Two Teen Hockey Players Killed in Alberta Highway Crash, Leaving Hinton Community in Mourning
Two young hockey players from Hinton, Alberta — best friends who planned to live together after graduation — were killed Monday night when their pickup truck collided with a semi-trailer on Highway 16.
Kayla Peacock, 17, and Danica Hills, 18, both members of the Jasper U18 Bearcats hockey team, were declared dead at the scene, according to RCMP. They were travelling home to Hinton from hockey practice and a team photoshoot when the collision occurred about 6 miles east of the Jasper townsite.
Peacock was driving the pickup truck and Hills was a passenger. RCMP stated that road conditions are believed to be a factor in the crash.
Both were Grade 12 students at Harry Collinge High School in Hinton. Hills had been accepted into the University of Alberta’s faculty of engineering. Peacock planned to attend MC College to become a hairstylist.
In a statement to CBC News, Peacock’s cousin, Jayden Calvert, said the two were best friends who “did everything together.” Calvert said the teenagers planned to live together in Edmonton after graduating high school this spring.
Their athletic partnership stretched well over a decade. Before playing three years of hockey together, the pair played ringette together for 11 years.
Hinton Mayor Brian LaBerge described the loss as “shredding.”
“These are two really young people who are just ready to set the world on fire and they haven’t had their turn,” he said. LaBerge described the teenagers as “bright lights” dedicated to both academics and athletics.
Flags at Harry Collinge High School are being flown at half-mast. Classes resumed Thursday. The Grande Yellowhead Public School Division said grief counselling and mental health support are available to students and staff.
“Our entire district community is mourning,” Superintendent Kurt Scobie said. “There are no words that can fully capture the grief of such a loss.”
Grant Bradley, president of Jasper Minor Sports, offered a perspective on how the community’s youngest members are handling the tragedy.
“The kids, they’re handling it better than I can imagine. The adults are having arguably a harder time because they’re parents. … Losing a child, it’s heart-wrenching,” Bradley said.
The grief extends across both Hinton and Jasper, where youth sports serve as a central bond. A National Junior Hockey League game scheduled in Jasper on Friday between the Edson Eagles and Hinton Canadians will include a moment of silence for Peacock and Hills and a 50/50 raffle, with proceeds going to their families.
The Jasper U18 Bearcats are scheduled to play their first game since the crash on March 6 against the Edson Sabres.
The crash has renewed difficult conversations about the risks young athletes face travelling long distances in remote parts of Alberta. Bradley said travel is common for teams in remote communities like Hinton and Jasper and noted broader safety concerns.
“This is not the first incident this year in Alberta,” he said. “So that’s one of the concerns and it has been raised at league level as to travel.”
“There’s young people that travel many miles on the road over their young hockey careers, and they’re at risk in doing this and progressing themselves in hockey,” Bradley said.
The crash occurred three weeks after three hockey players were killed in a collision in southern Alberta while driving to a team practice. For communities like Hinton and Jasper, long drives to practices and games are simply part of the reality of youth athletics, with young players — some of them new drivers — regularly facing challenging road conditions.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
