12 minutes after Cherepanov collapsed, and the battery on the defibrillator used to attempt to shock Cherepanov's heart back to life was drained. It took approximately 20 minutes to get him to a hospital. While in the care of Chekhov doctors, he was again resuscitated briefly on two occasions before ultimately passing. On December 29, 2008, Russian investigators revealed that he suffered from myocarditis, a condition where not enough blood reaches the heart, and that he should not have been playing hockey professionally. The federal Investigative Committee also announced that a chemical analysis of Cherepanov's blood and urine samples allowed experts to conclude "that for several months Alexei Cherepanov engaged in doping." Official sources have stated the banned substance taken was nikethamide, a stimulant, and that it had been taken three hours prior to the game in which he passed. Avangard Director Mikhail Denisov has since been fired, whereas the league Disciplinary Committee has since removed Omsk's doctors from that role with the club, and has requested the suspension of General Manager Anatoly Bardin and Avangard President Konstantin Potapov until the investigation being conducted by the Russian Federal Prosecutor's Office was concluded. Anatoly Bardin was eventually reinstated as the club's GM. Meanwhile, Avangard's poor performance on the ice continued. This resulted in a bizarre incident when Anatoly Bardin asked Wayne Fleming to leave the bench during the second intermission of a home game against Vityaz Chekhov. In just under a month, the head coach was relieved of his duties, replaced by the inexperienced Igor Nikitin. Having finished the regular season on the 16th place, Avangard only just managed to qualify for the playoffs. However, the team surprised everyone by knocking the regular season champions Salavat Yulaev Ufa out of the competition by winning three games to one. Moreover, the team was just 15 seconds away from defeating Ak Bars Kazan, the future champion of 2009, in the second round but failed to hold on to their one-goal lead and went on to concede an overtime goal in the deciding match at TatNeft Arena. 2009–10 The club made a few solid roster additions by signing Karri Rämö with Lasse Kukkonen in the summer and Anton Babchuk with Denis Kulyash during the season. A lack of quality in the forward position, however, soon became apparent on the team, as Head Coach Igor Nikitin was struggling to find players matching Jaromír Jágr's ability