KHL clubs to give players to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl after plane crash

A day after the plane crash that killed all but one player of the Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslav, teams from the Continental Hockey League (KHL) have indicated they are willing to give their players to the club to enable it to play again.

The plane travelling to an away game in Minsk crashed on takeoff on Wednesday afternoon, killing all but two of the 45 people on board.

The chairman of the KHL board of directors Viacheslav Fetisov said Thursday that several players had already expressed their willingness to play for Lokomotiv Yaroslav, and that the club could have a competitive team together in two or three days.

“This says a lot about the solidarity of players and the tradition of ice hockey,” Fetisov said, adding that fans of many clubs supported the idea.

Spartak Moscow fans have suggested that players who played for Lokomotiv Yaroslav in their youth should return to the club, and that youth coach Pjotrs Vorobjovs be in charge of the team.

It would not be the first time in Russian sport that a team would continue competing with players from another team. In 1979 a plane carrying the Pakhtakor Tashkent football team, which was also en route to an away game in Minsk, collided with another plane and all 165 people on board the two aircrafts died.

Players from other clubs joined Pakhtakor Tashkent and it was decided that the club would not be relegated for three years.