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MOSCOW - The Russian hockey team whose players were killed in a plane crash will be rebuilt in time to take part in this years Kontinental Hockey League season, according to the leagues leader. Brandon Myers Buccaneers Jersey . All but one of the 28 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players travelling to Belarus for their first game of the season were killed when their Yak-42 jet crashed on Wednesday. KHL chief Alexander Medvedev said Thursday that each team in the league should volunteer up to three players each toward building a new Lokomotiv squad. He says it will free up between 40 and 45 players for Lokomotiv to pick. "The 18 KHL clubs whose representatives I have managed to speak with have supported this proposal," Medvedev said in remarks to Atlant Mytischi hockey clubs press service. Medvedev said up to 35 players have already put their names forward to join Lokomotiv, but he didnt specify any names. He said one idea was for players salaries to be underwritten by the teams from which they had been transferred to Lokomotiv for the duration of one season. "This is still an unofficial decision, but it has been supported by everbody, and many are putting this idea forward themselves," Medvedev said in televised remarks. Along with recruiting from other clubs, Medvedev said Lokomotiv will promote five players from its youth team. The KHL is an international club league that features 24 teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia. Lokomotiv is a leading force in Russian hockey, winning the Russian League championship in 1997, 2002 and 2003. The team finished third in the KHL last season. Among those killed in Wednesdays crash were Lokomotiv coach and NHL veteran Brad McCrimmon, a Saskatchewan native; assistant coach Alexander Karpovtsev, one of the first Russians to have his name etched on the Stanley Cup as a member of the New York Rangers; and Pavol Demitra, who played for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks and was the Slovakian national team captain. Other standouts killed were Czech players Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, Swedish goalie Stefan Liv, Latvian defenceman Karlis Skrastins and defenceman Ruslan Salei of Belarus. Russian player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crew member. Galimov was transferred Thursday to the Vishnevsky Institute in Moscow, around 240 kilometres southwest from the site of the crash. Andrei Alexeyev, a doctor in the institutes burns department, said Galimov has gained consciousness and was able to speak to his father. Treatment "will be a complex process. Round-the-clock diagnostics will be needed, and we must prevent any infections," Alexeyev said. Medvedevs suggestion of resurrecting Lokomotiv by recruiting players from other teams has a precedent in Soviet history. In 1979, a plane heading from the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan to Minsk carrying the Pakhtakor Tashkent soccer team collided with another passenger aircraft, killing 178 people. Seventeen members of the Pakhtakor team were killed. After the crash, all top-flight Soviet sides gave up three players to Pakhtakor so the club could play in the national championship. Pakhtakor also was guaranteed exemption from possible relegation for three seasons. On Wednesday evening, Yaroslavl governor Sergei Vakhrukov addressed a crowd of some 3,000 mourning fans outside the Lokomotiv stadium and promised the team would be rebuilt. But that vow prompted anger from some fans over a perceived lack of respect for the dead. KHL games planned for the weekend have been postponed. Games will resume Monday, the KHL said in a statement on its website. A memorial ceremony for victims of the crash will be held Saturday at Lokomotiv Yaroslavls hockey arena. Buccaneers #83 Jersey . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Buccaneers #73 Jersey . -- Jeff Francis appeared to be in for a brief night after labouring through 66 pitches in the first three innings. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Philip Rivers gloved hands found the right touch in the January cold. The Bengals? Still cant do anything right when its playoff time. San Diego took advantage of Andy Daltons three turnovers in the second half on Sunday, pulling away to a 27-10 victory that extended the Bengals stretch of playoff misery to 23 years and counting. With Rivers making accurate throws in the chilling rain, the Chargers (10-7) won their fifth in a row, beating the last team that had knocked them off. Theyll play next Sunday in Denver, which has the AFCs top seed. It was a shocking finish for the Bengals (11-6), who won the AFC North, went unbeaten at home and had their top-ranked defence for the playoffs. With everything in their favour, they fell apart, getting outscored 20-0 in the second half. "We asked a lot of our defence today and they came up with three big turnovers," said Rivers, who was 12 of 16 for 128 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. "We didnt turn it over, which is always big in the playoffs." The Bengals now have the sixth-longest streak of playoff futility in NFL history, stretching all the way back to the 1990 season. Theyve lost their playoff opener three straight years, matching a league record as well, according to STATS LLC. Coach Marvin Lewis fell to 0-5 in the playoffs during his 11 seasons as head coach, but is expected to stick around and get another chance to try again. A lot of it fell on Dalton, who has a trilogy of bad playoff games. He fumbled and threw two interceptions in the second half that set up San Diegos win. Dalton finished 29 of 51 for 334 yards with a below--average passer rating of 67. Mark Barron Buccaneers Jersey. Combined with the Saints victory over the Eagles on Saturday night, the two No. 6 playoff seeds won for the first time since 2010, when the Packers won the Super Bowl. And the Chargers are thinking: Why not us? "We talked all week about this being the fifth round," Rivers said, referring to their five-game winning streak. "So the sixth round will be in Denver next week." This one was a reversal from the last time they met. The Bengals forced three turnovers for a 17-10 win in San Diego on Dec. 1, which became the Chargers turning point. The Bengals got the rematch at home, where they had scored 49, 41, 41, 42 and 34 points in their last five regular season games. They were blanked in the second half on Sunday, when Dalton went 17 of 34 for 170 yards with two interceptions, a fumble and three sacks. In first-round playoff losses each of the past three seasons, Dalton has thrown one touchdown pass and six interceptions. Rivers completed a team-record and NFL-best 69.5 per cent of his passes this season for 4,478 yards. He was only 5 of 6 in the first half for 48 yards with San Diego frequently backed inside its 20-yard line to start drives. He completed all of his six passes during a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that put the Chargers ahead to stay, with his 4-yard pass to Ladarius Green giving San Diego a 14-10 lead. Dalton then made the mistakes that turned the game, allowing the Chargers to pull ahead. Ronnie Brown finished it off with a 58-yard touchdown run, the longest TD run against the Bengals in their playoff history. ' ' ' |
