours, we are a family. There are no differences between us. We are fans.

That there is the thing that one must put to the forefront of his or her mind when analyzing this atrocity. The world did not just lose athletes today; the world lost people. People lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother, a friend. As sports fans, we feel for the friends, families, former teammates and fans of the lives lost today.

We mourn just as they mourn. But we mourn not because hockey players died, but because people died. Someone's loved one died.

It is indeed a sad day for hockey. The thing that bonds us all in this tragedy, unlike other plane crashes, is that there is a common thread. This accident is no more or no less tragic and horrific than any other plane crash that has ever occurred. But much like the crash that claimed the lives of the Marshall football team, this crash was a plane full of people that were linked by common bonds. They shared the same careers, the same friends, the same lives, and as fans, we felt just as much a part of that connection.

To be a fan of any sport is to be a part of a family and a culture. Today, the world lost a piece of that thread that ties us all together. It is hanging loose, but players, families and fans alike must take this thread and tie it because life will move on. Hockey will move on. But no one will ever forget what these people contributed to all of our lives.

My thoughts are with the victims, friends, families, teammates and fans of the Lokomotiv.