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Hockey legend Saley to be inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame

The late Belarusian hockey legend Ruslan Saley (Salei) will enter the Hall of Fame of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), said the organization’s press office.

The IIHF said that the induction ceremony would take place during the world championship in Minsk this May.

The international federation described Mr. Saley as a “defenceman who succeeded at the highest level because of determination and ambition more than natural-born talent.”

Mr. Saley died in a plane crash in Russia on September 7, 2011, which killed all players and coaches of Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl heading to Belarus for a game against Dinamo Minsk. He was 36.

Mr. Saley joined Lokomotiv weeks before the deadly crash after a 15-season career in the National Hockey League, where the defenseman scored 45 goals and earned 159 assists in 917 games. He played for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings.

The Minsk-born Saley played for Team Belarus at many world championships, as well as at the Olympic Games in 1998, 2002 and 2010.

He is survived by his American wife and a son and two daughters. His youngest daughter Ava was born in March 2011. //BelaPAN