Whoa.

Really sad, scary, makes-you-take-a-step-back news coming across the wires tonight. Apparently Alexei Cherepanov, a 19-year old kid in the Rangers' organization currently playing in Russia, collapsed and died on the bench during a game yesterday.

Cherepanov was the Rangers' first round pick in 2007, a really promising young kid.

Here's the situation from SovSport via Yahoo:

"He collapsed on the bench on the 18th minute of the third period in the game against Vityaz Chekhov after a collision with Jaromir Jagr [his teammate on Omsk in the KHL]. He went to the bench and his heart stopped. He was taken to the emergency room at a local hospital where the best doctors in town worked for about an hour trying to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead at 22:55 Moscow time (2:55pm EST). "

I'm not sure what there really is to say about this. Just really sudden and saddening. All the best to his family and the folks in Russia. I can't even imagine... RIP, Alexei.