The Santa Clarita Flyers youth girls hockey team was involved in a fatal accident on their way to a tournament in Denver this past Thursday. A Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow lost control on the icy road and struck the team van, injuring three players.
The driver of the van, 38-year-old Manuel Lorenzana, a father to one of the team members, was killed in the crash.
“I was in complete shock,” said Prescott Littlefield, the team president of the Santa Clarita Flyers.
“[And] it really just kind of, it’s a gut punch, and you don’t know how to react.”
The girls were given a choice that night. They could pack their bags and not participate, or still play in the tournament with a shortened bench.
The players chose to show their resilience.
“[And] the girls got together, and they voted, and they spent their time, and they talked, and they decided, you know what, we’re going to play,” said Littlefield.
When the news got back home here in Valencia, the Flyers community held a watch party for one of the games at the Cube on Saturday night.
“Everybody looks out for each other,” said Jason Ehrich, who was a spectator at The Cube’s watch party.
“We play the game, but after the game, we’re all brothers, we’re all sisters, and we all hang out.”
The young Lady Flyers advanced to the championship game Sunday afternoon, playing against Mountain Select Hockey.
The game was scoreless going into overtime, and that’s when Khaleesi Bewer scored the game-winning goal.
A shot from the right wing boards, five minutes into a sudden-death overtime, wins the game 1-0 and the tournament for the Lady Flyers.
Following their championship victory on Sunday, the young lady Flyers are expected to be back on Wednesday at the Cube, where hockey sticks, flowers and posters await them outside.
