Santa Clarita girls hockey team wins championship days after player’s dad is killed in icy accident

Three days later, the Flyers took the Western Girls Hockey League 12U title with a 1-0 victory in overtime Sunday, their fifth win of the tournament. The team met for two hours the night of the accident and the players decided they would participate rather than pull out and head home.

“We knew that the families in the crash would want us to play and decided not just to do it for ourselves but do it for them mostly,” Flyers captain Sophia Boyle told Denver 9News. “We are more than a team. It’s like we are a giant family.

“We knew what we wanted, we tried our hardest and we got it.”

The driver of a Colorado Department of Transportation plow truck westbound on I-70 just east of Loveland Pass on Thursday morning lost control, drove through the median and hit the eastbound Ford Transit van head-on, according to the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office.

“The plow truck traveled through the median, breaking through the cable rail and into the eastbound lanes,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The van was knocked down an icy embankment before coming to rest. Five children and three adults were treated for injuries and one adult passenger declined medical treatment.

Lorenzana, 38, a noted tattoo artist and lifelong San Fernando Valley resident, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. He and his daughter had driven from Southern California along with two other families.

“Manny is a hero and the epitome of what an amazing man, father, partner and friend should be,” the family wrote on a GoFundMe page. “He was the most thoughtful, loving and supportive man to his soulmate April, and the most caring, involved, fun, kind and loving parent, and best friend, to his daughter Brody.”

The Flyers played six games in three days. After two victories Friday in the double-elimination tournament, they lost their first game Saturday. Brody was released from the hospital and joined her teammates ahead of the second game Saturday, which ended in a 14-0 win.

Santa Clarita Valley residents gathered at the Flyers’ home rink, the Cube Ice and Entertainment Center, to watch the game via a video stream that unfortunately malfunctioned. Still, the crowd stayed, with several people refreshing the league’s website to keep up with the game and shouting when the Flyers scored.

Two victories Sunday — both shutouts — gave the Flyers the title. Moments before the championship game, the Flyers raised their sticks in a silent nod to Manny Lorenzana. Khaleesi Bewer scored the winning goal in overtime to defeat Mountain Select, and afterward the Flyers sang Katy Perry’s “California Gurls. ”

“It’s unbelievable how much people have rallied behind these girls,” said Prescott Littlefield, president of the Flyers organization. “If there is a silver lining to this, the amount of support they’ve gotten is beyond my ability to comprehend. The families are so grateful.”