The plane transporting the Kontinental Hockey League’s Lokomotiv team crashed, leaving devastation in its wake, with over 40 deaths. Many of these were ex-NHL players and coaches including: Karlis Skrastins, Ruslan Salei, Josef Vasicek, Alexander Vasyunov, Karel Rachunek, Igor Korolev, Alexander Karpovtsev and coach Brad McCrimmon. There was one survivor from the Lokomotiv team: Alexander Galimov, as well as a crew member.
Death of Demitra
One player who was killed in the crash was Pavol Demitra. His hockey playing history included a two-year stint for the Wild, the Los Angeles Kings, the St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators. He had impressive statistics, including over 300 NHL goals, 768 points and 464 assists. He was only 36 at the time of the crash. Josh Harding, Wild goaltender, expressed his devastation yesterday: “I was just at the rink with some of the guys this morning, and we are all shocked and devastated by this news. Pavol was a good friend and a great teammate. We had some good battles out there in practice. He will be missed.”
The death of Demitra has hit the Wild team particularly badly, given that it hasn’t even been four months since another team member – Derek Boogaard – passed away. Boogaard played with the team between 2005-10. As Harding sadly says, “I can’t remember this much bad news in one year. We are still dealing with the loss of Boogy, and now this.”
This sentiment was echoed by Rene Fasel, International Ice Hockey Federation President: “this is the darkest day in the history of our sport. This is not only a Russian tragedy, the Lokomotiv roster included players and coaches from 10 nations. This is a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community with so many nationalities involved.’”
This is a video from Boston Bruin’s Michael Ryder’s visit to Canada with the Stanley Cup. Though worse has happened, the trophy still ended up with a big dent.
Rick Rypien, the Winnipeg Jets player, was found dead at his home in Alberta earlier this week. According to the team, Rypien had been dealing with depression for nearly a decade, though none had thought to look for signs of suicidal notions.
“Certainly there were no drug and alcohol issues. Depression is the one word that has been used and that’s accurate,” said Jets assistant general manager Craig Heisinger. He added that Rypien’s family would have to confirm whether or not it was a suicide.
Describing the death as “sudden”, police has stated that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Rypien’s death.
Last month, Rypien signed a $700,000, one year contract with the Jets as a free agent, after playing with the Vancouver Canucks for six seasons.
“He seemed really excited to be coming back here. I think there was a comfort zone here for him,” Heisinger said. “Did we see any signs? No we didn’t… Either something happened very quickly or we all missed the boat.”
Despite being 36 years old, David Beckham feels that he still has at least a couple of good years in him before he takes retirement. According to a recent article, Beckham says that he feels very strong and healthy and even likes getting up early in the morning to train. Although his contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the Major League Soccer is due to expire by the end of this season, he still wants to be playing.
Beckham began his career with the UK Manchester United team, with which he is still involved, as a consultant. It was him who made the suggestion that Paul Scholes should be replaced by Wesley Sneijder, the extremely talented Dutch football player.
Meanwhile, if it is the case that he enjoys his early morning training sessions, perhaps David can encourage wife Victoria to join him, who is said to be frustrated at not having gotten her pre-pregnancy figure back yet. Mind you, it doesn’t seem to bother the super-star football player, who, according to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, has been “showering her with compliments.” Despite this, “Victoria is reportedly hell-bent on regaining her signature slim frame.”
Tampa Bay’s Ben Zobrist’s second inning grand slam home run gave the Rays a 9-6 win over their division rivals the Boston Red Sox. In the third inning Zobrist added his fifth RBI of the game, and Casey Kotchman added a two run homer in the sixth as well.
Tampa Bay’s David Price said “I threw all right. I threw 121 pitches in six innings. I feel like if Joe is going to give me 121 pitches, I can do a lot more than just go six.” He continued, “but our offense did a great job.”
Joe Madden, Rays manager, said “I talked to the team about the ‘one game at a time’ mantra. You don’t need to win five out of seven or at least four out of seven. Go play tonight. Play tonight, work the process.”
Derek Jeter, the beloved New York Yankees shortstop, had an unbelievable Saturday, going 5-for-5, including the game-winning hit against Tampa Bay and passing 3,000 hits in his career.
With his hit, Jeter became the first Yankee and the 28th MLB player to reach the record, with a home run in the third inning. He also added three more hits as well as a single for the winning run, granting the Yankees a 5-4 win.
“If I’d tried to that script and given it to someone, even I wouldn’t have bought it,” Jeter said after the game. “It was a special day.”
At 37, Jeter returned from an injury and had a tough season this year, but he still managed to become the first baseball player to hit the mark since Craig Biggio in 2007.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said “I don’t think you can script it any better. This is already movie ready. His 3,000th hit is a homer, and 3,003 is a game winner. Jeter was huge for us.”
The Rays manager Joe Maddon also praised Jeter despite Tampa’s loss. “It was a great day at the new Yankee Stadium,” he said. “There was a great buzz to this place.”
In today’s world where high priced sports stars are becoming more and more the norm, their propensity to remain single has also increased. Take the 37 year old Derek Jeter, he is successful, popular, and known to be a good guy. So why isn’t he hitched yet? Essentially, his circle of friends probably includes women that a guy like Jeter would not want to settle down with and here lies the problem.
Guys like Derek Jeter are nervous about future spouses due to their fame and money. Who wants to be taken to the cleaner or end up with a woman who is the exact opposite only because she said all the right things to get through the door.
There is a solution. Sports stars like Derek Jeter can use one of the more elite Matchmakers. It might sound strange, but individuals like Janis Spindel , Barbra Brooks and Richard Easton Matchmaker are becoming quite popular.
Take Richard Easton Matchmaker services, run personally by Richard Easton. The service deals with matching successful guys up with women that are not only successful in their own right, but attractive as well. There are no games, Richard Easton as well as other matchmakers take the time to hone in on what their clients want in order to deliver the right match.
Perhaps professional athletes should start hiring matchmakers and end their days as lonely super stars.
The L.A. Kings have traded left wing Ryan Smyth for the Edmonton Oilers’ forward Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in the upcoming draft.
Smyth was initially drafted by Edmonton in 1994, where he became a fan favorite. When the teams were unable to reach a contract in 2007, however, he was traded to the Kings.
Last season, the 35-year-old totaled 23 goals and 47 points, and played all 82 of his team’s games during the regular season.
Fraser had three goals and two assists in 67 games, after spending four season with Chicago, including the season in which the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.
