Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Friday is the anniversary of the airplane crash in Russia that killed 44, including nearly all members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey organization. Tonight in Yaroslav, the newly reconstituted Lokomotiv team played its first game back in Russia's KHL. They won 5-2.
The dead a year ago included former LA Kings player Pavol Demitra and former Anaheim Ducks player Ruslan Salei; every NHL team was touched in some way by the loss of so many players and coaches. Here's the video of the memorial service held in the hockey arena in Minsk, instead of the game that Lokomotiv was scheduled to play. The whole thing is just so moving, but it becomes especially so eight minutes in when the Minsk players come on the ice and make their own tribute. Later the president of Belarus takes to his skates to place flowers on the ice.
Previously on LA Observed:
Belarus honors a hockey team
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl website fades to black
Former L.A. hockey players presumed dead in Russia crash *
