Former striker “Lokomotiv” Vladimir Antipov told that he still cannot come to terms with the tragedy that happened at the Yaroslavl club on September 7, 2011.
The plane with Lokomotiv hockey players on board crashed on September 7, 2011 while climbing. The plane contained the entire base team and coaching staff of the Yaroslavl club, as well as eight crew members. 43 people died instantly; Lokomotiv forward Alexander Galimov died of his injuries in hospital on September 12. Operations engineer Alexander Sizov became the only survivor of the plane crash. Due to the disaster, Lokomotiv missed the 2011/12 KHL season, and the revived team competed in the Major Hockey League (VHL) championship.
“The loss of this Lokomotiv is a huge loss for the entire hockey community and parents. I still can’t understand, even 13 years later, that such a tragedy happened. It’s hard to believe that our boys, the guys I talked to, the staff are no more. We remember it every time. It’s impossible to find the words here… It happened suddenly. It always seems that all tragedies happen somewhere far away, not at home, but the loss of the guys, unfortunately, touched us all. They left and could no longer continue to delight us with their hockey.
I have said and will continue to say that there was a real champion team on board that plane. I am more than sure that they would have qualified for the Gagarin Cup; this formation had been formed for many years. It is very difficult for the current Lokomotiv to form such a team. Yes, they are slowly moving towards this, they played in the final that season and won silver medals. But look how many years it took,” Antipov told .
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