It seems like this has been the summer that bullseyes were painted on ex-Canuck player’s chests. First we lost Ryp and then today’s horrific news out of Russia…

An ENTIRE hockey team, one of the best in the KHL, lost in a single accident… man, I don’t know what to say… condolences don’t begin to tell the story in this case…

One of the players lost was Pavol Demitra, former winger for the Canucks and current Slovakian National Team Captain. Scoring leader in the 2010 Olympics, point a game production in the NHL… but that is only part of the story…

Demitra started playing hockey when he was 15 (before that he was a soccer player)! Three years later he was drafted into the NHL. He was THAT good!

Demitra had an excellent career in the NHL, especially in St. Louis, so when he came to the Canucks there were high hopes.

He started well, then things slowed to a crawl. He was injured but then something else. We didn’t know at the time, until the team announced he was taking time away from the game.

The fact was that as much as we wanted a scoring machine what we got was a heckuva hockey player who was an even more devoted husband and father.

His wife was very sick and try as he might he couldn’t play through the long nights at her bedside.

Eventually it meant leaving the NHL. He thought of retiring, but decided to try the KHL (closer to home for sure). And he did well.

Today his wife Maja and children Lucas and Zara grieve his passing, not as a hockey player, but as father and husband. We all grieve the loss of an entire hockey team, but when we remember our ‘stars’ as ‘people’ the game becomes a very small part of the big picture…

My condolences to all the families and friends of the 43 men (and women) who passed through the veil on RA-42434 today…

You were a great hockey player Pavol, but a better man…

M.