PROVO, Utah — Two of the boys killed in flash floods last week have left a gaping hole in a Provo hockey community, with their teammates now having to learn how to get back on the ice without their friends by their side.
They say you have to start somewhere, and for 13-year-old Thayne and 12-year-old Gage, that somewhere was in youth hockey.
“Me and Gage met with my son playing hockey; the kid is hilarious. Anytime we were making jokes about things, the kid just... he knew it," recalled Gage's former coach, Corson Bastian.
While Gage played goal with the Wasatch Wild, Thayne skated with Salt Lake Effect.
“[Thayne] was a smaller player for his age; he stayed in the net and just tried to persevere through it, and that was, you know, Thayne as a young man," shared Craig Carlyle, Thayne's former coach.
The boys' coaches said Thayne and Gage weren’t just great hockey players; they were good humans.
“We would have [Gage] start as the goalie, but he would always tell me, 'Hey, coach, this goalie really wants to start.' For a kid of his age to have humility and the knowledge to know that other people need that moment as well was huge," said Bastian.
Brothers mourn loss of loved ones who died in devastating flash flood accident:
This hockey community will never be the same after both boys, along with their parents and older step-sibling, died in the flash floods near their campground Friday in southern Utah.
“There's a thing that hockey players do when we lose somebody, and they put their sticks out on the porch, and it was hard to see a lot of the teammates put it out,” Carlyle said. “[Thayne] did have a really close friend on the team, and I know we went to stick time the other day and was basically like laying in the crease, like 'I miss my buddy.'”
“My son is 12. We played the same team, and he was very much. He tries to be tough, and sat there and is like, 'Oh, no, I'm okay, I'm okay. And I'm like, "Dude, it's okay. [Gage] was a huge part of our lives," said Bastian.
The numbers 24 and 29 will no longer be on the ice with friends and teammates, but their former teams will play with those numbers on their hearts.
“Play every day like it could be your last, because you never know," said Carlyle. "And this is a really sad reminder…. you don't forget them, and you try to play in their honor, right?
"So, that's what we're going to try to do.”
