Sergei Zholtok Dead at 31

[VodkaFish]

"We are all saddened and shocked to hear of Sergei's sudden passing."

"We traded for Sergei in March of last season, and he spent the last month of the year with us. He was a hard-working player who was well-liked by his teammates and coaches. We extend our deepest sympathies to the Zholtok family - his wife, Anna, and sons, Edgar and Nikita." said Predators General Manager David Poile.

Sergei Zholtok, 31, passed away in Latvia on Wednesday. The Riga, Latvia native appeared in 588 NHL games from 1992-2004 with Boston, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Minnesota and Nashville. He joined the Predators on March 5, 2004 in a trade from Minnesota.

[VodkaFish]

from TSN: Sergei Zholtok, dead at 31

[swhite]

TSN.ca Staff
11/3/2004

Sergei Zholtok, a centre who finished the 2003-2004 NHL season with the Nashville Predators, died Wednesday in Latvia. He was 31.

A third-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 1992, Zholtok played 588 NHL games for six teams, scoring 111 goals and 258 points.

Zholtok was playing for Riga in Latvia this year and Zholtok excused himself from a game in Belarus with five minutes left and collapsed and died on the way to the room.

Zholtok was forced to the sidelines a couple of times last year with mysterious health ailments that included dizziness and fatigue. RDS is reporting that he suffered from cardiac arrhythmia.

Zholtok had his greatest success with the Minnesota Wild, scoring a career-high 42 points in 2002-2003, then following up with 13 points in 18 playoff games as the Wild made an improbable run to the Western Conference Finals..

He also played for Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton in the NHL.

[Humpzilla]

R.i.p

[Jocke]

Damn. Thats sad. RIP

[doull7]

wow. thats very shocking and sad

[Y Ddraig Goch]

Sad to see him go so young.

[cashman rules]

Rip

[Dr Hook]

Cardiac arythmia causes many deaths among athletes. Kind of eerie too when you realize how many have dropped dead of heart attacks.

RIP

[Travis24]

What a sad story. RIP

[cottonzway]

RIP. I pretty good player. I went nuts when Ruutu went after him but to his credit he didn't turtle and took it like a man. RIP.

[Yoke]

That's a pretty sad thing. I heard about it on the radio on my way home from work today. He was a big part of the Wild run a couple years back.

[HordiBrusk29]

R.i.p.

[habsfighter15]

May God rest his soul.

[rock'emsock'em]

Wow, I hate it when stuff like this happens