MOSCOW, October 22 (R-Sport) - Former hockey wing Andrei Petrakov, once a fixture of the North American major junior leagues, has died suddenly at the age of 37, the Russian team that started his career said Monday.
Petrakov was a fourth-round draft pick for the St. Louis Blues in 1996 but never played a game in the NHL, instead shuttling around the major junior leagues with the Worcester IceCats, Muskegon Fury, Fort Wayne Komets and Peoria Rivermen.
He won two Russian championships with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, but a lack of success in North America started a downturn in his career and Petrakov never again played a full season for a major league team.
Petrakov “suddenly passed away,” said his former Russian club Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in a website statement, without providing further details. Petrakov’s younger brother Denis, 20, plays for Avtomobilist’s farm team Avto.
