I'm not certain of all the details, but a terrible tragedy today in Russia. Details are here. Our thoughts are with the families of those lost loved ones today.
I've wondered over the years how, in the thousands of flights pro sports teams take each year, that we don't see this more often, where a whole team is lost.
Just wow. Some names you might recognize on that team were Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, and Josef Vasicek. I can't even begin to imagine what's happening over there right now and how those close to the people are dealing with it.
Jake70, considering the low overall percentage of air travel related fatalities relative to the amount of traffic and to other modes of travel, it's not surprising at all. There are very few air travel accidents when taken as a whole.
Shows how small the hockey world can be with how many names both on the ice and behind the bench are recognizable to those of us who dont follow Russian hockey.
Just a tragedy, this has been the worst summer for hockey, my heart really goes out to all of the people involved.
Theres a twitter rumour that the KHL and Medvedev have said the season will continue TOMORROW. Just seems like the last thing anyone would want to do or think about.
Alexei Mikhnov and Daniel Tjarnqvist played for the Lokomotiv last season, fingers crossed these two former Oilers weren't on board. Thoughts are with all the victims families.
I've wondered over the years how, in the thousands of flights pro sports teams take each year, that we don't see this more often, where a whole team is lost.
Plane crashes are extremely rare. Crashes involving large jet airliners are even rarer. The likelyhood of a professional team being killed in an airline crash is extremely small. In North America, there are 1.9 deaths per 100,000,000 aircraft miles travelled. The odds of a commercial plane crashing are something like 1 in 10,000,000. If you consider that there are something like 3000 NHL team flights per year than the odds of an NHL team crash is probably something like 3/10,000 each year. You can add other sports leagues into it, but the odds are pretty low. They are actually probably lower than that given that teams mostly fly on large jets which have better safety statistics than smaller commercial planes.
Now, those odds increase a lot when flying on a Russian built poorly designed plane (from the Soviet era), but it still is an extremely unlikely incident.
Chiming in from Moscow. I've been here just over a year, and this country loves hockey. I mean, there are hockey billboards up in the summer. Moscow has Dinamo, CSKA, and another team in the suburbs. At Orthodox Christmas there are big posters of their Father Christmas figure playing hockey. It's just part of the national fabric, and a sense of immense pride. A crushing blow.
Bohologo - some time ago, I saw an international hockey report that indicated that there were only a small number of covered rinks in Russia (http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/survey-of-players.html) and a much smaller number of players relative to a country like Canada (with a much smaller population).
Is hockey basically popular as a professional sport in Russua, but limited as an organized amateur sport?
I have always wondered if the stats do not represent the reality.
Bookie: In Russia hockey is the 2nd sport. The most popular sport is soccer. But hockey is still very popular -- similar to the CFL in Canada. Most Russians I know only played a few games of hockey when they were children, and it was not an organized thing. I imagine things are changing fairly rapidly, but 10 years ago there were very few refrigerated rinks, and the quality of the ice was generally not so good.
So sad. I got to watch Demitra play for the Canucks once, a couple years back. He scored the tying goal and set up the winner in OT. The next day, me an a buddy (zandberg from thenucksmisconduct blog) ran into him on Robson street downtown. He was shopping with his son. We laughed afterwards because of all the flak Demitra got, yet he played great in that game. And Zandberg gave him a congratulatory slap on the shoulder as we walked by him.
Very upsetting news. Likely an Oilers connection as well, as I believe that Alexei Mikhnov returned to Yaroslavl when he went back to Russia.
ReplyDeleteTerrible news.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered over the years how, in the thousands of flights pro sports teams take each year, that we don't see this more often, where a whole team is lost.
Sad indeed.
Just wow. Some names you might recognize on that team were Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, and Josef Vasicek. I can't even begin to imagine what's happening over there right now and how those close to the people are dealing with it.
ReplyDeleteJake70, considering the low overall percentage of air travel related fatalities relative to the amount of traffic and to other modes of travel, it's not surprising at all. There are very few air travel accidents when taken as a whole.
Shows how small the hockey world can be with how many names both on the ice and behind the bench are recognizable to those of us who dont follow Russian hockey.
ReplyDeleteJust a tragedy, this has been the worst summer for hockey, my heart really goes out to all of the people involved.
Theres a twitter rumour that the KHL and Medvedev have said the season will continue TOMORROW. Just seems like the last thing anyone would want to do or think about.
Horrible.
Alexei Mikhnov and Daniel Tjarnqvist played for the Lokomotiv last season, fingers crossed these two former Oilers weren't on board. Thoughts are with all the victims families.
ReplyDeleteBrownlee at ON has ongoing updates, seems to be hopeful that neither Tjarnqvist or Mikhnov were on the plane as they are no longer with the team.
ReplyDeleteMikhnov was transferred to another team this offseason. Lucky career move for him it seems.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?statsleague=WJC-18&player=9353&team=&year=&status=&leagueid=&season=
ReplyDeleteI've wondered over the years how, in the thousands of flights pro sports teams take each year, that we don't see this more often, where a whole team is lost.
ReplyDeletePlane crashes are extremely rare. Crashes involving large jet airliners are even rarer. The likelyhood of a professional team being killed in an airline crash is extremely small. In North America, there are 1.9 deaths per 100,000,000 aircraft miles travelled. The odds of a commercial plane crashing are something like 1 in 10,000,000. If you consider that there are something like 3000 NHL team flights per year than the odds of an NHL team crash is probably something like 3/10,000 each year. You can add other sports leagues into it, but the odds are pretty low. They are actually probably lower than that given that teams mostly fly on large jets which have better safety statistics than smaller commercial planes.
Now, those odds increase a lot when flying on a Russian built poorly designed plane (from the Soviet era), but it still is an extremely unlikely incident.
Has there been a worse year for the sport of Hockey? Actually, don't answer that. If there has been I probably don't want to hear about it.
ReplyDeleteMy stomach is turning from this news.
Sounds a lot like Marshall.
ReplyDeleteTragedy.
@ fpb: That's exactly what I was thinking - another Marshall.
ReplyDeleteVery sad for the families involved.
Chiming in from Moscow. I've been here just over a year, and this country loves hockey. I mean, there are hockey billboards up in the summer. Moscow has Dinamo, CSKA, and another team in the suburbs. At Orthodox Christmas there are big posters of their Father Christmas figure playing hockey. It's just part of the national fabric, and a sense of immense pride. A crushing blow.
ReplyDeleteBohologo - some time ago, I saw an international hockey report that indicated that there were only a small number of covered rinks in Russia (http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/survey-of-players.html) and a much smaller number of players relative to a country like Canada (with a much smaller population).
ReplyDeleteIs hockey basically popular as a professional sport in Russua, but limited as an organized amateur sport?
I have always wondered if the stats do not represent the reality.
Having witnessed the epic Canada vs USSR hockey battles, I personally miss the auld enemy.
ReplyDeleteThe USSR's hockey team I always thought were like Terminator - impossible to vanquish until the end of the movie/game.
There was nothing quite like it.
Bookie: In Russia hockey is the 2nd sport. The most popular sport is soccer. But hockey is still very popular -- similar to the CFL in Canada. Most Russians I know only played a few games of hockey when they were children, and it was not an organized thing. I imagine things are changing fairly rapidly, but 10 years ago there were very few refrigerated rinks, and the quality of the ice was generally not so good.
ReplyDeleteWow. The bad news keeps coming for the hockey world. I'm so sorry for the families, friends and fans of the people involved.
ReplyDeleteOn wiki, neither Mikhnov nor Tjarnqvist are listed on the Yaroslavl roster at the time of the crash.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotiv_Yaroslavl
delooper - thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteSo sad. I got to watch Demitra play for the Canucks once, a couple years back. He scored the tying goal and set up the winner in OT. The next day, me an a buddy (zandberg from thenucksmisconduct blog) ran into him on Robson street downtown. He was shopping with his son. We laughed afterwards because of all the flak Demitra got, yet he played great in that game. And Zandberg gave him a congratulatory slap on the shoulder as we walked by him.
ReplyDeleteHis son now has no father :(
So very sad, for all