QUEBEC -- Hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak has taken hundreds of flights over his career and witnessed many bizarre incidents on planes, but nothing like last week's midair altercation that left a drunken Russian passenger dead.
Mr. Tretiak was fast asleep in the first-class section of an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Toronto, on his way to the prestigious international hockey championship in Quebec City, not knowing that one of his diehard fans was determined to talk to him.
"I felt someone shaking me on my shoulder and I woke up. There was this guy standing next to me. He looked like he had been drinking. Before I realized it, somebody else was pulling him away as he screamed, 'Tretiak, Tretiak.' And then they just took him away," the hall-of-fame goaltender told The Globe and Mail yesterday through an interpreter.
The noisy passenger had been drinking heavily over the course of the nine-hour flight.
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"He had a lot of mini bottles with him; he had a mickey with him, too, because he was pouring other people glasses," fellow passenger Michael Packman told The Globe last week. "People tried to restrain him, but he kept getting back up."
Somehow the man, whose name has not been released, made it to the front of the plane, where he insisted on meeting Mr. Tretiak. After the brief encounter, he was subdued by other passengers, Mr. Tretiak said.
But the man suffered a serious ailment and one of the passengers yelled for a doctor. One was on the flight and tried repeatedly to revive him, but to no avail.
"The man died. He had taken too much alcohol. He was hyper and his heart just gave out," Mr. Tretiak said. "His death upset me a lot. It's the first time I've ever seen that. I felt really bad."
Mr. Tretiak was delayed along with about 200 other passengers for five hours at Toronto's Pearson International Airport as police questioned them about the death. "Police spoke at length to one of the men who helped subdue the passenger, as well as with the doctor who tried to help him. It was long, but I was glad when it was all over," he said.
Mr. Tretiak was a mere 20-year-old back in 1972 when he gained prominence in North America for his amazing goaltending during the famous Canada-USSR series that propelled him onto the international stage as one of the game's superstars.
His unprecedented 1.78 goals-against average, in close to 100 international games, helped lead his team to three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships. His was a dominant force on what was then hockey's most talented team and he is considered one of the game's greatest goalies in history.
After retiring as an active player in 1984, he remained one of hockey's greatest ambassadors as he helped coach young NHL goalies and opened a series of hockey schools.
He is president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia.
