Goalie for NCAA championship women’s hockey team, 19, killed in tragic car crash

A 19-year-old goalkeeper for the Division III nationwide champion Gustavus Adolphus Faculty girls’s hockey workforce was killed and three of her teammates have been injured in a tragic automotive crash in rural Minnesota on Sunday.

Jori Jones of Little Canada handed away as a result of accidents suffered from the collision in any case 4 girls have been taken to the close by Montevideo Hospital, in response to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The opposite three girls from the workforce within the SUV with Jones, which was pushed by Gianna Gasparini, 19, survived with non-life-threatening accidents.

The crash occurred between the SUV, which was heading eastbound on Hwy. 40, and a minivan heading southbound at an intersection with Hwy. 29, about 20 miles west of Willmar, which is a two-hour drive from Minneapolis.

The state patrol advised the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that one of many drivers did not obey a cease signal, however wouldn’t specify which one.

The minivan driver, Brandi Rasmussen, 28, advised the Star-Tribune that she got here to a full cease on the intersection, which is a four-way cease, and was despatched airborne when she was struck by the SUV.

“Impulsively, I’m within the air, rolling and rolling and rolling,” she mentioned.

“I didn’t even see them in any respect, and so they clearly didn’t see me,” Rasmussen, who’s recovering from a concussion, whiplash and scrapes and bruises, added. “The patrol mentioned they’re shocked they’re speaking to me right this moment.”

The patrol added that everybody had been sporting a seatbelt.

The top coach of the Gustavus Adolphus girls’s hockey workforce, Mike Carroll, advised the Star-Tribune the ladies, who have been all freshmen final season, have been getting back from an offseason bonding journey.

“There was type of a caravan coming again,” Carroll mentioned. “One of many automobiles came across the [crash] scene. They have been there whereas the paramedics pulled the athletes out of the automotive. The opposite group heard and doubled again.”

Carroll added that Jones had a “hard-working ethic that clearly got here from her supportive household,” telling the Star-Tribune the workforce had been excited for her to realize extra taking part in time throughout her sophomore season, as she served as a backup her first yr.

Gustavus Adolphus, which gained the Division III girls’s hockey nationwide championship in March, is about to renew courses on Sept. 5, when a consultant mentioned there could be a vigil.

Andrea Schmidt, the actions director for Roseville Space Excessive College, the place Jones performed hockey, mentioned the passing was devastating for the neighborhood.

“Jori was simply an all-around implausible individual and scholar,” Schmidt mentioned. “That is the kind of passing that impacts a whole neighborhood and can in all probability have a ripple impact for a while.”