The heart-wrenching last farewell to renowned Slovak hockey player Pavol Demitra brought thousands of fans, friends and former colleagues to Trencin ice-hockey stadium yesterday, where Demitra started his league career back in 1992.
The memorial service to Slovakia’s much-loved former ice-hockey team captain was attended by a packed arena, with hundreds more watching a large screen outside. The stadium was open for the public to lay wreaths at his coffin from 10 am to 2pm, before the official service at 3pm.
Demitra was killed in a plane crash last week along with 36 of his team-mates from the KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and eight flight crew. He was honoured three times as an All-star player in the NHL, where he lent his talents to five clubs in total.
In his address, head of the Dukla Trencin team, Jozef Mitoch, said “We are weeping just as you did when ending your career with the national team, but our weeping is much more painful”. Demitra’s former team-mate Marian Gaborik spoke at the ceremony on behalf of a group of fellow players, saying “Pavol was reliable, self-sacrificing, selfless and as captain was always able to lead the team”, while promising in the name of all the Slovak national team players to help Pavol’s family.
The ceremony was not attended by Pavol’s two children or his father, who sadly has been in hospital ever since he heard the news of his son’s tragic death.
And you are David who exactly Mr Open minded ? I see you are keen to keep your own anon , because of the nutters like yourself, that dare to post different moral comments .
Get off you hobby horse and sing dixxie . Three goes you say you had try and desperately get you own bile put on the forum, whilst complaining about someone else ……what a sad individual you are .
Fact is , Slovakia is grieving and weeping buckets over a blooming overpaid, money grabbing, million dollar a year ICE Hockey Player ?
Can you credit it ……Harmless of not ???
Yes I am back 🙂
oops …don;t know what happened but the first replt was not visible…hence my duplication
2nd attempt at posting here as first didn’t appear.
Don’t see why anonymous bile like this is trotted out, especially so soon and so sensitively after the event. I’m sure there are much worse creatures than an overpaid hockey player worming their way from the woodwork almost on a daily basis. Pick on a more obvious target.
Amazing the bile that people will post behind the cloak of anonymity, either here or on twitter or youtube.
As far as bile goes, it;s not so bad, but coming so soon after the death itself, tasteless. Compared with the sheer utter brazen drunken opportunistic two-faced hypocritical venality that goes on in this country now and in the past, this hockey player did relatively little harm. Doing little harm was the criterion of the late actor Paul Eddington as it’s a pretty useful one.
So….who is this great man that is dead and in such tragic circumstances then? A(former) President or Prime Minister …or a great man that did wonders for humanity, saved the dying, helped the poor and needy, or perhaps was a war hero ??
No, the whole of Slovakia is grieving and weeping buckets over a blooming overpaid, money grabbing, million dollar a year ICE Hockey Player ?
Does Slovakia not have any actual hero’s ? Are they that desperate ?
RIP Slovakia !