Two Teenage Hockey Players Killed in Highway 16 Crash Near Jasper, Alberta
Kayla Peacock, 17, and Danica Hills, 18, both from Hinton, were killed Monday night when their pickup truck collided with a semi-trailer on Highway 16, about 6 miles east of the Jasper townsite, according to RCMP. The two were members of the Jasper U18 Bearcats hockey team.
Peacock and Hills were travelling home from hockey practice and a team photoshoot before the collision, said Grant Bradley, president of Jasper Minor Sports. Peacock was driving the pickup truck and Hills was a passenger. Both were declared dead at the scene, police said.
RCMP stated that road conditions are believed to be a factor in the crash.
In Hinton — population roughly 10,000 — the loss cut deep. These were not strangers. They were the teenagers you’d see at the local arena, walking to class, waving from their front porches.
Best Friends With Shared Plans for the Future
In a statement to CBC News, Peacock’s cousin, Jayden Calvert, said the two girls were best friends who “did everything together.” Calvert said the teenagers planned to live together in Edmonton after graduating high school this spring.
Hills had been accepted into the University of Alberta’s faculty of engineering. Peacock planned to attend MC College to become a hairstylist.
Before playing three years of hockey together, the pair played ringette together for 11 years — more than a decade of shared ice time, shared bus rides, and shared dreams.
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” and said they were dedicated to both academics and athletics. He emphasized the impact on their school community in Hinton.
Flags at Half-Mast as School Offers Grief Support
Both Peacock and Hills were Grade 12 students at Harry Collinge High School in Hinton. The flags at the school are being flown at half-mast following their deaths.
Classes resumed Thursday. The Grande Yellowhead Public School Division said in a statement that 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.”
In a town the size of Hinton, the school is one of the central gathering places. Its response — counselors in the building, doors open for anyone who needs to talk — reflects how institutions in tight-knit communities step up when tragedy strikes.
Hockey Game to Honor Peacock and Hills with Moment of Silence
A National Junior Hockey League game is scheduled in Jasper on Friday between the Edson Eagles and Hinton Canadians. Organizers said the game will include a moment of silence for Peacock and Hills and a 50/50 raffle, with proceeds going to their families.
That 50/50 raffle is a familiar tradition in small-town hockey — fans buying tickets between periods, often to support a local cause. This time, the cause is two grieving families.
The Jasper U18 Bearcats — Peacock and Hills’ team — are scheduled to play their first game since the crash on March 6 against the Edson Sabres. Their teammates will take the ice without them.
Bradley spoke to how the young players and the adults around them are coping.
“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.
For communities in remote areas, travel is a fact of life. 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.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
