Young girls from a Southern California youth hockey team were left deeply shaken after what was meant to be a routine road trip turned into a devastating tragedy in Colorado. The crash claimed the life of one player’s father and sent several children and adults to the hospital.

At The Cube Ice and Entertainment Center in Valencia, the team’s home rink, parents struggled to find the right words to explain the heartbreaking accident to their daughters as the Santa Clarita Valley community mourned the loss.

“She was completely distraught,” said team parent Serge Zarubin, describing his daughter’s reaction. “That’s understandable. It’s hard for anyone to process — for adults, and even more so for children.”

“It affects everyone so deeply. This is an unimaginable tragedy,” said Santa Clarita Valley hockey mom Kelly Lytle. “A child has lost a parent, and thinking about what these families are going through is truly heartbreaking.”

The crash occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday on a snow-covered section of Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County, about 55 miles west of Denver. A Sprinter van carrying the Santa Clarita Lady Flyers, a girls’ ice hockey team for players aged 12 and under, was traveling to a Western Girls Hockey League tournament near Denver when it collided head-on with a Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow.

The impact was severe, ripping the blade off the snowplow and sending the van off the interstate.

The driver of the van, who was the father of one of the players, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities reported that eight of the ten people inside the van were injured. One girl was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby trauma center in critical condition, while seven others — including four children and three adults — were transported to local hospitals.

According to reports, the van had been rented by three families from the team to transport the girls to the tournament.