The American Hockey League joins the rest of the hockey world in mourning the passing of Sergei Zholtok, who died Wednesday night in Belarus.
According to the Associated Press, Zholtok left the game between Riga 2000, the club he was playing for during the NHL lockout, and Dinamo Minsk about five minutes before it ended. He went back to the locker room where he collapsed and died.
Paramedics at the arena tried to revive him but were unsuccessful. Zholtok was known to have an irregular heartbeat.
Zholtok played three seasons in the AHL with the Providence Bruins (1992-95), and later had brief stints with the Fredericton Canadiens (1998-99) and Quebec Citadelles (1999-2000).
Originally a second-round draft pick by Boston in 1992, the native of Riga, Latvia, totaled 86 goals and 108 assists in 204 career AHL contests. In 588 NHL games with Nashville, Minnesota, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa and Boston, Zholtok recorded 111 goals and 147 assists. He was a key member of the Wild team that reached the Western Conference final in 2003.
