Arrest made in skate blade death of Johnson
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
A man was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of former NHL player Adam Johnson, the South Yorkshire (England) Police announced Tuesday.
The arrest comes more than two weeks since police began investigating the incident that led to Johnson’s death on Oct. 28. Johnson was playing for the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League when his throat was cut by a skate blade during a collision in a Champions Cup game in Sheffield, England, against the Sheffield Steelers. Johnson was 29.
South Yorkshire Police said in a statement that a postmortem examination confirmed Johnson died from a fatal neck injury. The man, whose identity was not released by the police, was released on bail Wednesday pending further inquiries.
“Our investigation launched immediately following this tragedy and we have been carrying out extensive enquiries ever since to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances,” South Yorkshire Chief Superintendent Becs Horsfall said. “We have been speaking to highly specialised experts in their field to assist in our enquiries and continue to work closely with the health and safety department at Sheffield City Council, which is supporting our ongoing investigation.”
The player whose skate blade cut Johnson’s neck was Matt Petgrave, 31, who plays for Sheffield.
According to The Associated Press, video of the incident showed Johnson skating with the puck toward the Steelers’ net. Petgrave skated toward Johnson and collided with another Panthers player, Petgrave’s left skate kicked up as he began to fall and the blade hit Johnson in the neck.
Both players landed on the ice, and Petgrave immediately got to his feet. Johnson rose more slowly and was helped off the ice, with his jersey covered in blood. He later died at a local hospital.
Johnson’s death has since prompted a number of different leagues throughout the sport to examine their player safety measures when it comes to potentially using neck protection devices.
It started when the English Ice Hockey Association announced two days after Johnson’s death that it would make neck guards mandatory starting in 2024 as part of a three-step plan.
NHL general managers convened in Toronto on Tuesday, and cut-resistant equipment — along with overall protection — was a hot topic of discussion.
While any mandates at the NHL level would need to be agreed upon by the NHL Players’ Association, there have been NHL players who started wearing neck guards at practices and in games.
Johnson’s former NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, said it would mandate that its AHL and ECHL affiliates wear neck protection devices. A few days later, the Western Hockey League announced that it would be making neck protection devices mandatory for its players.
NHL vice president of hockey operations Rod Pasma addressed the league’s managers Tuesday on what options are available to players looking to upgrade their gear in the wake of Johnson’s death.
The actual process of acquiring a variety of protective items has been going on for more than a decade, and Pasma said the NHL is now fully able to deliver just about any gear a player requires.
“As it sits here today, there’s plenty of options for the players to wear at any category, whether it be the neck, the wrist, socks, patches,” Pasma said. “So, I think that [unknown] element of cut protection has disappeared, meaning if you think something’s too hot [to wear], if you think it’s too heavy, there’s options for you to look at that’ll fix those issues.”
Pasma said there are already upward of 10 selections in wrist gear and base layers for players to choose from. After Johnson’s death, the NHL also ramped up its collection of neck guard apparel, with plans to continue adding more to it.
“We’re getting there,” Pasma said. “We [didn’t] have many a month ago. But as it sits today, I think there’s up to eight companies on my desk waiting to be cleared [for use in the league]. And of those eight, there’s probably 12 to 14 options to wear.”
It’s not mandatory for a player to wait on NHL clearance to change gear. Pasma said anyone should “absolutely” wear a neck protection of their choosing and the league will then get that product certified.
At this stage, the NHL has no plans to impose a mandate forcing players to wear anything specific. If the players’ association were to request one be invoked down the road, then the league would work with it on such a course of action, Pasma said.
“They’re doing their thing behind the scenes and trying to figure out where they stand on it,” Pasma said. “Hopefully we’ll come together and see what we can come up with.”
ESPN’s Kristen Shilton contributed to this report.
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
DANIA BEACH, Fla. — While discussing the opportunity that awaits Penn State in the College Football Playoff, coach James Franklin said Wednesday that the showdown against Notre Dame is about “representing our schools and our conferences.”
Franklin then caught himself, realizing Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was sitting just to his right.
“Or our conference, excuse me,” Franklin said.
Penn State will be representing the Big Ten against FBS independent Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Nittany Lions reached the Big Ten championship game before earning a No. 6 seed in the first 12-team CFP, while the Fighting Irish made the playoff as an at-large and earned the No. 7 seed despite playing in one fewer game.
Franklin said he thinks a larger CFP ultimately requires more uniformity around college football, including every team to be part of a conference and playing the same number of league games. Notre Dame, one of three remaining FBS independents, sees its status as central to the school’s identity and has resisted chances to join the Big Ten and other conferences over the years. The Fighting Irish compete in the ACC for most of their other major sports, and they have a scheduling agreement with the ACC in football.
“It should be consistent across college football,” Franklin said. “This is no knock at [Freeman] or Notre Dame, but I think everybody should be in a conference. I think everybody should play a conference championship game, or nobody should play a conference champion championship game. I think everybody should play the same number of conference games.”
Penn State reached the CFP by playing nine conference games as well as the Big Ten championship game against No. 1 Oregon, which defeated the Nittany Lions 45-37 on Dec. 7. The Big 12 also has maintained a nine-game league slate, while the SEC and ACC have stayed at eight conference games.
Franklin, who coached at Vanderbilt before Penn State, praised the SEC for remaining at eight league games, which the league’s coaches wanted. The SEC has repeatedly considered going to nine league games during Franklin’s time in the Big Ten.
“I was not a math major at East Stroudsburg, but just the numbers are going to make things more challenging if you’re playing one more conference game,” he said.
Franklin also highlighted other areas of the sport that could be made more uniform, including starting the season a week earlier to ease the strain of playing more games with an expanded playoff. He reiterated his desire to appoint a college football commissioner unaffiliated with a school or a conference, and once again mentioned longtime coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as an option, along with former Washington and Boise State coach Chris Petersen, now a Fox college football analyst, and Dave Clawson, who recently stepped down as Wake Forest’s coach.
“We need somebody that is looking at it from a big-picture perspective,” Franklin said.
Freeman acknowledged that Notre Dame prides itself on its independence. He said the team uses the weekend of conference championships, when they’re guaranteed not to be playing, as another open week for recovery and other priorities.
Notre Dame ended the regular season Nov. 30 and did not play again until Dec. 20, when it hosted Indiana in a first-round CFP game. In helping craft the format for the 12-team CFP, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick agreed that if the Irish were selected, they would not be eligible to earn a bye into the quarterfinals.
Freeman noted that he doesn’t have a strong opinion on whether college football needs more uniformity.
“I’m a guy that just [thinks], ‘Tell us what we’re doing and let’s go, and you move forward,'” Freeman said. “I love where we’re at right now. [Athletic director] Pete Bevacqua and our Notre Dame administration will continue to make decisions that are best for our program.”
Franklin said his desire for greater consistency stems from the CFP selection process and the difficulty of committee members to sort through teams with vastly different paths and profiles, and determine strength of schedule and other factors.
“How do you put those people that are in that room to make a really important decision that impacts the landscape of college football, and they can’t compare apples to apples or oranges to oranges?” Franklin said. “I think that makes it very, very difficult.”
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