NHL player takes leave of absence after father killed in bear attack

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who signed with the team in July after previously playing for the Los Angeles Kings, has taken a leave of absence following the death of his father in a bear attack in Russia. The elder Kuzmenko was attacked by a bear that emerged from a forest along the Krasnaya River in the Tuva Republic while he was on a fishing trip with six others, suffering severe bites near his head. First responders could not reach the group due to dense forest, requiring a four-hour transport before he could be airlifted to a hospital, where he later died.