The Red Wings had their chances, despite Chicago's suffocating attack which left the Wings trapped in their zone facing shot after shot for what seemed like an endless amount of time. The Black Hawks out shot the Red Wings 35-14 after the first period, and admittedly the score could have been worse if not for goaltender Jimmy Howard making save after save, until he allowed the second Hawks goal.

The only goal I did not understand was the third goal, when Howard appeared to intentionally knock the puck off the net which led to the puck going in the net for a 3-1 lead. What the hell was he thinking, if he would have froze the puck on the back of the net, covered it with his stick he would have gotten a whistle almost instantly. But instead, he knocks if off the net and the Black Hawks burn him seconds later.

I am tired of the announcers making excuses for the Red Wings game after game, it has gotten very old hearing they were tired from playing Game 7 in Anaheim. Why can't they just say the Red Wings are rebuilding, which for the most part is the truth. There is a lot of youth on both defense and offense, and one day they will be a Stanley Cup contender again just not this year. Even a person with no knowledge of the game itself, knows that replacing the pieces to their Stanley Cups was and is going to take some time We as fans miss Lidstrom and Holmstrom, and knew they would be difficult to replace. I almost feel sorry for the organization, because they have not clue to what they are getting themselves into next year moving to the much bigger Eastern Conference. In turn the streak may end next year, regardless just as simply put as that.....

I am not looking forward to Saturday afternoon's game, even though history suggests the Wings will play much better than they did Wednesday night..

Sometimes viewing greatness on television even in high def does not do greatness justice.  It has to be witnessed in person.  Such was the case with the Rangers 5-0 stomping of the Capitals in Game 7 on Monday.  Seated about 15 rows up behind the Rangers cage, I got a bird's eye view for 2 periods of how the best plays his position.  For each challenge, Lundqvist was in perfect position to make the perfect play on the frustrated Capital forwards.  It was not so much the need to make the cat-quick save, although he certainly could do that, as it was the precision in body positioning that always covered the maximum net with the minimum of effort.   

Lundqvist's efforts were augmented by superior shot blocking.  In game 7, the Rangers blocked 27 shots - nearly as many as made it through to goal.  In fact, many would be scoring chances were defused by a Ranger stick or shin pad.  There is no question that the Rangers commitment to Team Defense was a major factor.   

No Capital was probably more frustrated than Alex Ovechkin.  For any number of shifts, OV did all he could to position himself to score.  He was flying all over the ice doling out hits and trying to rally his team.  In end, Ovechkin said it best himself: "In my mind, it was Lundqvist. They have great team, no doubt about it, but Lundqvist was unbelievable. Just unbelievable.From where I was sitting, it was hard to argue.  Congratulations Rangers on a dominant Game 7 and a Series Win over a good Capitals team. 

Is this the end of the line for the Detroit Red Wings and their 22-year playoff run, I think so. I am a loyal Red Wing fan, but with the change to the Eastern Conference scheduled to take place during the 2013-14 season, and their lack of team size in my opinion in just may happen unless they take a different direction and add some size to their lineup. I mean come on, how many times can this team be punished by teams with a huge size difference for which they will face on a nightly basis.

Let's be serious here for a moment, seeing teams like the Bruins 5 to 6 times a year will not be good for the smaller Wings unless they make changes and add size and even more toughness than Jordin Tootoo and Justin Abdelkader provide. But we will see what direction the Wings head after the playoffs are over, these changes are necessary in order for them to compete in the East, and has to happen during this offseason. 

Is this the answer to the Detroit Lions problems as a team, I highly doubt it. Honestly I believe Martin Mayhew missed the boat again when he drafted him number 5. I personally believed they should have drafted a tackle to replace Jeff Backus who retired during the offseason. But this is typical Lions draft strategy since the Matt Millen era, draft a project (Charles Rogers, Titus Young) and pray that they work out. When they don't they release them in order to save face. I am not knocking their entire draft, but there were a lot better players out there that were ready to play this year, not two years down the road. I guess its time for the Lions to find a real general manager, who will draft to the needs of the team, and break the draft day trend. Oh wait I forgot, that is why they are the only Detroit team that I have never seen win a championship during my near 49 years on this earth. Why is this, because they do not have a clue!

Well I have to admit that this weekends series against the Indians has been rather interesting, and not the walkover I thought it would be. Nice to see that Tito, Nick and all the other additions are starting to pay off for the Indians. If this trend continues like it should, because those I mentioned will not let the others quit, then the Central Division might stay interesting this year. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I will see you the next time.

 

 

 

If losing a shootout to rival Montreal wasn't bad enough...Then Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask a bit of a tantrum, that got embarrassing quick...

I hope the only thing he hurt was his pride!
 

 

One of the first things I did when we bought my house was to plant 6 arborvitae along the front boundary of the front yard.  One was placed a little too far underneath a big old tree that kept the sun from getting to it, so it didn’t really grow very well.  A couple of years in, I realized shrimpy wasn’t growing too well, so I relocated it to the other end of the row – where it has since thrived.  They’re now all taller than I am, and they seem to thrive where they are.

A couple of years ago, I decided to plant some more along the rest of the front boundary.  We had a winter storm and I had the opportunity to clear out some of the larger trees that were damaged, making more of the yard desirable for their growth.  The “original six” had now expanded to other areas of my yard.  So, expansion shrubs were placed near the original six and for a year or so they did okay.  Last spring I added a couple more to the mix making for a total of 12.

This winter has been particularly cold and snowy up here in this part of the world and my expansion shrubs – placed in less desirable climatological areas of the yard – simply aren’t faring too well.  Now, when it gets cold and snowy, the weather hits them all, but the original six have more solid roots and because they’re in more desirable places in the yard for such plants to grow, they take some licks, but over all they fare pretty well.  They’re big and strong.  My expansion shrubs, though, have taken a beating – all bent over, and I’m really concerned about their health. 

I’m thinking about pulling them all up and relocating them to a sunnier side of the house, but at this point I’m not sure the conditions are really the best there – on the side and the back of the house, there’s a lot of sun, but there are a lot of other things vying for that resource and frankly, I’m not so sure that much sun would be good for them – evergreen trees aren’t really used to that much direct sun.

So, originally there was some space constraints, the arborvitae I originally installed found their niche and have done really well.  They’re not competing for resources, and while I relocated one it was to better position it for access to resources and it’s thrived.  My expansion efforts have been well intentioned, but I fear that my yard has reached its capacity for evergreen shrubbery.  I’d love to place some more in the sunnier areas of the yard, but I think that would be overexposure.

The original six can pretty much make it through any weather and be able to take care of themselves, but my expansion shrubs are really going to need attention if they’re going to survive.  So while I would love to have more, I think I’ve tapped out the most viable places. 

Hmm.  I wish I had a sports analogy to draw or some biting criticism of over-ambition in the sports world, but all I have this week is a story about my original six shrubs.

 

This dickhead is a typical type A douchebag.  Who is he?  Martin Tremblay.  What did he do?  This.

This is the main reason why we as parents need to be concerned with the potential of assholes becoming hockey coaches.  As a result, this dickhead is going to receive 15 days in jail for tripping a 10 and a 13 year old in the handshake line.  I would hate to be the person that attempts to do that to one of my children.    Fuck...I hope this douchebag gets his ass fucked rimless in jail.

Thunder Bay is a little bit of a hockey hotbed.  We are very lucky to have an exorbitant amount of former pro players returning here after their careers have wound down.  In 2005, a group of former pro players and friends decided to put a team into the Allan Cup Tournament and called themselves the Thunder Bay Bombers,  The Thunder Bay Bombers faced the Horse Lake Thunder in the finals and ended up winning the Tournament.  Beating the Horse Lake Thunder wasn't a small feat, since former NHL players Gino Odjick, Dody Wood, Sasha Lakovic and Theoren Fleury all played for them.  I am moving on to the main point of my story here.

My 5 year old started playing hockey this year, and of course I was leery as to who his coaches would be.  When my oldest boy played, his coaches were simply parents that wanted to help out, which was great.  It was a great league, and my son loved it because it wasn't competitive.  He has since stopped playing but my youngest wanted to take up the game last year.  However, he was only 3 and turning 4 at the time.  I decided a year of power skating would help him out when he started playing hockey.  It helped me out too actually, since I started dating his power skating coach.  Cute little figure skating coach as well...but I digress...she was mental.

This year I put Grady into a league that was going to be more structured.  The coaching staff in this league is simply astounding.  All of the coaches are former NHL, OHL, NCAA, ECHL, WHL...the list goes on.  I was lucky enough to get Grady onto a team where I knew the coach.  I was good friends with his younger brother through highschool, up until he left to go play NCAA and in Europe.  Thing is, his older brother (and Grady's coach) was the better hockey player.  How good?  Grady's coach played on the Thunder Bay Bombers team that won the Allan Cup.  As well, both brothers have had their numbers retired and are in the University of North Dakota's Hall of Fame.

When it comes to putting your kids into hockey, a lot of the thought needs to be about what type of coach is my son getting?  What is this coaches background?  Does the coach have kids themselves?  There are a lot of questions that you need to consider when you are putting your children into another persons hands.  This coach should be a moral compass, teaching work ethic and sportsmanship amongst other things.

I fucking hope to hell that this prick Tremblay hasn't been fortunate enough to have kids.  If someone is willing to treat another persons children in that manner, how do you think they will treat their own children?  Chances are, not very well.  This good for nothing sumbitch deserves to have those two childrens fathers show up at his door on a daily basis, at different times of the day, and drag him out of his house and beat the living fuck out of him on his front lawn.  Hell, I would do that.  Easily.  And more than once.  This dick would have to deal with me showing up at his front door for the next 4 months of his life, every single fucking day.

Words of wisdom from The Queers..."fall back 5 yards, it's time to punt"

I know it has been awhile since I have posted an entry here, but for those that have read in the past, they are aware of my appreciation for the fisticuffs that sometimes break out in hockey.  Here is my favorite one from my favorite league, the LNAH.  Top 5 fights for the month of January.  Enjoy.

 

Hotchnuts.

If you're interested in playing fantasy hockey post your name below and I'll send you an invite. I created a league at ESPiN and the league will auto-draft on Saturday morning at 5 am, so if you play be sure to pre-rank your teams!!

Sully

It appears that NHL lockout is over. After a 16 hour marathon of meetings between Bettman, Fehr and player union reps the NHL is moving to have the current deal ratified by the players and owner's. The season, which if the deal is done in the next few days has the season starting with only IN-Conference games with a schedule of 48 games. If this deal had not been reached and negotiations had stalled much longer the season would have been bagged...which is where I was convinced it was heading. 

Perhaps Bettman and Fehr heard what I said to Jeff yesterday when I told him how much the loss of hockey has sucked for me. Sure, I love all sports but hockey is my number one and not having games to watch nightly has been a real drag, it's made this winter boring as hell and the days and nights just seem a bit longer. However it got done I'm just glad to see the players getting back to the pond where they should have been in the first place, but of course, the almighty buck got in the way, as is always the case. 

I know there are many who are miffed about the lockout, myself included, but I don't think the game will suffer as much as some predicted, hockey fans generally are a loyal bunch, but I guess you could say that about the NFL and the NBA and neither of them seem to have suffered much from their recent contract woes, in fact the NFL has never done better, they gross higher dollars each passing year. I don't know how well the NBA is faring in their actual dollar amounts per season, because I don't give a shit about tall guys slamming a ball thru a hoop. Like I've always said, you can watch the last 2 minutes of a basketball game and you've seen it all, there's not much difference between the start and finish, just up, down, shoot, slam, repeat. I'd rather get a root canal. 

I'll keep you posted as the players and owners work on sealing the deal! 

Oh, one last thing - GO IRISH!!!

This rant can pretty much start with any of the major sports I want to write about, but since hockey and the NHL has pretty much wrecked my winter I have chose those group of bullheaded jackasses to pick on first. How the hell can you solve a labor dispute thousands of miles apart sitting in front of your television and not negotiating? By the way, I think it is rather bogus to sit and blame each other for not getting a deal done when negotiations should have started during the previous season. By the way, I am not buying your excuse of not negotiating during the season its a crock of bull and you all know it......

Here is something that I will actually agree with the Beeze about, get rid of the overtime tie in football. If you have the balls to do so in the playoffs why not do it now? As a fan, we do not mind overtime until its settled, we also are familiar with the facts that most overtimes in all sports end within the first 10 minutes or even the first possession. But after all, we pay good money to come watch the sometimes crappy teams you put on the field, court or ice and we should get to see finality in the game we busted our butts at work all week to pay  for the product you place on the field. But in turn, we cannot blame the NFL for the Ram's inept offense along with the 49ers not being able to make a field goal can we?

Now onto MLB, if you want to make it fair for everyone involved the simply do this get rid of the DH entirely along with home field advantage for the winner of the all-star game. Give home field to the best records in both leagues just like the days when I was growing up. Return the sport I love to its original form, hell even add an extra wild-card play-in game and make the 3 seed play in a playoff game. It will not extend the playoffs any further than it did this year, and maybe give another team a chance to live their dream.....

NCAA we all know you are full of crap, and your system for football sucks so I do not need to go there. The only thing you have going for you is the basketball tournament, you should really take a look at the setup and try it with football, because you know it works. Some how I still see a conspiracy theory taking place, and Alabama making it into the National Championship game if two of the three remaining undefeated teams lose. That's how they roll.....

Finally, Jeff Gordon how can you look at yourself in the mirror after acting like a jackass Sunday and wrecking Clint Bowyer's car? Really Jeff, Dale Sr. has been gone for a while now, do you really think you have to revert back to your days when you were actually good enough to win cups and try and injure other racers? You definitely deserved a stiffer punishment, but because you are who you are you got a slap on the wrist that other drivers would not have received. By the way, Clint has not and will not forget what happened better keep your head up on Sunday revenge is sweet, and don't you think he will not retaliate if given the opportunity to do so.

Well boys this was fun, thanks for reading my post........

 

 

 

I have spent my summer relatively offline for the most part.  I would check my twitter or facebook feed for tidbits of info, and I would check in occasionally to check on the lack of progress with the current CBA talks.

From what I can determine, the major sticking point with the PA and the NHL is the revenue sharing.  Now, I am going to go off on a tear here, and I personally don't care if you are offended or upset with my perspective.  I am putting it out there for you, and if it causes discussion, then I have done my job.

This whole debacle kind of hits close to home for me.  The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, has introduced legislation to force all education workers back to work for the start of the school year.  However, my union has never stated that we will strike and have said nothing that would imply the school year would not start on schedule.  We have even cancelled our strike vote.  As a result, our contract is just going to roll over, without scheduled raises or improvements.  We are going to continue working until a new contract is in place.

And then we have the NHLPA.  They want more money.  Valid argument if they were being grossly underpaid.  However, if you cannot support yourself on $575,000 a year, which is what I believe the league minimum is, then you have some problems.  I make it work for me, and I earn much, much less.  If the NHLPA does not like the idea of employer and employee, then maybe they should go back to school, further their education and start their own business.  The owners want to make their money, and the NHLPA want theirs as well. 

I went to school.  I found a career which I truly enjoy.  I pay to play hockey a couple of times a week.  Yes, even during the summer here in Thunder Bay.  I love hockey.  However, all of this is starting to leave a shitty taste in my mouth.

We are hearing the arguments coming from the players; they want a cut of the money off of the game that was made on their backs.  Well, there came a time in life when they had to make a decision; try to make a career out of this hockey thing or get a real job.  They chose hockey.  Granted, I'm glad they did, because I truly enjoy watching it.  When is the greed going to stop.  The owners are the employers, and the NHLPA are the employees.  Get used to it. 

Another argument from the players is the fact that they beat up their bodies.  True, hockey is very rough sport and the potential for injury is there.  What would happen to someone like me if I was hurt playing the game I love?  First of all, I would not be paid for the days I miss from work.  I enjoy the game, so I take the risk.  The players take the same risk.  For those of you that know me, I am also in the Canadian military and have spent some time overseas.  I knew the risks, I chose to go.  Did I sit there and try to get more money because there is a chance I may get injured?  I'm pretty sure the risk of injury for those members of our respective forces that serve overseas are drastically different than what a hockey player may encounter.

And so now, the negotiations have stalled.  They are being recessed temporarily.  I guess meeting 3 times a week for 45 minutes at a time is a trying process.  And you have players calling the latest owners offer "a pig in lipstick."  You are not endearing yourself to the fans or to the owners at this time by resorting to insults. 

And Bettman, fuck you.  You arrogant, little wormy piece of shit.  You are a classless douche.  Coming out and stating the the NHL will be okay because you have the worlds best fans is a fucking insult.  By no means am I a fucking doormat.  You can only piss on my back so many times and tell me it's raining. 

This is one fucking fan that may not come back to your game you greedy, selfish sons of bitches.

Thanks,

Andrew

​Draper, Maltby, McCarty and Kocur were the antagonists. Sure they scored goals from time to time, but they killed penalties, caused penalties by irritating the hell out of their opponents and even fought the opposing teams enforcers to make things right. Do the Wings win those Cups without them, I highly doubt it because those guys were leaders and understood what sacrifices it took to win. Should they be in the HOF, no but in my mind they should not be forgotten for their contributions in the success of the Red Wings over the past 20 years.......

I thought I would bring back a few memories from the 97 season, this one is for AVD......

​Unfortunately for Drapes, this will be the hit that he will be remembered for. 

 

​So if they consider Sakic a great player in the line of Stevie Y, what about the role players that contributed to the success the AVS had, should they be in the HOF next to him? Without the 4 players I mentioned, the Wings would not have been as successful as they had been.......

Anyway, his mention of the NHL (and his team, the Vancouver Canucks) inspired to talk about Hockey realignment, which is necessary because Winnipeg is not exactly in the Southeast. (If you didn’t know, yet another franchise has moved from Atlanta to Canada, so that’s why they’re in the Southeast Division). I’m not an NHL expert, but I do appreciate the game, particularly the playoffs. I think I know enough about rivalries and so forth to give it a try, but I’m sure there are people out there who know more, so if you’re one of those people, feel free to share anything I might be overlooking. I’m also doing a similar series of blogs about college football conferences (I and II so far), and I’ll be looking for input as I get into less-familiar regions of the country.

Anyway, it just makes sense to have match-ups people are going to care about. People in Minnesota, for instance, are going to want to beat Detroit and Chicago regardless of the sport. People in New York are going to want to beat Boston regardless of the sport. And so on.

But like in basketball, Minnesota is probably going to be tacked onto the Northwest rather than a more Midwestern grouping. The existing alignment actually does not have the New York-area teams playing Boston.

Supposedly, the Eastern Conference is against “radical realignment,” but would leaving two divisions alone (except for Winnipeg moving out) and splitting the third really be so radical? I don’t think so. And I just mentioned one thing (Boston-New York) that should be attractive about making a change. Also, I think Buffalo fans would like to see them play the New York-area teams more often.

So I’ll start with the four-division idea. I thought it might be fairer to do what baseball did and create even numbers in each conference (of course baseball has leagues instead of conferences). The 15-team-conference alternative would simply move Columbus from the Eastern Conference Southern Division to the Western Conference Northern Division.

This is one place I wanted input. I was wondering if people would have more of a problem with it being harder to make the playoffs in one conference (which would be the result of 16/14) or more of a problem with uneven divisions in the same conference (which would be the result of 15/15).

I thought this first one was the best based on distance and fan interest, but there is a problem. See if you notice…

Continue reading

TUNOSHNA, Russia -- A private jet carrying a Russian professional hockey team to its first game of the season crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, killing 43 people -- including European and former NHL players -- in one of the worst aviation disasters in sports history. Two people survived the accident.

Both Russia and the world of hockey were left stunned by the deaths of so many international stars in one catastrophic event. Of the 45 people on board, 36 were players, coaches and team officials; eight were crew.

Dallas Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins, Slovakian national team captain and ex-NHL player Pavol Demitra, Olympic gold medal-winning goaltender Stefan Liv of Sweden and the team's coach, former Detroit Red Wings assistant and NHL player Brad McCrimmon were among those confirmed dead.

The chartered Yak-42 jet was carrying the team -- Lokomotiv Yaroslavl -- to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minskin its opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season.

The plane apparently struggled to gain altitude and then hit a signal tower before breaking apart along the Volga River near Yaroslavl, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. One of the blue-and-white plane's charred engines poked through the surface of the shallow water.

Russian television showed a flaming fragment of the plane in the river as divers worked feverishly to recover bodies.

"This is the darkest day in the history of our sport," said Ren� Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. "This is not only a Russian tragedy -- the Lokomotiv roster included players and coaches from 10 nations."

One player -- identified as Russian Alexander Galimov -- and one unidentified crew member were hospitalized in "very grave" condition, said Alexander Degyatryov, chief doctor at Yaroslavl's Solovyov Hospital.

"Their state of health is very grave. But there is still some hope," said Degyatryov said.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Misha JaparidzePlayers from Lokomotiv of the KHL were aboard a plane that crashed on the banks of the Volga River, killing at least 43.

Also killed were Czech players Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, the Emergency Ministry said.

Ruslan Saclei of Russia, who played for the Red Wings last year and previously played for the Anaheim Ducks, was also among the dead.

"Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world -- including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said the union was "deeply saddened" by the deaths of so many former NHLPA members.

"Words cannot express the profound sorrow that this loss has created. Our sincere condolences go out to the friends and families who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy," Fehr said in a statement.

Russian NHL star Alex Ovechkin tweeted: "I'm in shock!!!!!R.I.P ..."

The crash comes on top of an already mournful year for the NHL in which three of the league's enforcers were found dead: Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and recently retired Wade Belak.

The cause of Wednesday's crash was not immediately apparent, but Russian news agencies cited unnamed local officials as saying it may have been due to technical problems. The plane was built in 1993 and belonged to a small Moscow-based Yak Service company.

In recent years, Russia and the other former Soviet republics have had some of the world's worst air traffic safety records. Experts blame the poor safety record on the age of the aircraft, weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality.

"It's just stunning and just awful," Demitra's agent, Matt Keator, said of the tragedy.

Keator had visited with Demitra in Russia three weeks ago. He first met the player when the two were with the Blues organization -- Keator as a scout and Demitra as a successful player.

"You couldn't find a more popular teammate," Keator said.

Two former Chicago Blackhawks, Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev, also were among those that died. Karpovtsev and Korolev were assistant coaches with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Karpovtsev, 41, played for the Hawks from 2000-04. He won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994. He joined three Rangers teammates in 1994 as the first Russian players to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Korolev, also 41, was a Hawk from 2001-04. In 12 NHL seasons with St. Louis, the Winnipeg-Phoenix franchise, Toronto and Chicago, he scored 119 goals in 795 games.

"We stand together with the entire KHL, NHL and hockey world in mourning today's tragic news concerning the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team," the Hawks said in a statement. "The tragedy affects the Chicago Blackhawks family directly as we mourn the losses of Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev, two players who spent time with our organization and that our fans know well. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl organization."

The Stars confirmed on their website that Skrastins was among those killed.

"The Dallas Stars family is shocked and saddened by the passing of Karlis Skrastins and so many other young lives in a plane crash in Russia today," Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk said. "Karlis was a wonderful father and husband, as well as a good friend. He will be greatly missed."

Swedish Ice Hockey Association chairman Christer Englund told The Associated Press that the 30-year-old Liv, who helped Sweden win gold medals in the Olympics and world championships in 2006, was aboard the flight.

Former New Jersey Devils forward Alexander Vasyunov also was among the dead, Devils GM Lou Lamoriello told ESPNNewYork.com. Vasyunov was 23.

"I don't think anybody can prepare for something like this," Lamoriello said. "It's just devastating news. Words can't express my personal feelings.

"I can't say enough about him as a young man. He certainly had talent. His whole career was in front of him."

"We are only beginning to understand the impact of this tragedy affecting the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl club and the international hockey community," the KHL said in a statement. "First and foremost, our condolences go out to the families and friends of the players, coaches and staff lost in today's tragedy.

"We know that there are many in the KHL family who will be grieving with us. As the investigation of this tragedy progresses we will work closely with investigators, government officials, club executives and the Yaroslavl community. We are working to find an appropriate way to honor this club and begin the healing process from the deep loss so many of us feel today.

"We are aware that many of you have questions. This tragedy remains our primary focus. We ask for patience as we find an appropriate way to proceed with the 2011-2012 season."

International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel called the crash "a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community," pointing out that the team's roster included players and coaches from 10 countries.

"Despite the substantial air travel of professional hockey teams, our sport has been spared from tragic traffic accidents," Fasel said. "But only until now. This is the darkest day in the history of our sport."

Swarms of police and rescue crews rushed to Tunoshna, a ramshackle village with a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River 10 miles east of Yaroslavl. One of the plane's engines could be seen poking out of the river and a flotilla of boats combed the water for bodies. Divers struggled to heft the bodies of large, strong athletes in stretchers up the muddy, steep riverbank.

Resident Irina Prakhova saw the plane going down then heard a loud bang.

"It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong," said Prakhova. "I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts on."

More than 2,000 mourning fans wearing jerseys and scarves and waving team flags gathered in the evening outside Lokomotiv's stadium in Yaroslavl to pay their respects. Riot police stood guard as fans chanted sport songs in honor of the dead athletes.

Yaroslavl governor Sergei Vakhrukov promised the crowd that the Lokomotiv team would be rebuilt from scratch, prompting anger from some fans at a perceived lack of respect for the dead.

Lokomotiv is a leading force in Russian hockey and finished third in the KHL last year. It was also a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002 and 2003.

McCrimmon, who took over as coach in May, was most recently an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Calgary, Hartford and Phoenix.

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said he has known McCrimmon since the 1980s, during his playing career.

"It's shocking. I think everybody in the hockey community is probably in shock and numb, myself included," Holland told ESPN.com.

"He loved hockey. He was a tremendous guy and wonderful family man. Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife Maureen and two children."

"We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane," said Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretyak.

A cup game between hockey teams Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the central Russian city of Ufa was called off in mid-match after news of the crash was announced. Russian television showed an empty arena in Ufa as grief-stricken fans abandoned the stadium.

The KHL is an international club league of teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.

Russia was hoping to showcase Yaroslavl as a modern and vibrant city this week at an international forum attended by heads of state, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, so the crash came as a particularly bitter blow.

Many in the Czech Republic also took the news hard.

"Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek, and Josef Vasicek contributed greatly to the best successes of our ice hockey in the recent years, first of all to the golden medals at the world championships in 2005 and 2010," said Tomas Kral, the president of the Czech ice hockey association. "The were excellent players, but also great friends and personalities. That's how we will remember them."

Fans planned to gather Thursday at the Old Town Square in the Czech capital of Prague, where national team players usually celebrate, to commemorate the three Czech players.

In the western Slovak city of Trencin, where Demitra started his career and where he played during the NHL lockout 2004-05 season, hundreds fans gathered outside the ice hockey stadium Wednesday night to light candles in his memory.

Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year. The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and about 100 are still being used by Russian carriers.

In June, another Russian passenger jet, a Tu-134, crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. That crash has been blamed on pilot error.

In past plane crashes involving sports teams, 75 Marshall University football players, coaches, fans and airplane crew died in West Virginia on Nov. 14, 1970, while returning from a game. Thirty-six of the dead were players.

Thirty members of a Uruguayan rugby club were killed in a crash in the Andes in 1972.

The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team died in a crash on their way to the 1961 world championships in Brussels, and 18 members of the Torino soccer team died near Turin, Italy, in a 1949 crash.

A plane crash in 1950 near the Russian city of Sverdlovsk, now called Yekaterinburg, killed 13 players and officials in the air force's ice hockey squad. A Munich air crash in 1958 cost eight Manchester United players their lives.

ESPN.com hockey writers Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun and The Associated Press contributed to this story.