A promising young hockey player and her father were killed in a devastating motorcycle crash involving another vehicle and a moose in Newfoundland, leaving their tight-knit community heartbroken.
Stacey-Lynn Kenny, 19, and her dad, Corey Kenny, 48, died on Monday, June 22, after the tragic accident in Aquaforte, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s CBC News.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle was checked by paramedics but did not require further medical treatment, the outlet reported. Police are still investigating the crash.
Stacey-Lynn was a rising star on the ice and a beloved member of the Triple-A Eastern Ice Breakers. Her coach, Tony Goobie, remembered her as the kind of player every team hopes to have.
“Everybody, her teammates, her coaches, you know, always looked at her as a shining light,” Goobie told CBC News.
He called her a “player’s player,” a young athlete who stood out not just for her talent, but for the way she lifted everyone around her.
Another coach, Tom Walsh, said Stacey-Lynn had a rare gift for bringing people together.
“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 said the same thing: Stacey-Lynn was the heartbeat of the room.
“She was not only a team player on the ice but off the ice. Like, she brought so much light and joy,” teammate Julia Butler said. “You were always laughing when Stacey was around.”
Another teammate, Brooklyn Kitchen, called her “the best teammate you could ask for,” saying Stacey-Lynn was “always just the funniest person in the room.”
In the days after the crash, grief spread across Stacey-Lynn’s hometown of Bay Bulls, where residents began leaving hockey sticks and jerseys outside their homes in her memory.
The town described the tribute as a “simple but meaningful gesture” for a young life lost far too soon.
“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 News.
Haley Ryan, who played with Stacey-Lynn on multiple teams, said the loss has been almost impossible to process.
“It’s been pretty unimaginable. You never really think that something like this would happen,” Ryan said.
But she said the response from the hockey community has shown just how deeply Stacey-Lynn was loved.
“I think it’s the classic Newfoundland hockey way, the community that we have,” she said. “The love and support is definitely felt by everyone, for sure.”
Stacey-Lynn had also shown tremendous determination before her death. Local station VOCM reported that she had returned to the sport after a lengthy hospitalization kept her off the ice last year.
Now, her name will live on in the sport she loved.
On Monday, June 29, the Women’s Junior A Hockey League announced it would rename its season-long trophy in her honor. It will now be called the Kenny Cup.
For those who knew Stacey-Lynn, the tribute is a fitting way to remember a young woman whose life, teammates say, was full of laughter, grit and love for the game.
