Sergei Zholtok (Latvian: Sergejs Žoltoks, Russian: Сергей Жолток) (Born December 2, 1972 in Riga, Latvia (then USSR); died November 3, 2004) was a Latvian (ethnic Russian) professional ice hockey player.

Playing career

Zholtok was drafted by the Boston Bruins, the 55th overall pick in 1992 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to being drafted, he won a gold medal with USSR national team in IIHF Junior World Championships in 1991. After playing 26 games with the Boston Bruins in the 1992-93 NHL Season and the 1993-94 NHL Season , Zholtok spent the next years playing in minor leagues. Zholtok returned to NHL in the 1996-97 NHL Season with the Ottawa Senators. In the following years, he played for the Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild and the Nashville Predators.

During the 2004 NHL lockout, Zholtok returned to Latvia and played for the "Riga 2000" team in the Latvian national hockey championship and the Open Belarus hockey championship. On November 3, 2004, his cardiac arrhythmia resurfaced during the game between "Riga 2000" (Latvia) and "Dinamo" (Minsk). Zholtok left the game with 5 minutes remaning, collapsing and dying after returning to the dressing room. Belarusian doctors said he died from a massive myocardial infarction. Back in January, 2003 he had to leave a game due to this arrythmia, and had been observed in hospital overnight. He was allowed to return to play after missing seven games.

During his 10 years in the NHL he played in 588 regular-season games, scored 111 goals and had 147 assists.

Awards

• 1996 - Ironman Award, International Hockey League, given to a player who has played in the every game of his team and displayed outstanding offensive and defensive skills

NHL Statistics

Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	Playoffs GP	Playoffs G	Playoffs A	Playoffs Pts	Playoffs PIM
1992-93	Boston	NHL	1	0	1	1	0	--	--	--	--	--
1993-94	Boston	NHL	24	2	1	3	2	--	--	--	--	--
1996-97	Ottawa	NHL	57	12	16	28	19	7	1	1	2	0
1997-98	Ottawa	NHL	78	10	13	23	19	17	0	2	2	0
1998-99	Montreal	NHL	70	7	15	22	6	--	--	--	--	--
1999-2000	Montreal	NHL	68	26	12	38	28	--	--	--	--	--
2000-01	Montreal Edmonton	NHL NHL	32 37	1 4	10 16	11 20	8 22	3	0	0	0	0
2001-02	Minnesota	NHL	73	19	20	39	28	18	2	11	13	0
2002-03	Minnesota	NHL	78	16	26	42	18	--	--	--	--	--
2003-04	Minnesota Nashville	NHL NHL	59 11	13 1	16 1	29 2	19 0	6	1	0	1	0