Timur Faizutdinov

 

It was a dump in. 

Timur Faizutdinov, a defenseman for Dynamo St. Petersburg's junior team, went back to his own blue line as the puck was lifted in the neutral zone by a player from Loko Yaroslavl.

A dump in.

This happens thousands of times a day in hockey games around the world. It's not rocketed or blasted or ladled with authority or whatever.

It is the hockey equivalent of a lob.

It happens in Greenwich and Madison Square Garden and Yaroslavl, Russia.

That's where Timur Faizutdinov was playing, skating on the backcheck into his own zone.

The head -- the human body -- is a curious thing. The puck, dumped across the blue line, struck Timur Faizutdinov just right.

Immediately, Faizutdinov put both hands on his helmet, crouched down, then dropped to the ice, first landing on his knees, then bringing his elbows and forearms down before going face down.

Help got to him immediately. His teammates were first but an emergency crew quickly followed. With the help of his teammates, Faizutdinov was loaded on a backboard and then a gurney and whisked to a hospital in Yaroslavl.

According to the Associated Press, "The Junior Hockey League said, 'doctors fought for Timur's life over the course of three days.'"

Faizutdinov's death was announced this morning.

He was 19.

Two things: 1) I've seen the name of the player who dumped the puck. Given he's being threatened and no doubt feels awful, I've decided there's no need to name him here. You can find the name for yourself.

2) There was game video of the moment Faizutdinov was struck online that, as of last check, has been taken down. This tweet includes a GIF of the pass. Watch at your own peril, given the circumstances. 

There's no way to make sense of it other than sports has freak accidents.

This has nothing to do with hockey being a "vicious sport" or anything like that. 

This wasn't a result of negligence. 

It was a harmless pass.

And yet, sports can be so cruel.

Travis Roy was paralyzed in a freak hockey accident.

Matt Brown was paralyzed after an average hockey play.

This isn't Ray Chapman, a Cleveland Indians infielder who was hit in the head by a pitch (pre-batting helmets) who died hours later.

This wasn't that at all.

Timur Faizutdinov died after a dump in hit him in the head.

Pucks can hurt. No question. It's one inch thick and three inches in diameter. It's hard rubber. Players get hit a lot. Astoundingly, players didn't wear helmets and -- worse -- face masks at one time.

Timur Faizutdinov was wearing a helmet. 

He had a life ahead of him. He had already been named a captain of Dynamo St. Petersburg.

He had a future. Maybe a wife and kids and house and the trappings of a life with or without hockey.

Maybe he'd sing "Back in the USSR" in a Beatles cover band.

Maybe he'd relocate to the States.

What goals did he have? 

We'll never know.

It makes no sense.

It's beyond sad.

He was 19 and he's gone.

On a dump in.