Three Alberta Junior Hockey Players Killed in Crash South of Calgary

Three members of the Southern Alberta Mustangs junior hockey team were killed Monday in a two-vehicle collision while traveling to practice in southern Alberta.

Emergency crews responded to reports of the crash at the intersection of Highway 2 and 55 Avenue in the town of Stavely, approximately 100 kilometres south of Calgary, shortly before 11 a.m.

According to the RCMP, a semi-truck hauling gravel was traveling northbound on Highway 2 when it collided with a small passenger vehicle heading eastbound on 55 Avenue. All three occupants of the passenger vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police confirmed the victims were two 18-year-olds from Kamloops, British Columbia, and a 17-year-old boy from Alabama. The driver of the semi-truck, a 40-year-old Stavely resident, sustained minor injuries and did not require hospitalization.

The Southern Alberta Mustangs confirmed the deaths of three players in a statement posted to social media Monday afternoon. The players were later identified as JJ Wright, Cameron Casorso, and Caden Fine.

“More than hockey players, they were teammates, sons, brothers, friends, and deeply loved members of our Mustang family,” the team said. “There are no words that can adequately express the depth of our grief.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith offered condolences, calling the crash an “unimaginable loss.”

“The whole Alberta hockey family is standing with you in sorrow and in prayer,” Smith said. “Albertans will wrap these families and this team in love and support as they face a pain no one should ever have to endure.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney also expressed condolences, saying Canadians were keeping the Southern Alberta Mustangs community “in our thoughts as they face this unimaginable grief.”

At the Stavely Arena, tributes were placed in memory of the players, including three white-and-red jerseys bearing their names and three upright hockey sticks arranged in their honor.

The Kamloops Minor Hockey Association said Wright and Casorso grew up in its program, with Casorso playing from 2012 to 2025 and Wright from 2011 to 2025.

“Although their journeys began here in Kamloops, they found a second hockey family with the Southern Alberta Mustangs,” the association said. “We grieve together as one hockey family forever changed by this loss.”

NHL teams including the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs observed moments of silence before their games Monday night. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid called the tragedy “heartbreaking.”

“Three guys headed to practice,” McDavid said. “You’re thinking about their families. Just tragic.”