‘Lokomotiv’ chronicles the tragedy surrounding the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey club, as well as the rebuilding of the team, as the worldwide hockey community banded with the Russian city to revive one of hockey’s richest traditions.
The 2014 NBC Olympics-produced documentary, narrated by Liev Schreiber, examines the tragic events surrounding Sept. 7, 2011, when an airplane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of the Kontinental Hockey League, crashed outside the Russian city of Yaroslavl, killing 44 of 45 people on board, including 37 players, coaches and staff. Nearly 100,000 people attended a memorial service, including Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The roster and coaching staff included 11 hometown players, and the following nine former NHLers: Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Josef Vašíček, Karel Rachůnek, Kārlis Skrastiņš, Alexander Vasunov, assistant coaches Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev, and head coach Brad McCrimmon.
In addition, the team featured five Olympians from five different countries; Demitra (Slovakia), Salei (Belarus), Vašíček (Czech Republic), Skrastiņš (Latvia), and Stefan Liv (Sweden). Demitra, Salei, and Skrastins all served as captains of their respective teams at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.