Tragedy

[bzarcher]

RIP: Alexi Cherepanov.

An incredible shock to have someone die at such a young age, without an apparent cause. I'm doubly shocked because I saw him drafted in Columbus and take part in some of the prospect skating. He certainly didn't look like someone with any major health problems.

My thoughts are with his friends, teammates, and family.

Comments

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

Oh that's horrible. Nineteen...

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Far, far, far too young.

I feel really guilty because I really didn't like the way I saw him skating / playing and made some kinda nasty comments back around the draft. :( Those feel rather stupid now.

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

Wow. There by the grace of God . . . . That and Clint Malarchuk's 'shooting' sure put the game in perspective.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Ayup. :(

However, it does go on. What does your Friday look like? Did you want to grab your ticket ahead of time?

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

I'll decided that on Thursday, after i've seen my schedule. So far so good, and I'm looking forward to the game. Maybe I'll even see Peca but I fear not. I've read on this, and who better to make a sacrificial lamb then a lowly Blue Jacket?

Sheesh.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

More than fair.

I am -vaugely- hopeful. Reaction to the suspension from pretty much every media source I've read has been "Dude, WTF?"

If the NHL looks at the evidence and says that both sides were wrong, as seems entirely possible, I have hope that they might let Peca off with the 2 game suspension he'll have already served by the time of the hearing (Wednesday, last I heard), and he might be able to play Friday.

What bothers me the most about the Peca situation is that the same ref that ejected him was allowed to file the suspension and the term of the suspension! I don't have an issue with the idea of a referree ejecting a player and telling the leauge that the player's situation should be reviewed for a suspension by the head of officiating, but especially in a case like this where the reffing was highly suspect to begin with, letting that same ref under question eject a player, then suspend him, then arbitrarily decree that he should be suspended for up to a quarter of the season before a third party review or an appeal process can be taken?

Seems just a -bit- vindctive and ripe for abuse...

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right. But without video to back him up, I think they'll just go with the ref. And we may end up getting called really tight.

Lord, I want to be wrong! Of course I said that about Iraq too . . . .

[ardaniel]

Collapsing and dying like that at that age often results from a previously undetected congenital heart defect. Young kid, athletic, no one thinks about the chances that the heart's not up to par.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do some cardio and respiratory testing at the combine, but it's entirely possible it might have gone undetected.