Sask. community shaken as traffic crash kills six

ROSETOWN, SASK.— A small Saskatchewan community is mourning the death of a former Humboldt Broncos player and his young family, who were among the six people who died in a car crash in southwestern Saskatchewan on Friday.

Officials identified Troy Gasper, 26, his wife Carissa Gasper, 28, and their three children as five of the victims of the fatal crash near Elrose, Sask.

Police said the family of five — including three children aged 6, 4 and 2 — died after their SUV was involved in what RCMP described as a head-on collision with another vehicle Friday.

Adam Krieser, the mayor of the family’s hometown of Rosetown, Sask., approximately 40 kilometres north of Elrose, said the news has left the entire town town “in a state of shock.”

“To see a young, bright, wellloved family in the community like that just gone, it’s incomprehensible almost,” Krieser said in a phone interview. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League also expressed its sadness over Gasper’s death, noting he played with the Broncos for two seasons between 2009 and 2011.

The team was hit by tragedy earlier this year when a bus carrying the team collided with a semi-trailer in rural Saskatchewan, killing 16.

An elementary school in Rosetown said one of its students, Kael Gasper, was killed in the collision. It said it would offer counselling services at school Monday and Tuesday.

The 71-year-old woman driving the other vehicle, who police say was from the Swift Current, Sask., area, also died in the crash.