Crash Kills 43 Members of Hockey Team Coached by Former Whaler

Brad McCrimmon played for the Hartford Whalers and Boston Bruins.

A Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team coached by a former Hartford Whaler crashed into a river bank on Wednesday while taking off in western Russia, killing at least 43 people and leaving two others critically injured, officials said.

A Yak-42 plane carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus crashed immediately after leaving an airport about 150 miles northeast of Moscow, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Brad McCrimmon took over the team in May. He played for the Hartford Whalers from 1993 to 1996. He also played for the Boston Bruins from 1979 to 1982.

The flight was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew, and two people survived the crash.

It wasn't immediately clear which players were on board the Yak-42. Officials said player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crewmember.

 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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