Many were shocked and saddened yesterday after learning that former Canuck Pavol Demitra was among 43 people killed in a plane crash in Russia.
Demitra, 36, died when a plane carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl — a team in the Kontinental Hockey League — crashed into the Volga River shortly after takeoff near the city of Yaroslavl, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow.
He leaves behind his wife, Maja, and children, Lucas and Zara.
Hockey fans Felicia McKinnon and Shanyaa Assu headed to Rogers Arena yesterday afternoon to start a small memorial for Demitra near a similar one for ex-Canuck Rick Rypien, who died mid-August at his Alberta home.
“I met him once and he was the sweetest guy,” McKinnon said. “He was one of the underdogs that people kind of doubted, but he did his thing.”
Canucks blogger Katie Maximick said people didn’t get to see Demitra at his best because of his injuries, but teammates and fans respected his character and performance on and off the ice.
“His biggest contribution that we’re hearing from the players is his contribution in the locker-room,” she said. “He was very funny, a great guy and fun to talk to.”
Canucks GM Mike Gillis signed Demitra to a two-year, $ 8-million contract in July 2008, but he only managed to play 28 games during his final injury-plagued season. He signed with Lokomotiv last summer after playing his last two years in the NHL with Vancouver.
Ex-Canuck Geoff Courtnall was Demitra’s teammate for parts of five seasons with the St. Louis Blues.
“He was a really great, happy-go-lucky kid who had amazing skill,” Courtnall told CTV News.
Also killed in the crash were Lokomotiv’s Canadian head coach Brad McCrimmon and former NHLers Josef Vasicek, Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei.
With files from the canadian press
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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