The hockey community in Mahtomedi is rallying around a player who was critically injured in a three-car accident in Grant on Wednesday morning.

Sources said Samson Walters, 16, of Hugo, a Junior Gold 16 player with Mahtomedi Youth Hockey, remained in critical condition Friday at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. He was injured in a head-on collision that occurred around 7:50 a.m. Wednesday on Jamaca Avenue near the intersection of Justen Trail.

Hockey families around Mahtomedi have been putting hockey sticks out on their front porches and turning on their porch lights to show support for Samson Walters, 16, of Hugo, who was critically injured in a head-on collision in Grant on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Courtesy of Mahtomedi Youth Hockey Association)

The hockey community in Mahtomedi was rocked by the news of the accident, said Alex Rogosheske, president of the Mahtomedi Youth Hockey Association. A prayer service for Samson was held Friday morning at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, and hockey families around Mahtomedi have been putting hockey sticks out on their front porches and turning on their porch lights to show support.

“As a father, my heart goes out to him and his family,” Rogosheske said. “The Mahtomedi hockey community is strong. We’ll do anything that he or his family needs. We are here for them no matter what. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

A GoFundMe fundraiser for Samson had raised nearly $17,000 of its $20,000 goal by Friday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office would not identify the drivers involved in the accident, but she confirmed that a 16-year-old Hugo boy was driving a 2008 Infiniti Cobra southbound on Jamaca when the accident occurred.

A 40-year-old Stillwater man, driving a 2017 Hyundai Sonata northbound on Jamaca, also was injured in the accident and transported by ambulance to Regions Hospital; his condition was not available on Friday. A 47-year-old St. Paul woman, driving a 2019 Toyota RAV4 northbound on Jamaca, was treated at the scene and released, police said.

The accident remains under investigation. Icy roads on Wednesday morning are believed to have been a contributing factor in a separate accident in St. Croix County, Wis., that resulted in a fatality, according to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office.

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