Van crash involving hockey team kills one, injures seven
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 12/03/2007
Alex Johnson | Senior Photographer
A van carrying at least eight members of Purdue's hockey team slid off S.R. 25 at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. The van stopped about 10 feet off the road; one members was killed and seven others were injured.
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One Purdue hockey team member was killed and seven others were injured Saturday when the team's van slid off the highway and rolled over on its way to a game against Holy Cross College.
At about 3:45 p.m., the vehicle slid off an icy S.R. 25 and rolled over before stopping driver's side down about 10 feet off the road.
Andrew Jackson, a freshman in the College of Engineering, was killed in the accident and seven of his teammates were injured. Jackson, of Chanhassen, Minn., was a starting defensive player for the team.
The seven injured students were taken to Home Hospital in Lafayette Saturday, treated for minor injuries and released Sunday morning, said Jeanne Norberg, spokeswoman for the University.
The hockey team, which consists of 20 players, two coaches and a manager, were traveling in three separate vans to the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville, Ill., where the team practices and plays its matches. Purdue was scheduled to face off against Holy Cross, out of South Bend, Ind., at 5 p.m. The team left Purdue early due to the poor weather conditions.
Falling rain and sleet created slick roadways, which led to the accident about five miles north of Wingate, Ind. People in the other two team vans did not witness the accident but came upon it soon after it happened.
The game was canceled as the rest of the team accompanied the injured team members to the hospital, Norberg said. She said there has been an outpouring of support from the hockey community.
"We're getting calls from hockey moms and dads and players around the country," she said. "Hockey is a very close-knit sport and it's a family."
Family, according to the team's coach, is precisely the right word.
"You become a family pretty much instantaneously," said head coach Cameron Estes. "We lost a brother. He was one of those guys who was just able to fit in right away. I was blessed that I got to meet him."