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NHLers hold charity games in Slovakia honoring Pavol Demitra

Ice Hockey - Men's Bronze Medal Game - Day 16

VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 27: Pavol Demitra #38 of Slovakia celebrates after scoring a goal in the second period during the ice hockey men’s bronze medal game between Finland and Slovakia on day 16 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Canada Hockey Place on February 27, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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The plane crash that killed all the members of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL in 2011 was one of the saddest stories in sports history. The lives lost that day ranged from veteran players who never left Russia to former NHL players who returned to Europe to keep their career going.

One of those players was Pavol Demitra and a host of former NHL players are touring his home country of Slovakia this summer hosting three charity hockey games to raise money for youth hockey in the country as NHL.com shared.

A team of Slovak stars will face a team of St. Louis Blues stars in the games. Former NHL players Peter Stastny, Anton Stastny, Peter Bondra, Miroslav Satan, and John Wensink joined up with Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara for the effort all to help remember their friend and countryman.

“I am glad that we could pay tribute to [Pavol] this way,” Chara said. “The other good thing was the game was a sellout. It shows people here love hockey. Playing with all these stars from both teams was a great honor for me.”

The two sides have played one game already in Poprad. Game 2 will be on Friday in Trencin followed by Game 3 in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, on Saturday.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT