A promising young hockey player and her father were killed in a tragic motorcycle crash in Newfoundland that involved another vehicle and a moose.
Stacey-Lynn Kenny, 19, and her father, Corey Kenny, 48, died after their motorcycle was involved in the accident in Aquaforte, Newfoundland, on Monday, June 22, according to Canada’s CBC News.
Both Stacey-Lynn and Corey were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle was checked by paramedics but did not require additional medical care, according to the report. Police are now investigating the crash.
Stacey-Lynn was a rising hockey player who played for the Triple-A Eastern Ice Breakers. Her coach, Tony Goobie, remembered her as a “player’s player” and someone who made a lasting impact on everyone around her.
“Everybody, her teammates, her coaches, you know, always looked at her as a shining light,” Goobie told CBC News.
Another coach, Tom Walsh, said Stacey-Lynn had a rare gift for bringing people together, both on and off the ice.
“I think she was the only player that I knew of who could get girls up at 6 a.m. in the morning and get them all to go to [Tim Horton’s] together or do something special together,” Walsh said.
Her teammates remembered her the same way: funny, joyful and impossible not to love.
“She was not only a team player on the ice but off the ice,” teammate Julia Butler said. “She brought so much light and joy. You were always laughing when Stacey was around.”
Brooklyn Kitchen, another teammate, called Stacey-Lynn “the best teammate you could ask for.”
“She was always just the funniest person in the room,” Kitchen said.
In the days after the crash, residents in Stacey-Lynn’s hometown of Bay Bulls began placing hockey jerseys and sticks outside their homes in her memory. The town described the tribute as a “simple but meaningful gesture.”
“In times like this, we are reminded of the compassion and unity that bind us together, and we encourage residents to continue supporting one another in the days ahead,” the town said in a statement to CBC.
Haley Ryan, who played on multiple teams with Stacey-Lynn, said the grief has been overwhelming, but the support from the hockey community has meant everything.
“It’s been pretty unimaginable,” Ryan said. “You never really think that something like this would happen.”
She added that the response reflected the strength of the Newfoundland hockey community.
“I think it’s the classic Newfoundland hockey way, the community that we have,” Ryan said. “The love and support is definitely felt by everyone, for sure.”
Stacey-Lynn had also played last season in the Women’s Junior A Hockey League. On Monday, June 29, the league announced that it would rename its season-long trophy in her honor. It will now be called the Kenny Cup.
Local station VOCM reported that Stacey-Lynn returned to the league after a “lengthy hospitalization” had kept her off the ice the previous year.
Her death, along with the death of her father, has left her family, teammates and community devastated.