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As news of the death of three members of the Southern Alberta Mustangs junior hockey team in a vehicle crash near Stavely, Alta., on Monday begins to sink in, Jen Handley is thinking about the final weekend the team shared together.
“They didn’t have any games this weekend, and so they were hanging out, playing games, doing karaoke,” said Handley, who is a billet parent for two members of the team.
She said watching videos from that weekend with other parents has reminded her of how close-knit the team is, and how deeply the loss of the players will be felt.
“This morning you wake up with the real reality of what has happened and the immense loss that this team is going through and that these boys are experiencing,” Handley told CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday.
Cameron Casorso and JJ Wright, both 18, and 17-year-old Caden Fine were on their way to practice when their vehicle collided with a semi truck north of the entrance to Stavely, a town about 155 kilometres south of Calgary.
RCMP declared the occupants of the passenger vehicle dead at the scene.
Casorso and Wright were from Kamloops, B.C., and Fine was from Birmingham, Alabama. A memorial has been set up outside the Stavely Arena, with Nanton lighting up its famous grain elevators in red and blue in honour of the players.
The small towns of Stavely and Nanton are mourning the teens’ deaths, while the RCMP say it’s unlikely the driver of the semi involved in the crash will face charges.
Reaction has been pouring in from across Canada and the hockey world, triggering memories of the 2018 bus crash in Humboldt, Sask., that killed 16 people and injured 13.
While the team is based in Stavely, Handley said several of its players — including those killed in the crash — live in Nanton and regularly travel outside the community for practices and games.
“These highways are our lifeline,” she said. “Every parent in this community holds their breath when our kids are driving to practice … and that ‘What if?’ is always in the back of your head.”
Calgary Eyeopener7:56Stavely mourning three young hockey players
Three young hockey players died in Stavely, Alberta yesterday. We hear from a billet parent for two members of the team about how the community is remembering them.
Karen Dubois brought a candle to a memorial for the players outside the Stavely Arena on Tuesday. She lives in Nanton, and said the crash hits close to home for her as her son has played hockey in the same arena.
“I was pulled to come here today, and I think it was just because we’re all community,” Dubois said. “Even though it’s 20 minutes away, I was just very sad to find out three young hockey players with great futures ahead were taken so young.”
She added hockey is an important part of the identities of Stavely and Nanton, making a loss like this one even more difficult.
“Hockey in these small towns is everything,” she said. “Every weekend you’re out playing games in different communities, you’re meeting different people, you’re cheering on your players, the kids are having fun out there, it’s just an all around great experience.”
Although most of the Southern Alberta Mustangs are not from Stavely, they fit right in, said resident Dale Ohler.
He and others would watch out their front windows as players went by on their routine runs, a coach’s young daughter sometimes trailing behind them on her bicycle.
Players also clean yards, volunteer with local clubs and join in on exercises at the seniors centre.
“[It’s] hitting everybody so hard,” Ohler said Tuesday outside the Stavely Arena.
“I was speechless for a while.”
In a social media statement Tuesday, the Town of Stavely said the “devastating loss has profoundly impacted our community and surrounding area, the hockey community, and all who knew these remarkable individuals.”
“These young men were not just hockey players, but an important part of the fabric of our community, contributing through their character, their friendships, and the promise they carried into the future,” continued the statement.
The cause of a collision in Stavely, Alta., that killed three junior hockey players on Monday is still under investigation, but one resident says the intersection of Highway 2 and 55 Avenue is nerve-racking for drivers. The RCMP says it has looked into past incidents after receiving a number of calls from members of the community.
RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney said a collision reconstructionist attended the scene Monday night, and work to determine the cause of the accident is underway. No criminal charges are expected, she said.
Slaney said there was another fatal crash at the intersection in September. It also involved a vehicle trying to cross the main highway, she said.
A spokesperson for Alberta’s Transportation Ministry said in a statement the province would do its own review of the crash and the intersection.
Handley said the community is leaning on one another to provide support and process the news. A GoFundMe has been set up for the families of the players involved in the crash to cover their travel and other related expenses, she said.
“Everybody feels it,” she said. “We’re Canadians. We all know hockey players, it’s just who we are, and so every parent, every community, just knows that this could happen.”
