Former Blackhawks winger and current Florida Panther Tomas Kopecky honored his late friend fellow Slovakian Pavol Demitra Thursday, by bringing his silver medal from the 2012 IIHF World Championships to his grave.
Demitra, a former NHL All-Star and native of Slovakia, died in the Sept. 2011 plane crash that took the lives of 43 people, the majority either played for or coached Lokomotiv Yaroslavi in the KHL.
Kopecky was part of the Slovakian national team that made an incredible run through the World Championships to claim the silver medal after losing to Russia in the gold medal game. In order to do that, they first had to pull a major upset of Canada. Afterward, Kopecky said the following of Demitra:
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"When you look at the game against Canada, after we scored the third goal, I just looked up and said 'Thanks God,"' Kopecky told Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press. "He's with us, it's unbelievable. It's just a great feeling."
You can watch footage of Kopecky visiting Demitra's grave below: