MOSCOW — Alexei Cherepanov had heart problems and probably should not have been allowed to play in a game in which he collapsed and died, a regional investigator said Tuesday.
Yulia Zhukova said Cherepanov, who died Monday playing for Avangard Omsk in a Continental Hockey League game outside of Moscow, apparently had chronic ischemia — a medical condition when not enough blood gets to the heart or other organs.
A lawmaker suggested the 19-year-old first-round draft pick for the Rangers might have died due to negligence on the part of paramedics.
Pavel Krasheninnikov, who sits on the Russian Hockey Federation’s supervisory council, said there was no ambulance on duty at the arena where Cherepanov was playing. He also asserted emergency workers took too long to respond and didn’t have a defibrillator — a medical machine that shocks the heart. It was unclear how much time it took paramedics to respond.
Former Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr played a shift with Cherepanov and was talking to him on the bench shortly after they left the ice. Cherepanov then suddenly collapsed, according to a Rangers spokesman.
Footnotes.
Sabres forward Jochen Hecht will miss at least two weeks after having surgery to repair a finger.
• Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek will be out four to six weeks with an unidentified upper-body injury.
• With the NHL and Russia’s new Continental Hockey League in a dispute over Alexander Radulov, the forward said he wants to stay home and help grow the sport of hockey in his own country.
The Associated Press
