Tomas Vokoun did something on Thursday that I don't think I could have done if I were in his place. The Washington Capitals' goalie lost a really good friend in Josef Vasicek in the tragic plane crash involving KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and since the Capitals and the Penguins are honoring the victims of the plane crash during the game, Vokoun was asked if he had any thoughts on the tragedy.
If it were me, I would have declined comment because I would have trouble talking about it. Vokoun, however, decided to comment, and what came out were some poignant thoughts and a really great story by Stephen Whyno of the Washington Times.
"I consider Josef’s family like my family. It was so hard to see his parents and obviously his girlfriend and everybody," Vokoun said, speaking about the crash publicly for the first time. "Such a tragedy when somebody dies like that and they’re 30 years old, full of life. He was supposed to be getting married and all that, so it’s not an easy thing to understand."
Vokoun declined comment (understandably) on the day the tragedy happened, but really poured out his thoughts in this story. That's kind of amazing when you consider he also has a game to play. Like I said, it's something I don't think I could have done if I were in his place.