The hockey world is filled with grief, sadness and fear following the tragic death of 29 year-old Adam Johnson, after he lost his life due to an on ice “freak accident”.
Johnson tragically lost his life on Oct. 28th, following an on ice collision slicing his neck open from an opposing player’s skate.
A Minnesota native, Johnson played for the Nottingham Panthers in Europe, and is an ex-NHL player for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Johnson and his teammates went into this highly anticipated matchup in the British Elite Ice Hockey League against the Sheffield Steelers with an absolute nightmare to come.
Johnson was skating down the edge of the ice in the sixth minute of the second period as Steelers defenseman Matt Petgrave came across the ice with his left skate up in the air which sliced the neck of Johnson causing him to quickly bleed out.
The match with over 8,000 fans in attendance was quickly evacuated and abandoned as Johnson collapsed on the ice and would leave teammates, family and fans traumatized trying to come to terms with this absolutely horrific tragedy.
As the mourning the loss of Johnson grew throughout the entire world, controversies on whether this was truly an accident or intentional from Petgrave blew up.
Kayden Robitaille, a sophomore, says that “the hit was definitely intentional, coming from a hockey player”.
The police opened an investigation into Johnson’s death, and made an arrest in the case on Tuesday Nov. 14th for suspicion of manslaughter.
The man was let out on bail Nov. 15th, but the identity of the person under arrest still hasn’t been released. It is believed that Petgrave was the man put behind bars.
Countless tributes for Johnson have been posted throughout different social media platforms, including his girlfriend Ryan Wolfe. Wolfe stated, “My sweet sweet angel. I’ll miss you forever and love you always”.
Wolfe found the engagement ring Johnson was planning to propose to her with soon after his death which left people heartbroken. Haley Deets, a sophomore, says that “I think the situation is really sad and I hope his girlfriend is doing okay”.
The Johnson family has since spoken out that they will fight for justice for Adam and that they miss him dearly. As soon as they saw the play on livestream, they knew “it was not good”.
Throughout the world, the response to this tragedy has involved new mandates in multiple hockey leagues to require all players to wear neck guards.
Youth hockey leagues, the English Ice Hockey Association and the WHL have all mandated for neck guards to be worn after the new year, but it is highly anticipated that this will also be involved in the National Hockey League at some point in the coming months.
