'They're probably still playing someplace': dad of fatal crash victim

The father of one of the boys killed in a fatal crash on a New Brunswick highway on Saturday says that he didn't have a second thought about allowing his son to board a van to travel to a high school basketball game.

"They travelled to a lot of different communities because that's the only way we can compete," said John Cleland, father of 17-year-old Nathan Cleland. "Our boys were always on the road and playing these places."

Seven members of Bathurst High School's varsity boy's basketball team and the wife of the team's coach were killed early Saturday morning when their van fish-tailed and slammed head-on into a transport truck on an icy road. Four people in the van survived — including the team's coach, who was driving — as did the truck driver.

The accident happened on a straight stretch of road only minutes from Bathurst, where the teens' parents were waiting to pick them up at a local fast-food restaurant. Cleland said he would often travel with the team to watch them play.

Travel for students playing on sports teams in northern New Brunswick communities is just a fact of life, Cleland said.

"It was a necessity and we didn't think anything of it."

Nathan Cleland had been playing basketball since he was four years old and had plans to take a year off after graduating in June before going to Holland College in Prince Edward Island for firefighting or emergency response training.

The teen was a leading player on the Phantoms team, averaging 20 points per game. He continued to lead on the scoreboard during Friday night's game when Bathurst lost against Moncton High School 75-65.

The deaths of the teens have touched people throughout Bathurst and the province, Cleland said.

'Everybody is grieving'

"The support here has been overwhelming. It's beyond description," he said. "We've had well over 200 people coming through our doors.

"Everybody is grieving. Everybody realizes what kind of loss we have and this loss is not going to go away for a long time."  

The community is planning a joint, public memorial to be held at the local arena on Tuesday followed by a public funeral on Wednesday.

"Our boys were a team," Cleland said. "We figured it's the only just thing we can do is to have one last gathering as a team.

"We're all of the belief that our boys are happy that they're still together, they're probably still playing someplace."

A public funeral service will be held for the seven teenagers killed in the accident this Wednesday at 2 p.m. AT (or 1 p.m. ET). CBCNews.ca will be carrying the event on a live video stream.

A funeral for Beth Lord, the coach's wife, will be held separately on Thursday.