Yaroslavl, RUSSIA - The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey club will skip the 2011-2012 Kontinental Hockey League season, Yury Yakovlev, the club's president, said at a news conference on Saturday.
"Our primary goal is to take care of the families and beloved ones of the dead. The second goal is to restore a team of a worthy level. We have decided that the team will start playing from the next season," Yakovlev said.
A farewell ceremony for the Lokomotiv players who died in the September 7 plane crash was held at Arena-2000 ice palace, Lokomotiv’s home arena.
A Yak-42 plane with 45 people on board, most of them members of Lokomotiv, crashed shortly after takeoff outside Yaroslavl on September 7. Only two out of the 45 survived the crash.
