A girls ice hockey team from Santa Clarita was dealing with tragedy Friday after being involved in a deadly traffic collision with an out-of-control snow plow while traveling for a tournament in Colorado.
The crash occurred just before 9 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County, Colorado, when a Sprinter van carrying members of the Santa Clarita Lady Flyers hockey team was struck by a Colorado Department of Transportation snow plow that crossed the center median, according to the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado State Patrol.
Among those in the rented van were three players from the team, which is made up of athletes ages 12 and younger, authorities said.
The driver of the van, the father of one of the youthful athletes, was killed at the scene, and one child who was airlifted to a trauma center was in critical condition.
Four other youths and three adults were injured and hospitalized.
The four children had all been treated and released by Thursday evening, while two of the adults were in serious condition and one was reported to be in fair condition.
One adult at the scene declined medical transport.
“This is a message I never imagined I would send. I’m writing to confirm that there was a terrible traffic accident this morning in Colorado involving members of our Lady Flyer 12AA team,” Prescott Littlefield, president of the Santa Clarita Flyers, said in a statement posted on Instagram. “Words cannot express the heartbreak we are experiencing. Please hold these families in your prayers.”
Littlefield confirmed the van’s driver, who died at the scene, was the father of one of the players on the team.
“We are a very close-knit community so everybody kind of knows everybody … it’s hit everybody kind of hard, self-described hockey mom Kelly Lytle told a reporter outside The Cube in Valencia, where the team practices. “There’s a child there without a parent now and it’s really disheartening to not know and just think about those families.”