Seven airline crew members also died. The lone survivor was a flight engineer.
"Everybody has to remember what happened," Team Russia captain Alex Ovechkin said. "A lot of players played with or played against players on that team."
Those who died were on Ovechkin's mind even before the moment of silence. He put up a post on Twitter Wednesday morning with the word "Remember" in Russian and a link to his Instagram account and a photo of a monument honoring Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
The Kontinental Hockey League team was departing Tunoshna Airport in Yaroslavl for its season opener in Minsk, Belarus when its charter flight crashed during takeoff.
Among those who died were former NHL players Ruslan Salei, Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek, Karlis Skrastins, Alexander Vasyunov and Josef Vasicek, who won the Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes. The coaching staff included former NHL players Brad McCrimmon, Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev. McCrimmon won the Stanley Cup in 1989 with the Calgary Flames and Karpovtsev was among the first Russia-born players to win the Cup in 1994 with the New York Rangers.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl shut down for the 2011-12 season to rebuild. The KHL remains dark on Sept. 7 every season to honor all who died.
"The hockey world is not that big and it's hard to lose an entire team in one day," New York Islanders forward Nikolay Kulemin said. "I still remember that day. I couldn't believe at first that it happened."
Kulemin was in Toronto getting ready to for the start of training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs when he heard the sad news.
"People started calling me and telling me what happened," he said. "I thought maybe it was some mistake at first. Things like that happen in our lives. You just feel bad for the families. Everybody knew somebody on that plane."
Kulemin was good friends with Korolev from their days as teammates with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Russia and was also close with Yaroslavl forward Gennady Churilov.
"I played with him in junior," Kulemin said. "He's from Magnitogorsk, my hometown, as well, and I knew a couple of other guys who I played with on the national team a couple times."
Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was playing in the KHL at the time, also lost friends that day. They were in his thoughts during the moment of silence Wednesday.
"It's the kind of moment you have to respect," Kuznetsov said. "You show your respect for the families and the friends. I lost a couple friends and it's always tough to think about that. The least we can do is just have the moment of silence."
The tragedy hit close to home for Chicago Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov. He grew up in Yaroslavl, developed in the Lokomotiv program and played 49 games for the senior team over two seasons before coming to North America to play in 2007.
It's still difficult for him to talk about.
"It's obviously in my mind for sure," Anisimov said. "I cannot say anything. It's so sad, emotional."
After the moment of silence, the players tapped their sticks on the ice and then resumed preparations for the World Cup. Team Russia plays its first pretournament game on Thursday against the Czech Republic at Yubileyny Sports Palace (12:30 p.m. ET; ESPN3, SN, TVA Sports).
Its first World Cup preliminary round game is on Sept 18 against Team Sweden at Air Canada Centre in Toronto (3 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVA Sports).
Hockey will go on, but what happened five years ago will not be forgotten.
"It's a big, sad moment for everybody and is still in our memory," Kulemin said.
