NHL Suffers Another Loss

I'd like to take the time to mention the extremely sad news of the death of NY Rangers prospect, Alexei Cherepanov.

Cherepanov was only 19. He had been drafted by the NY Rangers in 2007, but decided to stay in his native Russia for another year to play in the KHL before heading to the NHL. In the KHL he played on Omsk with teammate Jaromir Jagr who, from what I've been reading, took Cherepanov under his wing.

Due to the speed of reports being released / updated and things being "lost in translation," specifics are still sketchy, but Cherepanov was playing in Monday evening's game against Vityaz Chekhov. After a collision with Jagr, he got back to the bench and just collapsed - his heart stopped beating and suffered a heart attack (I think where the confusion with Jagr may lie is in the reports mentioning the fact that he collided with Cherepanov before he collapsed; it has since been confirmed that this had nothing to do with Cherepanov's death).

I feel the saddest part of this entire situation is that supposedly the ambulance that is present during games had already left and had to be called back; there is also some question as to whether or not the defibrillators at the arena were in working condition. After trying to resuscitate him at the hospital for an hour, they pronounced him dead on Monday at 22:55 Moscow time (2:55 PM est).

My thoughts and prayers are with his family & friends (including Jagr who seems to be shaken up and is the center of some unnecessary controversy).

May he rest in peace.