Alexander Kuzmenko, the father of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko, has died at 62 following a bear attack in Tuva, Russia.
He was part of a group of seven who had travelled to the taiga of the Todzhinsky kozhuun on September 22 for a fishing trip.
A ban on entering the forest was in place at the time.
The bear attacked the group and the men were seriously hurt. Alexander Kuzmenko was flown to a hospital in Kyzyl by air ambulance.
Doctors were not able to save him.
The report comes from the Telegram channel Baza. No club or family statement has been issued as of this writing.
He spent many years working as a hockey coach in Russia, and he coached his own son along the way.
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Andrei Kuzmenko receives devastating family news during first Penguins camp
The Penguins have not said anything publicly about his status for the coming days.
Pittsburgh lost 7-4 at home to Detroit on Tuesday and visits Columbus tonight.
Dan Muse is running his bench and Kyle Dubas runs the front office.
The club sits 1-1 through the exhibition schedule with the season opener approaching.
Nothing about a September result matters much next to this.
Hockey families are small and the news travels fast inside them. Plenty of people around that room will have known the man.
Coaches who raise players carry a particular kind of weight in this sport. They put in the early mornings long before anybody is watching.
That's the part of Alexander Kuzmenko's life the hockey world will recognize.
The details out of Tuva are still thin, and they came through a single Telegram channel rather than an official source.
More will follow in the coming days, from the club or the family or both.
Until then, the only thing worth saying is that a 62-year-old coach went fishing with friends and didn't come home.
Everything else can wait.
Source : Father of Russian NHL hockey player mauled by bear
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