AVALANCHE
Seattle Times obtains 911 call surrounding incident at Avs team hotel
May 4, 2023, 3:05 PM
(Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Seattle Times has obtained the 911 call surrounding the incident at the Avalanche team hotel during their Round 1 playoff series with the Kraken.
Denver Sports obtained a police report last week, in which a severely intoxicated Russian woman was found in the hotel room of star Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin. This happened hours before the Avs and Kraken were scheduled to play Game 3 in Seattle.
In the 911 call, an unidentified man told dispatchers that “we suspect someone might have OD’d on alcohol potentially or something got mixed in a drink, we don’t know yet.” The police report says the caller was Avalanche team doctor Bradley G. Changstrom.
Police then asked the caller if the woman was conscious or not.
“They’re hanging in there at the moment,” the caller said according to the Times. “She is awake at the moment, but she’s fading.”
The caller went on to tell the dispatcher the woman was “right at the front door of the hotel.” It’s unclear why she was moved from the room in which she was found, according to the Times. Eventually she was taken to the hospital, but there’s been no update on her condition.
Nichushkin left the hotel and was flown out of the city, according to multiple media reports. He didn’t play in another game for Colorado the rest of the series. The Avs went on to lose in seven games.
The team has declined comment, leaving those questions to head coach Jared Bednar. He maintained Nichushkin missed the final five games for “personal reasons.”
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