Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey club, whose main squad got killed in a plane crash in September, have revealed their new lineup to take part in the VHL season.
The roster of 20 names consists of young Russian players. The veteran among those selected, Daniil Erdakov, was born in 1989.
Head coach Pyotr Vorobiev turns out to be the most famous figure in the new Lokomotiv team.
The 62-year-old, who began his coaching career back in 1981, was in charge of such teams as Dynamo Riga, Dynamo Moscow, Lada Togliatti, Atlant Moscow Region, Torpedo Nizhny-Novgorod and the Latvian national squad.
He also worked in Yaroslavl, spending five years with Loko from 1996 till 2001, and returned to the club after the tragedy.
Lokomotiv make their VHL debut on December 12, facing Neftyanik Almetyevsk on home ice.
The Yaroslavl team will play only half of the season in Russia’s second-strongest hockey league, but, according to the regulations, they will make the playoffs regardless of the results they show.
Loko administration has earlier announced that the team will be missing this year’s KHL season, but plan to field a new team for the 2012/13 championship.
A Yak-42 aircraft, carrying the players, coaches and team personnel of three-time Russian champions Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashed immediately after takeoff from Tunoshna Airport in the Yaroslavl Region on September 7.
The investigators put the blame for the accident, in which none of the 37 team members survived, on pilot error.
Lokomotiv’s VHL roster:
Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Skrynnik (1991), Nikita Lozhkin (1991);
Defenders: Egor Yakovlev (1991), Pavel Lukin (1990), Yan Krasovsky (1990), Vitaly Zotov (1992), Oleg Misyul (1993), Arthur Amirov (1992);
Forwards: Aleksandr Lebedev (1994), Emil Galimov (1992), Kirill Voronin (1994), Daniil Apalkov (1992), Maksim Zyuzyakin (1991), Kirill Kapustin (1993), Magomed Gimbatov (1990), Dmitry Maltsev (1991), Daniil Romantsev (1993), Oleg Yashin (1990), Daniil Erdakov (1989), Vladislav Kartaev (1992).