Hockey Prospect Dies on Bench

19 year old Hockey prospect Alexei Cherepanov died on the bench during a game in Russia today. He was the 17th pick overall in the 2007 draft by the New York Rangers. Apparently the only reason he even dropped to 17th was because of the issue of when he would transfer to the US from his Russian team Avangard Omsk. There was nothing to suggest that the sudden death had anything to do with a hockey related injury. His heart apparently just stopped beating. Crazy to think something like this could happen to a 19 year old professional athlete who is probably in better shape than 99% of the earths population. Cherepanov ended up with 40 goals and 29 assists for his Russian club.