Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Hockey coach charged with fondling teen dies in jail cell

pravilov

An ugly story took a sad end on Friday. Ukrainian hockey coach Ivan Pravilov was found dead in a jail cell according to The Associated Press.

Officials believe that Pravilov committed suicide, although an official autopsy hasn’t been conducted yet. The hockey coach and trainer was arrested in January for allegedly having sexual contact with a teenage hockey player.* Pravilov reportedly pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Pravilov coached several NHL and college hockey players, including New Jersey Devils center Dainius Zubrus. The Associated Press reports that former hockey player Maxim Starchenko described him as “physically, mentally and sexually abusive” in a book.

Pravilov was 49 years old.

* - The official charge seems to be “traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and transporting a person to engage in criminal sexual activity.”

(Image via NBCPhiladelphia.com)