DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado Avalanche team doctor called an ambulance for a woman found “highly intoxicated” when employees were checking on forward Valeri Nichushkin on Saturday in Seattle, a police report shows. Nichushkin missed Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs that night and has been away from the team since the incident.
FOX31 obtained police records from the Seattle Police Department describing the woman in the back of an ambulance at the Four Seasons Hotel. Police were called to the scene just before 3:45 p.m.
The report said team doctor Bradley Changstrom told police the woman was found by team employees when they were checking on Nichushkin.
Changstrom told police he called 911 because he believed the woman was too intoxicated to take care of herself and unable to take a ride-share on her own. The report said Changstrom told police the woman hit him, but he did not file charges.
She was transported to a hospital, according to the report.
A Denver Police Department officer traveling with the team said “there were no reports of any criminal interactions.”
Changstrom told police the team had flown in the day before and there was no familial connection between Nichushkin and the woman.
According to the report, when police spoke to the woman she mentioned someone took her passport and told them she was from Russia but was born in Ukraine.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said Nichushkin did not participate in the morning game-day skate for maintenance reasons, according to The Athletic.
Nichushkin did not play in Game 3 and head coach Jared Bednar told the media after the game that the 28-year-old forward had left the team for “personal reasons.” When subsequently asked if Nichushkin was in Seattle, Bednar confirmed he was no longer in the city.
Bednar said later that the team had been in contact with Nichushkin and that it was not a legal matter.