Students to pray for Saint Ignatius hockey players injured in Indiana crash; 2 players remain hospitalized

Two Saint Ignatius College Prep junior varsity hockey players remained hospitalized in Indiana Monday following a collision with a semitrailer that flipped the team bus following a hockey tournament in Northwest Indiana.

School officials said the remaining 14 players from the school’s junior varsity hockey team had been treated and sent home following the violent Saturday night crash in Warsaw, Indiana, about two hours’ drive from Chicago.

St. Ignatius will celebrate a 3:30 p.m. public prayer Mass for the hockey players at the Church of the Holy Family, a spokesperson said. School counselors who are trained in grief counseling are also on hand at school for students, she added.

The two students, whose conditions stabilized after initially being listed in critical condition, could remain hospitalized for an additional three to five days, according to a spokesperson for the private Jesuit high school. A third student who had been listed in critical condition was released Sunday night, the spokesperson said.

The Wolfpack junior varsity hockey players were in Indiana for a weekend hockey tournament in Culver, Indiana, police said. After having dinner in Warsaw, the 23 students, two coaches and driver headed to the team’s hotel. Authorities said the truck driver ran a red light on U.S. Route 30 and collided with the right rear of the bus, police said.

The impact of the crash flipped the bus onto its side, tossing one student from the bus, according to Warsaw police. The injured team members were treated at the scene before they were rushed to area hospitals.

Police said the truck driver, Victor Santos, 58, of Brooklyn, New York, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing bodily injury, a Level 5 felony. Police said Santos failed a sobriety test and refused to consent to a chemical test before police were granted a search warrant, which allowed hospital staff to draw blood for testing.

Just prior to the traffic crash, police said they received reports that a truck was swerving into other lanes, speeding and driving off the road on U.S. Route 30 entering Warsaw city limits, according to police.

The truck driver was operating the semitrailer out of New Jersey.