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MURRAY — Maddin East remembers her friend, 17-year-old Gage Manning, as someone the other players on their youth hockey team looked up to.
"Gage was a true leader on the ice as our team captain, but also in the penalty box with the highest penalty minutes," East said fondly.
Both Gage and his cousin, 18-year-old River Manning, of West Point, had built reputations as being tough and fearless.
"Being fearless was one of the many things that Gage and River had in common. In fact, they must have felt invincible on the night of April 1, 2022, when they decided to get in a vehicle without (seat belts)," East said.
On that night, the cousins were in a car with three others on East Promontory Road in Box Elder County when their car drifted and the driver overcorrected, causing the vehicle to roll twice. No one was wearing a seat belt and all the car's occupants were ejected.
A week away from Thanksgiving, one of the busiest weeks of the year for travel, the Utah Highway Patrol on Thursday made its annual reminder for people to wear their seat belts when in a vehicle. UHP Major Jeff Nigbur called it the "single most effective safety device" in a crash.
From Nov. 22-26, troopers will be working 120 extra shifts statewide focusing on seat belt usage.
Thursday's safety reminder was held at the Salt Lake County Ice Center, 5201 Murray Park Lane. Gage and River were hockey players and their losses had a big impact on the hockey community statewide.
Colton East says his team wore patches on their uniforms during their senior season to honor Gage. He also says that six months after Gage's death, he and his mother were in a crash while going 70 mph on the freeway. But in this case, they were buckled up.
"If we hadn't been wearing our seat belts, who knows what could have happened? It takes five seconds to buckle up. It's honestly one of the easiest things to do all day," he said. "If they had taken five seconds to buckle up, they'd still be here today."
In addition to Gage's toughness, Maddin recalls that he was always "looking for the next adventure." River was remembered as a tough cowboy who loved rodeo.
"The time he got into my mom's car with a pet raccoon just says who he was. He was funny, kind and also fearless," Maddin said.
Right before the start of the press conference, one of the survivors from the 2022 crash sent a letter for Nigbur to read, though the family requested that the boy's name not be released.
"Every kid around our age thinks they are bulletproof, and I was definitely one of those kids," the letter said. The night started as normal, with the group doing "nothing we hadn't done countless times before."
"But we just drew the short straw that night. That made me realize how fast things go bad. You don't have time to react," the boy wrote. "I just wish we would have listened (to those who told them to wear their seat belts)."
