Capt. Jenn Casey of Nova Scotia was being remembered Monday as a gifted storyteller, a kind and generous friend and a proud member of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds team.
Casey, a public affairs officer for the Snowbirds, died on Sunday when the jet she was in crashed shortly after takeoff and burst into flames in the front yard of a house in Kamloops, B.C.
The RCAF has suffered another tragic loss of a dedicated member of the RCAF team. We are deeply saddened and grieve alongside Jenn’s family and friends. Our thoughts are also with the loved ones of Captain MacDougall. We hope for a swift recovery from his injuries. – Comd RCAF <a href=”https://t.co/8U41bdVqcU”>pic.twitter.com/8U41bdVqcU</a>
The pilot, Capt. Richard MacDougall, was still listed in serious condition in hospital.
The Snowbirds have been on a cross-country tour to raise people’s spirits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil offered his “deepest condolences” to Casey’s family, friends, fellow Snowbirds team and service members, on behalf of the entire province on Monday.
“Nova Scotians stand with you and send our love, thoughts and prayers,” he said via Twitter.
Doing ‘exactly what she loved’
One of Casey’s former colleagues from Halifax radio station News 95.7, Jordi Morgan, said just looking at a picture of Casey tells you so much about her.
“That really positive energy, that great smile that she had that would just absolutely light up a room,” Morgan said Monday.
“She was somebody who was doing absolutely exactly what she loved doing, and she was doing it at a very high level.”
Morgan said Casey was a producer during his time as a talk radio host, and believes she joined the team around 2011.
She was warm and outgoing with a “terrific” sense of humour and didn’t take herself too seriously, he said, but was also very professional and great at her job.
Casey left behind very good friends in Halifax, he said, but he’s not surprised to see she connected with so many people across the country during her “dream job” with the Snowbirds.
Before he got a call from a mutual friend telling him about Casey’s death, Morgan said his heart “sunk” when he heard the crash victim had been a woman.
“You kind of think, ‘OK, that is probably going to be Jenn,’ and it was just absolutely dreadful,” he said.
“There’s a hole in the sky.”
Morgan said Casey is yet another “exemplary service woman” from Nova Scotia who has lost her life within recent weeks, referring to RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson, one of 22 people killed in the mass shooting April 18 and 19, and naval officer Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough who died when a Cyclone helicopter crashed in international waters between Greece and Italy on April 29.
“I think people are crushed by it,” Morgan said.
“I don’t know how many more hits we can take here. It’s been a dumpster fire of a year in Nova Scotia, obviously for a whole lot of reasons, and I just hope things turn around.”
‘It’s a great loss’
Casey, from Halifax, joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 2014 after several years working as a journalist, according to her biography on the Royal Canadian Air Force website.
Her first assignment was at 8 Wing Trenton, in Ontario, the RCAF’s home of air mobility.
Sean Costello, an Ottawa photojournalist who worked with Casey, said she was a bright person who had a smile that “would light not only the room that you were in but I’m sure two rooms over.”
“It’s a great loss. She was a wonderful person, very energetic … and I’m going to miss her,” Costello said.
“The nation has been very well served by her.”
Casey, of Halifax, joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2014 after several years working as a journalist, according to her biography on the RCAF website. (_jenncasey/Instagram)
He got to know Casey when she spent the 2018 season with the CF-18 Demo Team, travelling North America and the United Kingdom with the NORAD 60 jet.
Costello said that while Casey was busy and had a lot of details to keep track of in her job, she always took time to respond to people personally. She also had a great sense of humour and was “quick to laugh.”
He said he can still remember her voice carrying over the crowd during shows with the CF-18 Demo Team, where she acted as narrator.
“She was just such a natural fit, with the positivity and the energy in her voice,” Costello said. “It was just simply infectious. You couldn’t have a bad day if you were listening to Jenn Casey.”
‘Determination’ to finish what she started
Prior to joining the military, she worked in broadcast radio as a reporter, anchor and producer in both Halifax and Belleville, Ont.
She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Dalhousie University, a bachelor of journalism from the University of King’s College and a masters of interdisciplinary studies from Royal Roads University in B.C., according to her RCAF biography.
Stephen Kimber, a journalism professor at King’s, said Monday she was a “memorable” student in the program even before he taught her personally.
Casey completed her journalism degree in two parts, Kimber said. She took the first part of the one-year program in the fall of 2008 and left after that to get a job in the field.
She returned a couple years later to finish her courses, one of them taught by Kimber, and graduate while still working full-time.
“I think it was just part of who she was, her determination to do things, to finish things what she had started,” Kimber said.
Over the years, Kimber said, he would catch up with Casey in her producer role whenever he would appear on Rick Howe’s talk show on News 95.7, where he was a regular guest.
He said Casey was so enthusiastic when she told him she’d decided to enter the military that he couldn’t help but be excited for her even though he’d hoped she would stay in journalism since she “had the smarts” to do it.
Kimber said he knows Nova Scotia’s journalism community is a small one, and many members are trying to process Casey’s death while reporting on it themselves.
It has to be “very, very hard” in the wake of other recent tragedies like the mass shooting and the Cyclone crash, he said.
He said he been following the social media posts and photos from friends and colleagues who knew Casey best.
“You just get the sense of how much she was loved, and clearly she was.”
Joined Snowbirds in 2018
Casey joined the Snowbirds in November 2018.
The heads of all three universities where Casey attended tweeted their condolences on Sunday.
“With gratitude and admiration for her service, we mourn with her family, friends and colleagues,” tweeted King’s president Bill Lahey.
Today we grieve the great loss of Capt. Jennifer Casey, <a href=”https://twitter.com/CFSnowbirds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CFSnowbirds</a> PAO and recent <a href=”https://twitter.com/RoyalRoads?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RoyalRoads</a> master’s graduate. She was on a cross-Canada trip to lift her country’s spirits. May hers be.<br><br>Our thoughts are with her loved ones, <a href=”https://twitter.com/RCAF_ARC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RCAF_ARC</a><br>& Capt. MacDougal for a speedy recovery. <a href=”https://t.co/YVouthhYei”>pic.twitter.com/YVouthhYei</a>
The mayor of Moose Jaw, Sask., where the Snowbirds’ home base 15 Wing is located, said Monday he was “deeply saddened” to learn of Casey’s death.
“The Canadian Forces Snowbirds are an integral part of our community, and we send our deepest condolences to the Casey family and to the entire Snowbirds team,” Fraser Tolmie said in a news release.
The crash happened shortly after the jet took off from the Kamloops Airport around noon Pacific Time. Witnesses say it was following another jet when it appeared to veer upward and circle the tarmac before going into a nosedive.
The CAF Flight Safety team planned to leave Ottawa Sunday night to begin its investigation into the circumstances of the crash, the CAF said.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
