HAMILTON—Ten-year-old Emily Porto loved to watch her cousin Francesco play hockey, and begged to watch his game on Thursday night, even though it would mean staying up a little late.

Emily's mother relented, and so Emily went to 13-year-old Francesco's elite-level game in Guelph with Francesco, his mother, Vivian Porto, 43, and his sister, 10-year-old Azzidene.

They were all killed in a two-vehicle collision around 10:45 p.m. Thursday along a deadly stretch of Highway 6, north of Parkside Dr.

Four people in a sport utility vehicle that collided with the Porto minivan suffered potentially life-threatening injuries. Their identities have not been released, but they are a 40-year-old Cambridge man, who was driving, and a 38-year-old Cambridge woman and the man's 17-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter from Perth. They are all in serious condition in area hospitals.

Police blame bad weather for the collision.

"She wasn't supposed to go," Emily's aunt Lisa Ulrich said yesterday in an interview at Emily's home. "Emily got very excited about attending. She begged her mother to go. The cousins are very, very close."

Hanging behind her in the family garage was a wall of sports equipment for Emily and her family.

Their mother, Vivian, loved being a hockey mom, even though Francesco's membership on the triple-A elite level minor bantam Hamilton Junior Bulldogs meant several nights a week on the road.

When not caring for her four children — including older boys Amadeo and Riccardo, who also play hockey — Vivian Porto ran three fabric stores.

"There was never any doubt that her commitment was to the children," Ulrich said. "It was hockey, hockey, hockey. She was a hockey mom."

Other family members were also devastated by the accident.

Emily's brother Gabriel, 3, still hadn't been told about her death yesterday.

Emily and Gabriel were thrilled earlier this month when they got to sit on the knee of Santa in a mall near their home, their grandmother Diana Bordonaro said.

Bordonaro stared at Emily's bicycle in disbelief, then said she loved to show pictures of Emily and her wide, distinctive smile to everyone she knew.

"She had a dimple on one cheek. ... I bragged about her to everyone," her grandmother cried. "... I can't imagine this ...

"I just took them to see Santa. It was wonderful."

Bordonaro said she doesn't know how to break the news to Gabriel, who's excited about Christmas.

"He never called her Emily," she said. "It was `sister'... She became a little mother to him. She protected him."

Several people witnessed the accident near the intersection with Highway 5, including other members of the Junior Bulldogs and their parents.

Highway 6 has caught the attention of the regional coroner, Dr. David Eden.

"We're very concerned about this and we'll look at an inquiry, but we're a long way from making that decision," Eden said. "I travel that road and it's a very busy stretch of road."

The 24-kilometre stretch of road linking Highways 403 and 401 has been the scene of at least 20 fatal accidents since the early 1990s.

Residents and police blame a lack of barriers between the north and southbound lanes as well as the absence of snow fences to block snow drifts that blow in from surrounding open fields.

"The roads were generally good," said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Cam Woolley. "However, during the evening winds had picked up and there was blowing snow that had drifted along Highway 6. When (the victim's) van hit the snowdrift she lost control.

"She ended up in the northbound lanes sideways and into the path of the Blazer. Both vehicles were believed to be doing the speed limit of 80 km/h. So it was not survivable.

"The minivan was hit broadside and then pushed back into the guardrail."

Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs president Frank Casale said he first heard of the accident at 8 yesterday morning and immediately set out to get grief counsellors for the team.

"I couldn't believe it," Casale said. "We're all in shock. The team, the coaches, the executives are all grieving. He (Francesco) was a wonderful kid, a good hockey player."

Francesco's and Azzidene's dad and Vivian's husband, Sam, is a trainer on another of their teams where he has another son playing, Casale said.

"I just don't know how he is coping with it all," Casale said.

The funeral for all four Porto family members will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Margaret Mary Church. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Friscolanti Funeral Chapel.

With files from Paul Choi, Lois Kalchman and the hamilton spectator