2011–12 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl season

The 2011–12 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl season is the franchise's 52nd season of play in professional ice hockey in Russia. It was supposed to be its fourth season in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The season was scheduled to start on September 8, 2011. However, on September 7, while traveling to their season opener, the team's plane crashed, killing 43 people, including 25 roster players, and 11 members of the team staff. Only Alexander Galimov survived the initial impact of the crash with severe injuries, but died on September 12. Another roster player, Maxim Zyuzyakin, did not travel with the team on the plane. As a consequence, the league cancelled the September 7 Opening Cup game between Salavat Yulaev and Atlant already in progress, postponing the opening of the KHL season until September 12. 
The tragedy forced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to cancel their participation in the 2011–12 KHL season. Instead, the club participates in the 2011–12 season of the Russian Major League (VHL), the second top ice hockey league in Russia after the KHL, in December 2011 and will be eligible for the MHL playoffs. Also, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's squad for the 2012–13 KHL season will automatically be qualified for the KHL playoffs that season, and the club may request allowance to use more than six non-Russian players in the KHL squad.
==Off-season==
Lokomotiv lost in the 2011 KHL Western Conference Finals 4–2 to Atlant. Following this playoff disappointment, eleven players (most notably former NHLers Daniel Tjärnqvist and Alexander Korolyuk) left the team, and nine players were added to the roster for the upcoming 2011–12 KHL season. The players set to make their debut with the team notably included former NHLers Ruslan Salei and Kārlis Skrastiņš. Also set to make their coaching debuts were former NHLers Igor Korolev and Brad McCrimmon.
==Pre-season==
Prior to the crash, the team played nine pre-season games, finishing with a 7–2 record. The team won their second straight Latvian Railways Cup (August 23–27), a pre-season KHL tournament. On September 3, the players played their last game, at home against Torpedo, winning 5–2. Alexander Galimov, the sole team survivor of the initial impact, scored the last goal of that game, sealing the win for Lokomotiv with an empty net goal.
2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0 	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0 	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0	2011 pre-season game log: 7–2–0
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score 	Home 	OT/SO 	Decision 	Reference 	 	 	
1 	August 10 (in Visp, Switzerland) 	Lokomotiv 	7 - 2 	EHC Visp 	 	Liv 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
2 	August 12 (in Leukerbad, Switzerland)	Lokomotiv 	3 - 4 	SC Bern 	 	Liv 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
3 	August 13 (in Leukerbad, Switzerland)	Lokomotiv 	5 - 1 	HC Ambrì-Piotta 	 	Vyukhin 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
4 	August 23 (in Riga, Latvia) 	Lokomotiv 	2 - 3 	Neftekhimik 	SO 	Vyukhin 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
5 	August 24 (in Riga, Latvia) 	Lokomotiv 	1 - 0 	Atlant 	 	Liv 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
6 	August 26 (in Riga, Latvia) 	Lokomotiv 	3 - 0 	Dinamo Minsk 	 	Liv 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
7 	August 27 (in Riga, Latvia) 	Lokomotiv 	3 - 0 	Neftekhimik 	 	Liv 	 	 	 	
8 	September 1 	Severstal 	3 - 5 	Lokomotiv 	 	Vyukhin 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
9 	September 3 	Torpedo 	2 - 5 	Lokomotiv 	 	Liv 	Хоккейный Клуб «Локомотив» (Ярославль)	 	 	
===Crash===
All players and most of the team staff were killed on 7 September 2011 when the Yak-Service Yak-42 that was chartered by the team crashed on takeoff from Tunoshna Airport in Yaroslavl, into the Volga River. Alexander Galimov survived the crash, but later died of his injuries. Goalie coach Jorma Valtonen and forward Maxim Zyuzyakin were not on the flight.
==Rebuilding the team==
It was announced by KHL president Alexander Medvedev that a disaster draft would be conducted to assemble a new team for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Every other team in the league would select up to three players for the pool of 40–45 players for Lokomotiv to select in the disaster draft, which selected up to 14 players, as five players were be promoted from Lokomotiv's youth team, and forward Maxim Zyuzyakin, who did not travel with the team, formed the core of the roster before the start of the disaster draft. The drafted players will continue to receive salaries from their respective teams.KHL’s bold plans to keep Lokomotiv running after tragedy - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports Lokomotiv's former coach Petr Vorobiev was hired as the new head coach. On September 10, at the team's public memorial service, team president Yuri Yakovlev announced that Lokomotiv would not participate in the 2011–12 KHL season.
Instead, the club participates in the 2011–12 season of the Russian Major League (VHL), the second top ice hockey league in Russia after the KHL. In October 2011, the team announced that its first game in the VHL would take place on 12 December 2011 at home ice. Players between 17 and 22 years old under contract to KHL and VHL teams were made available for Lokomotiv to build a roster. The team will play 22 games in the VHL, playing each team once. Its participation in the playoffs will be dependent on its winning percentage compared to other teams at the end of the season.
==Regular season==
===Schedule and results===
2011–12 game log: 3–2–0 (home: 2–1–0; road: 1–1–0)	2011–12 game log: 3–2–0 (home: 2–1–0; road: 1–1–0)	 	 	
December: 3-2-0 (home: 2-1-0; road: 1-1-0)
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable"	 	 	 	
Game 	December 	Opponent 	Score 	Record
1 	12 	Neftyanik Almetyevsk 	5-1 	1-0-0
2 	14 	Ariada-Akpars Volzhsk	2-0 	2-0-0
3 	20 	@ Molot-Prikamye Perm	2-3 OT	2-1-0
4 	22 	@ Izhstal Izhevsk 	4-1 	3-1-0
5 	28 	HC Donbass 	3-4 OT	3-2-0
==Current roster==
==Team at the time of crash==
===Roster===
|}
===Staff===
Person 	Age	Country	Title
Brad McCrimmon 	52 	 	Head Coach
Alexander Karpovtsev	41 	 	Assistant Coach
Igor Korolev 	41 	/ 	Assistant Coach
Jorma Valtonen* 	64 	 	Goalie Coach
Yuri Bakhvalov 	- 	- 	physician/massage therapistftp://213.150.87.138/Arhiv/2010/N43/PDF/slj_2710_28.pdf
Aleksandr Belyayev 	- 	- 	Equipment manager/massage therapist
Nikolai Krivonosov 	31 	 	Fitness coach
Yevgeni Kunnov 	- 	- 	Massage therapist
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov	- 	- 	Massage therapist
Vladimir Piskunov 	52 	 	Administrator
Yevgeni Sidorov 	- 	- 	Coach-analyst
Andrei Zimin 	- 	- 	Team doctor
* Zyuzyakin and Valtonen were the only club members not aboard the plane.
==References==
==External links==
* Official Website
Category:2012 in hockey
Category:HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Category:Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Category:2011 in hockey
Category:2012 in hockey