Connect with us

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Sports

Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

Published

on

By

Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU coach Brian Kelly was caught on camera screaming at one player and getting yelled at by another.

The sideline scenes were clear signs of frustration for a program that was on its way to losing a third consecutive game, at unranked Florida on Saturday. Now, the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will be the ones out of the polls following the 27-16 defeat.

And the LSU fan base might be out of patience with Kelly.

“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after his team’s latest loss. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now?

“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through, and we have to do it together.”

Kelly appeared to get into it with wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the first half. Kelly got in Hilton’s face after a play, and online lip readers suggested Kelly eventually called Hilton “uncoachable.”

Late in the third quarter, cameras captured wideout Kyren Lacy yelling at Kelly on the sideline after an empty possession.

In the clip, Lacy could be seen apparently letting Kelly have it. The coach’s eyes widened as he seemingly realized what was happening. The ABC camera quickly cut away from the interaction.

LSU lost to Florida for the first time since 2018. This one came despite the Tigers running 92 plays and having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

“We’re going to put guys on the field that are going to fight and do everything they can do to correct where we are right now — and that is struggling with consistent execution,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve seen it enough to know we have to be better as coaches and players.”

Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last five seasons at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win campaigns in Baton Rouge.

But losing three in a row, to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, makes it impossible to get past nine victories.

Continue Reading

Sports

Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

Published

on

By

Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn’t say if being ranked 12th by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

Coming off last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoff if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would have received the automatic bid as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion and have jumped them.

That’s probably not the case anymore, after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they look for. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but came back to tie the score at 17 at the half. Tennessee had only eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points; four of them came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th consecutive game at home and defeated the Volunteers for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a couple of hours, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on the road.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia fell from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were reasons why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming every play. They don’t know. They don’t understand that.”

Georgia has played the most difficult schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best strength of record, which reflects whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after falling behind 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on Oct. 19.

Adding a dominant victory over Tennessee should help Georgia’s CFP chances. It closes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the tale of each week, and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches, look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How do we get better?’ I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league.”

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I stood up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever has happened has happened and that all we can control is what we can control moving forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation that we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what is in front of you.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: No. 2 ’25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Published

on

By

Sources: No. 2 '25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Julian Lewis, the No. 2 player and quarterback in the 2025 class, decommitted from USC on Sunday, sources told ESPN, sealing a seismic development for one of the nation’s top prospects in the closing weeks of the recruiting cycle.

Lewis’ decommitment, which had been expected, comes the day after the 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback took an unofficial visit to Georgia for the game against Tennessee. He also visited Colorado on Oct. 26 and expressed interest in Indiana throughout his recruitment.

The plan remains for Lewis to commit in the upcoming weeks and enroll early in school, according to sources. He’s the top uncommitted player in the class of 2025 and his choice looms as one of the biggest stories of the early signing period with Colorado, Georgia and Indiana expected to contend for his signature before the signing period opens Dec. 4.

Sources also told ESPN on Sunday that four-star Texas A&M quarterback pledge Husan Longstreet, No. 47 in the 2025 ESPN 300, has flipped his pledge to USC in the wake of Lewis’ departure from the Trojans’ incoming class.

USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard attended Longstreet’s playoff game at Corona Centennial High School in California on Friday night, and ESPN’s No. 4 pocket passer visited the Trojans during their game against Nebraska on Saturday.

Lewis had been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 22, 2023. Yet questions had swirled over his recruitment from the summer into the fall and all the way through to his decommitment from USC on Sunday.

Lewis’ move marks the latest blow to a USC class that has now lost six commitments from the 2025 ESPN 300 in this cycle.

That list of high-profile departures from Lincoln Riley’s incoming class includes five-star defenders Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, and Lewis’ exit stands as USC’s third recruiting loss in the past seven days following the flips of defensive lineman Hayden Lowe (Miami) and cornerback Shamar Arnoux (Auburn).

The Trojans sat ninth in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle prior to Lewis’ decommitment.

With the move, Lewis instantly regains status as the one of nation’s most sought-after uncommitted prospects. He first entered that realm in 2022 when he burst onto the national scene with 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7A state title game in his freshman season.

That debut campaign earned Lewis a place as the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class before he reclassified into the 2025 cycle earlier this year, several months after his commitment to USC last August.

Continue Reading

Trending