A Year After Plane Crash, Rebuilt Russian Hockey Team Wins Again Smirnov Vladimir/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis Photographs of the players and coaches who died are displayed at the team's arena, where a memorial bell is rung before each game. After an airplane crash killed 37 players, coaches and support staff members of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team on their way to its season-opening game last year, the organization decided not to play the Kontinental Hockey League season with members from its junior club. Instead, Lokomotiv would gradually rebuild with a mix of the prospects and more experienced European and North American players. When it came time for Lokomotiv to return to the K.H.L., Russia's top league, the team turned to an unlikely candidate to take over as coach: Tom Rowe, an American and a former N.H.L. player. A onetime Carolina Hurricanes assistant and American Hockey League head coach, Rowe faced the enormous task of leading a rebuilt franchise and trying to restore hope within Yaroslavl, a historic Russian city where hockey has united the community for decades. "It is unlike anything that I've ever been through before, with the tragedy last year," said Rowe, 56, a Massachusetts native who was the first American-born N.H.L. player to score more than 30 goals in a season. We don't talk about it too much, but we want to make the team that was here last year proud and continue the tradition that the organization has had since 1959. More than anything, the citizens of Yaroslavl have been incredible. It's not easy, but with their support it has been easier. Under Rowe's leadership, Lokomotiv has quickly developed chemistry among a team of young Russians, accomplished Scandinavians and locked-out N.H.L. players. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who returned to his hometown club from the Colorado Avalanche two months ago, has been a catalyst, compiling a 7-2 record with three shutouts, a 1.63 goals-against average and a league-leading .951 save percentage. Yaroslavl entered last weekend on a nine-game winning streak, but as Varlamov sat out with a minor injury, Lokomotiv lost to Lev Praha and HC Slovan Bratislava. Still, Lokomotiv is 22-7 and in third place in the Western Conference behind Alex Ovechkin's Dynamo Moscow and Ilya Kovalchuk's SKA St. Petersburg. "I firmly believe that we're having the season we're having because of the guys last year," Rowe said, referring to those who died in the plane crash. Yaroslavl, a city of about 600,000 that sits 160 miles northeast of Moscow, continues to mourn, with constant reminders of the lives lost when a failed takeoff resulted in the team plane's crashing into the bank of a Volga River tributary. At Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl, photographs of the players who died are prominently displayed. Before every home game, one of Yaroslavl's traditional bells, which the city has been known for producing since the 17th century, is lowered from above the ice and rung three times in memory of those who died. On the Yaroslavl jersey, a black ribbon inscribed with the date of the accident is yet another reminder. Yaroslavl returned to the K.H.L. in a road game against Sibir Novosibirsk on Sept. 6, winning by 5-2 and drawing support from opposing fans that has continued. "The first game that we played, against Sibir on the road, they were chanting "Lokomotiv," " defenseman Staffan Kronwall said. "I think all of us had chills during the national anthem, with the opponent's fans" singing our team's name." The next day, on the anniversary of the plane crash, no league games were played. Memorials and vigils were held instead. "At the start of the year, it was a little bit somber with the one-year anniversary," said defenseman Mark Flood, one of the team's two Canadians. Since then, the fans have been incredible. It's a small community, and people come up to us on the street, just thanking us for having a team back. It's pretty neat, and we're all honored to be a part of it. Rowe said it was still tough to get on the plane for road games. "Leaving the airport, you think of the poor guys that were flying out that day," he said. That goes through my mind every time when we're flying. Honoring the legacy of the Yaroslavl hockey franchise has become a motivational theme for Rowe and his players. Lokomotiv has captured the Russian Super League title three times - in 1997, 2002 and 2003. The season before the plane crash, Yaroslavl was a K.H.L. conference finalist. Varlamov is part of that legacy. He moved to Yaroslavl in his early teens and is a product of the organization's rigorous development system. During the 2004-5 season, Varlamov made his debut on Lokomotiv's junior farm club, Lokomotiv-2. He rose to play for the elite team in 2006 and had a pivotal role in the club's run to the Russian Super League finals in 2008 before beginning his N.H.L. career with the Washington Capitals" organization the next season.