19-year-old Alexei Cherepanov, a prospect of the New York Rangers, collapsed on the bench during the third period of a recent KHL game. He died shortly thereafter. The Rangers attempted to bring Cherepanov to their team for this season, however he elected to remain in Russia one more season and continue to hone his game, and looked forward to an opportunity to play with former Ranger Jaromir Jagr.
This is very somber news, not only because of the 2007 17th overall pick's outstanding potential, but moreso because he was so young, with his whole life ahead of him. According to TSN, there is some confusion as to how long it took to get Cherepanov to the hospital, as the ambulance that was at the game had already left and had to be recalled. It's also questioned as to whether or not a working defibrillator was present in the arena.
It will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions in light of this event. If the ambulance had left as reported, and the medical equipment wasn't up to par, this could lead to some extensive (and expensive) overhauls. Hopefully further events such as this can be prevented, and no other people will be victims because of ambulances leaving early or (potentially) malfunctioning medical equipment.
Sorry this is so short a post, but this really bothers me, and I'd rather not write any more about it.