3 replies to this topic

[hockey2k]

I'm very shocked and saddened to hear of a terrible crime committed by one of our former players. I knew Ladi well and he was the nicest kid you could ever meet up with. Laid back, funny and always had a smile for everyone. Never any disiplinary problems. Caduck and I bowled with him during the annual booster club event, and she even has a jersey of his she won at our St. Patrick's Day auction. Great kid when he was here. It almost defies belief that this could be true.

Just weeks after communicating with (former Seattle teammate) Fecho, and just days after e-mailing another former Seattle teammate, Scurko was apprehended by Slovak police only to confess last Thursday to the 2008 murder of Marek Liptaj, a 26-year-old hockey referee.

Slovak's Confession Baffles Former Teammates

[DropThePuck]

I was wondering what your thoughts were on this when it was brought up in our International Forum.

Thanks for posting the additional information and giving us your impressions of Scurko.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Here's one tidbit out of the article that speaks volumes to me:

... Scurko and Liptaj met at a service area off the highway...

Ask yourself what kind of associates (family, friends, business, pleasure) you meet off the road near a forest. I seriously doubt that they both happened to be changing their tire chains or checking their antifreeze, and that it was a "chance" meeting between a referee and a player from a professional sports league. It has the strong smell of payment or payback or something along those lines to me.

In any case, a tragic event.

[hockey2k]

Slovakia is also a country totally overrun with organized crime and gang activity...so either of those things could likely be involved. We have a friend who knew Ladi's parents well and has been over there on several occasions. It sounds like a fairly scary place...most of the businesses there (including the hockey teams) routinely have to pay for "protection," and the police are inept and underfunded. God only knows what Ladi got himself into.