The Nottingham Panthers, who play in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), announced Sunday that the organization is “heartbroken at the news of Adam’s passing.”
Officials stopped the Panthers’ game Saturday against the Sheffield Steelers after Johnson was involved in a collision on the ice during the second period. Johnson received emergency treatment on the ice, and players eventually returned to the locker room after he was taken to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.
Nearly 8,000 fans at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena were asked to leave the building because of what the Panthers announced as a “major medical emergency.”
I don’t think the results were intentional but the action sure seemed like it from the footage. But I don’t play hockey so I don’t have any first hand knowledge of how his leg could’ve raised so high unintentionally.
I would be incredibly surprised if it were intentional. Every single player there knows exactly what doing that would mean.
Freak accidents happen, especially in hockey. Malarchuk had his throat slashed by a skate, Pronger took a slapshot to the chest that stopped his heart, and Peverley and Bouwmeester have randomly collapsed on the bench. Somehow all of those managed to survive, it’s honestly a miracle it doesn’t happen more often.
Morgan Barron had his faced pushed into a skate in April, got 75 stitches in the dressing room, then came back and played the rest of the game with a full cage.
And Bryan Little hasn’t played since 2019 after he took a slapshot to the side of his head.