Three Teen Hockey Players Killed After Car Plowed Into Tree

Three teen hockey players died after the car they were in crashed into a tree in Canada during the wee hours on Saturday, Aug.21.

Police and fire crews responded to the 16000-block of 104th Avenue in Surrey, British Columbia, at 2:45 a.m. and found the car crashed into a tree.

All three occupants of the car were declared dead at the scene.

The victims have been identified as Caleb Reimer and Ronin Sharma, both 16-year-olds, and 17-year-old Parker Magnuson. The deceased teens played for the elite Delta Hockey Academy, the Vancouver Sun reported.

"We do recognize that something like that has a great impact on the community," Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cpl. Vanessa Munn said.

The cause of the fatal crash is unclear at this time.

"Our team is still actively working to determine the events leading up to the collision," Munn said.

"The investigation is still in its early stages," she said. A witness was on the scene when police arrived, according to the authorities.

The NHL mourned their deaths in a Sunday statement posted to Twitter.

"The NHL sends its love and deepest condolences to the families of junior hockey players Caleb Reimer, Ronin Sharma, and Parker Magnuson who tragically passed away in a car accident on Saturday. Rest in peace boys," the league tweeted.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Delta Hockey Academy said it is working with the Delta school district to offer support services for its players.

"The news of such premature deaths is always a shock and difficult to process," the statement said. "We are sensitive to the fact that such an event has an impact on our student-athletes as well as the wider hockey community."

RCMP’s integrated collision analysis and reconstructive service along with the criminal collision investigation team are investigating the fatal crash.

In a similar incident, four teenagers were killed after a 2008 Mercedes SUV they were in crashed into a tree and split in half when the 17-year-old driver tried to "go airborne" over a hill in Hickory Hills, Illinois.

The fatal accident happened on July 17, when the teen driver and five passengers were "traveling [eastbound on] 89th Street at an extremely high rate of speed, in what we believe was an attempt to go airborne over the crest of the hill at 86th Avenue," police said in the statement.

Two 17-year-old victims, Omarion Rieves and Nathaniel Phillips, both died at the scene, while 16-year-old Destiny M Giera, and 15-year-old Jemerrio X Rieves, were declared dead on arrival at the hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Two, including the driver, were released from the hospital after treatment, police said.