Three Alberta Junior Hockey Players Killed In Crash While Heading To Practice

Three members of the Southern Alberta Mustangs junior hockey team were killed Monday morning after a collision in southern Alberta as the players were on their way to practice.

RCMP said the crash happened at an intersection in Stavely, along Highway 2, about an hour south of Calgary. Police identified the victims as JJ Wright and Cameron Casorso, both 18-year-olds from Kamloops, B.C., and 17-year-old Caden Fine of Birmingham, Alabama.

Investigators said the collision involved a gravel-hauling semi-truck travelling northbound and a passenger vehicle moving east. The semi driver, a 40-year-old Stavely resident, suffered only minor injuries.

The Mustangs, who compete in the U.S. Premier Hockey League, said in a Facebook statement that the organization is working with authorities and asked that the families be given space to grieve.

“There are no words that can adequately express the depth of our grief," the team said. "These young men were more than hockey players — they were teammates, sons, brothers, friends, and deeply loved members of our Mustangs family and the communities we call home. We are a family, and today our family is hurting.”

At the community arena, mourners left tributes including three jerseys draped together and three hockey sticks standing upright in remembrance.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also shared condolences, saying the province’s hockey community was united in support of those affected.

“The whole Alberta hockey family is standing with you in sorrow and in prayer,” Smith said. “In the days ahead, I know Albertans will wrap these families and this team in love and support as they navigate a pain no one should ever have to bear.”

Wright and Casorso were also remembered by the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association, where both players spent much of their youth careers. Casorso played in the program from 2012 through 2025, while Wright was part of the association from 2011 through 2025.

“Although their journeys began here in Kamloops, they found a second hockey family and a new bond with the Southern Alberta Mustangs,” the statement said. “

These three young men were teammates and friends to many. We are grieving together, as one hockey family forever changed by the loss of these young men.”

The NHL’s Calgary Flames added their support with a message posted online.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who knew them,” the team said.

Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench offered sympathy to the Mustangs community in a Facebook post.

“We stand with your community as you mourn this tragic loss, and our thoughts are with all those affected,” Mayor Rob Muench said.

The tragedy has drawn comparisons to the Humboldt Broncos crash in 2018, when 16 people were killed after a team bus collided with a semi-truck in rural Saskatchewan while travelling to a playoff game.