Laperriere: 'Sports family got hurt' with Lidle's death in plane
(from the Rocky Mountain News)
By Pat Rooney
Special to the News
October 13, 2006 - CENTENNIAL - The sight is a common one for Avalanche players.
Every day, as they trudge in to work at the South Suburban Family Sports Center, rarely do a few seconds lapse before another private plane streaks overhead en route to nearby Centennial Airport.
The planes were there again Thursday, against the bright blue sky, as the Avalanche continued preparations for its home game Saturday against Edmonton, but this time, each passing flight bore a grim reminder of the fate that befell New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle on Wednesday.
Lidle and a flight instructor were killed when a plane registered to Lidle crashed into a 40-story building in the Upper East Side of New York.
None of the Avalanche players is a pilot, but as news of the crash filtered in, forward Ian Laperriere's thoughts immediately turned to two NHL players he knows who are pilots - Pittsburgh goalie and fellow Montreal native Jocelyn Thibault and Montreal's Alex Kovalev, a teammate of Laperriere's during the 1995-96 season when both players were with the New York Rangers.
"When you see that happen, those are the first guys you think of," Laperriere said. "I know Jocelyn real well. I don't know for sure, but I think we stopped after we had that big tragedy back home. Those were the first guys that came to my mind. It could have happened to one of our guys. The sports family got hurt (Wednesday). It was very sad."
The Lidle episode reminded Laperriere of a crash back home that caused many Canadians to think twice about boarding small planes.
On Aug. 10, 1997, 27-year-old Canadian actress Marie-Soleil Tougas was killed in a plane crash. Among Tougas' television credits in the 1980s was the show Chop Suey, and she was immensely popular among the children of the 32-year-old Laperriere's generation.
"I grew up with (Tougas) because she was doing all the shows I was watching when I was small," Laperriere said. "When she died, it really hit our generation because she was one of those girls you felt like was part of your life because you grew up with her."
While Laperriere was unsure how active Thibault, a former Avalanche player, has remained as a pilot, Kovalev is an avid flying enthusiast who has had his pilot's license for nine years.
"It's tough going through (seeing) what Cory Lidle went through today," Kovalev told The (Montreal) Gazette. "It's a tough day. You see him playing on TV in the (playoff) series and (then) the guy's gone. I have no idea what happened, where he was as far as getting his pilot's license.
"It's a bad thing to think about for any pilot. (But) I'm more experienced. I have a serious plane, better than (the one) he was flying. Every year, I go through flight safety school. You get experience, keep up with the ratings. I'm more experienced in those situations. It probably wouldn't happen to me."
Episodes such as Lidle's are harsh reminders to pro athletes about the risk they take, however small, every time they board a plane. In a normal week during the NHL season, a team could make two to five lengthy flights.
Said Avalanche defenseman Patrice Brisebois, offering an analogy as apt for the expected struggle in the Western Conference as it is for his postseason hobbies: "When I go on a fishing trip with my friends, we take that little plane. I'm not a big fan of it. But sometimes you have no choice. If you want to catch those big fish, you have to take those planes."