In the wake of two serious crashes near Sadlon Arena, the Barrie Colts junior hockey club is urging people to use the free on-site parking in order to avoid having to cross busy streets in the city's south end.
"The entire Barrie Colts organization is sending thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families of the two accidents that have happened near the Sadlon Arena over the past few weeks," the team stated in a news release on Tuesday.
On Dec. 1, about an hour before last Thursday's Colts game, three people — two of whom have been identifed as local Special Olympians, along with an Empower Simcoe staff member — were struck by an alleged impaired driver at Mapleview and Bayview drives. As of Monday, all three were still receiving care at a Toronto trauma centre after suffering serious injuries.
Cassie Korzenko, 32, of Barrie, has been charged with three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. She remains in custody.
Another incident happened shortly before 10 p.m., Nov. 12, following a Colts game. A man in his early 70s suffered serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle whose driver then fled the scene. The victim was initially transported to a local hospital and later taken to a Toronto-area trauma centre to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
"After these unfortunate incidents, the Barrie Colts are again reminding fans to please use the north parking lot at Sadlon Arena. Parking is free on game nights and fans walking from cars parked there do not have to cross any streets," the Ontario Hockey League team said in its release.
Barrie Colts president Howie Campbell said the team is keeping the crash victims in their thoughts.
“We are so saddened by these incidents. It breaks your heart," Campbell said. "These folks were just going for a fun night out and in one split second, lives are changed.
"We know this is a very rare occurrence, and in one instance there are criminal charges involved, but we want to stress to our fans that there is free parking at Sadlon Arena and there really is no need for anyone to be crossing a very busy street on game nights unless they are taking public transit," he added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are big supporters of our community and when something like this happens we try to help in any way we can."
Barrie Colts vice-president Jim Payetta said team officials have met with Empower Simcoe CEO Claudine Cousins "to let her know that we want to work with their organization and others to do whatever we can to avoid these kinds of accidents from happening in the future.
"The City of Barrie designed a very large parking lot that can easily handle all of the cars for any event at Sadlon Arena and we urge people attending events to please use that lot," he added. "These people happened to be Colts fans who are helped by Empower Simcoe. But it could just as easily been anyone in our community."
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the crash victims and the families.
"They have a long road of recovery ahead," said Payetta, who added the Barrie Colts Foundation will be making a contribution. "Empower Simcoe is an amazing organization and we want to support them any way we can."
Click here to access the GoFundMe page. More than $10,000 has been raised.
The City of Barrie is on board with the Colts' message, noting the arena's north parking lot "has plenty of space available and passengers can also be dropped off at the doors before parking."
“We were all very saddened to hear about the accident near the entrance to Sadlon Arena last week,” Mayor Alex Nuttall said. “Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and we wish them a speedy recovery.”
