From the Ashes

PICKING UP THE PIECES

It was the worst accident in the collective memories of the hockey world. All 36 team members from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, an elite team from Russia's top hockey league (KHL), perished on the September 7, 2011 crash. Eight different nations lost sports heroes (including long time Red Wings assistant and former NHL All-Star Brad McCrimmon) in an accident blamed on aging equipment, pilot error an even the presence of banned drugs. Incomprehensible, astonishing, yet all too real for those involved. This was reminiscent of the shocking Marshall football tragedy of 1970, except that so many more nations were affected in the Russian plane crash.

Decisions needed to be made quickly. League president Alexander Medvedev offered to draft 3 players from each team in the league to quickly fill the Lokomotiv roster and get the team up and ready for the regular season, but team president Yuri Yakovlov said no, the community needed time to heal. Not a soul entered the team locker room until the end of October. A decision was then made: maintain the junior team in Lokomotiv, and enter another squad into the minor league just below the KHL, to play an extremely limited schedule of 22 games, once against each opponent. They were allowed a special draft of young players 23 and under throughout the league, two qualified from the Lokomotiv junior league. And in December, a new Lokomotiv team stepped onto theYaroslavl ice in sold out "2000 Arena," and played a hockey game. They won 5-1.

Yakovlov was offered a free pass to get his team into the playoffs, but he declined. The young Yaroslvl skaters have a high enough winning percentage to get into the playoffs on their own merits. Yet he is accepting the millions of dollars in aid from Mother Russia for the victims' families, and on Friday Lokomotiv is playing in an outdoor game exhibition to generate more funds for the loved ones left behind.

Promising stars from Russia's medal-winning junior teams have moved to Yaroslavl to play with Lokomotiv, and will wait an extra year to play in the KHL. Russia's government, it's people, and the entire hockey community have come together to help heal this collective wound. Yuri Yakovlov has chosen a wise course of small steps, to upright this proud franchise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Mg1LxjW_0