A private jet carrying a Russian professional hockey team to its first game of the season crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, killing 43 people — including European and former NHL players — in one of the worst aviation disasters in sports history. Two people survived the accident.The crash also was the latest tragedy to befall the sport of hockey — following the sudden, offseason deaths of three of the NHL's tough-guy enforcers that has shocked fans.The chartered Yak-42 jet was carrying the team — Lokomotiv Yaroslavl — to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday in its opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season. Of the 45 people on board,wholesale nfl jerseys 36 were players, coaches and team officials; eight were crew.The plane apparently struggled to gain altitude and then hit a signal tower before breaking apart along the Volga River near Yaroslavl, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. One of the blue-and-white plane's charred engines poked through the surface of the shallow water.''This is the darkest day in the history of our sport,'' said Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. ''This is not only a Russian tragedy — the Lokomotiv roster included players and coaches from 10 nations.''One player — identified as Russian Alexander Galimov — and one unidentified crew member were hospitalized in ''very grave'' condition, said Alexander Degyatryov, chief doctor at Yaroslavl's Solovyov Hospital.Among the dead were Lokomotiv coach and NHL veteran Brad McCrimmon, a Canadian; 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,Youth Jerseys Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, Swedish goalie Stefan Liv, Latvian defenseman Karlis Skrastins and defenseman Ruslan Salei of Belarus.Russian NHL star Alex Ovechkin reflected the anguish that resonated through the sport of hockey when he tweeted: ''I'm in shock!!!!!R.I.P.''''Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world — including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends,'' NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.
When rebel forces entered the Libyan capital of Tripoli Sunday night, many Libyans celebrated. In Benghazi, small children in cars waved the rebels' flag as their parents honked horns. Outside the courthouse, people danced as fireworks lit up the sky. But not all Libyans are rejoicing. Many still harbor strongNFL store feelings for the deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi despite the atrocities his forces committed during the country's revolution.In the Khandaq prison just outside Tripoli, a small padlock bolts a metal door to a room the size of a basketball gym. Inside, 40-odd Libyans and foreigners sit on mattresses that hug the walls. The rebels say the inmates are an assortment of Gaddafi troops and foreign mercenaries. Though most deny they fought for the ousted leader, they nevertheless expressed admiration for him."Gaddafi gave us freedom," boasted Walid Fath Allah. The 21 year-old explained how he came from the city of Sebha, about 400 miles south of Tripoli, along with his cousin to help fight the rebels around Aug. 6. He was given one day of military training before he was sent to the front. Gaddafi loyalists promised him $200 dollars after three months, but Fath Allah said he did not take up arms for the money.NFL shop "I believed in him. I wanted to help him squash those fighting him." The dark-skinned man who looked hardly older than a teenager explained that though Arab satellite channels showed pictures of rebel fighters who looked much like other Libyans, he still believed Gaddafi when he declared them to be foreign terrorists.Fath Allah noted that his support for Gaddafi was not an isolated case. Despite the fact that Sebha suffered electricity and water shortages during the six month revolution, he recalled how many of its residents still backed Gaddafi all the way to his fall.