Remembering the Summer of Sorrow

HockeyRants will wear a black armband this season to honour the dead.

Derek Boogaard. Died May 13, 2011 at the age of 28 in his Minneapolis from a fatal combination of drugs and alcohol.  Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has determined that Derek had C.T.E (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head.  Was the disease, and the related mood swings and drug dependency caused by fighting?  Many people have an opinion.  The New York Times produced an online documentary on the topic called Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer and a related article: Derek Boogaard: A Boy Learns to Brawl.

Rick Rypien. Died August 15, 2011 at the age of 27. As an undrafted junior player, Rypien began his professional career with the Manitoba Moose on a amateur tryout in 2005. He stuck with the AHL club and by the 2007-2008 season had managed to be called up to the Vancouver Canucks. He finished the season with 22 NHL games and stayed up with the Canucks for the next few years. Due to personal issues he only played 9 games for the Canucks in 2010-11 and finished the season with the Moose. He signed a one year contract with the Winnipeg Jets one month before his death.

Wade Belak. Died August 31, 2011 at the age of 35. Remembered by Michael Landsberg .

Vitaly Anikeyenko. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 24. Was starting his 6th season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. He represented Russia at the IIHF World U18 Championship twice (2003, 2005) and the World Junior Hockey Championship in 2007.

Mikhail Yuriyevich Balandin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 31. Mikhail played for many teams in the Russian Superleague/KHL in his 13 years of professional hockey including Ufa Salavat Yulayev, Tolyatti Lada, CSKA Moscow, Mytishchi Khimik, Moscow Dynamo and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.

Gennady Churilov Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 24.

Pavol Demitra. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 36.

Robert Dietrich. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 25.

Alexander Galimov. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 26.

Marat Kalimulin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 23.

Alexander Kalyanin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 23.

Andrei Kiryukhin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 24.

Nikita Klyukin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 21.

Stefan Liv. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 30.

Jan Marek. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 31.

Sergei Ostapchuk. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 21.

Karel Rachůnek. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 32.

Ruslan Salei. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 36.

Maxim Shuvalov . Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 18.

Kārlis Skrastiņš. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 37.

Pavel Snurnitsyn. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 19.

Daniil Sobchenko. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 20.

Ivan Tkachenko. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 31.

Pavel Trakhanov. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 33.

Yuri Urychev. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 20.

Josef Vašíček. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 30.

Alexander Vasyunov. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 23.

Alexander Vyukhin. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 38.

Artem Yarchuk. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 21.

Alexander Karpovtsev. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 41.

Igor Korolev . Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 41.

Brad McCrimmon. Died September 7, 2011 at the age of 52.

Yevgeni Sidorov .Died September 7, 2011.