It’s a measure of the world we’re in that some were so desperate to point a finger and apportion criminal blame when American hockey player Adam Johnson was killed on the rink on the sport’s darkest day nearly 18 months ago.
The footage of the devastating moment when the young Nottingham Panthers man’s carotid artery was severed by the blade of a skate raised by Matt Petgrave, a Sheffield Steelers player, was grainy and indistinct.
Yet it was sieved for signs of intentional harm. Petgrave’s disciplinary record was raked over. Trolls from some of the US’s foulest swamps even added disgusting racial hate into the mix. Petgrave is one of very few players of color in professional hockey.
Proper investigation is necessary, of course. Johnson’s family is certainly owed that. But nowhere in the rush to condemn was the point made that hockey is dangerous and that blades are raised, week in, week out, sometimes causing serious injury.
There was evidence of that just a few weeks ago, on the Nottingham Panthers’ ice rink.
An American player with the Belfast Giants, Elijiah Barriga, was challenging near the net in the first period of a match against the Nottingham Panthers when an opponent, Zsombor Garat, caught him with his skate blade, which raked down his jaw.
Adam Johnson was killed by Matt Petgrave’s skate on hockey’s darkest day 18 months ago
Petgrave has faced vile abuse from trolls on social media in the months since
The American, pictured on his wedding day, died in October 2023 while playing in the UK
The blood streaming from the wound left a vivid stain on the ice – just as it did on that terrible October night in 2023 when Johnson died. Barriga later posted Instagram images of the wound before and after receiving 28 stitches.
It was just one of many incidents of hockey players’ skates coming up high since the Sheffield tragedy, one of the leading authorities on the culture of violence in ice hockey, Dr Victoria Silverwood, tells me.
All of which seems highly significant to the case of Petgrave, who was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter shortly after the Sheffield death and has been on bail ever since.
A bland report of the Canadian’s latest three-month bail extension, ‘pending further investigations,’ popped up recently and behind it resides the story of an individual cast into limbo.
Petgrave has been on bail for 16 months now, forced to surrender his passport to prevent him leaving the country, unable to undertake work because his UK visa has expired and, with no income and his legal insurance halted, now reduced to Crowdfunding to raise money for defense lawyers.
Those lawyers are unable to discuss the case with me, but this endless wait feels wrong and inhumane. I asked a friend of mine, a former detective chief superintendent who has worked on complex criminal prosecutions, including high profile murder cases, for his assessment. ‘It’s bizarre that it’s gone for this long,’ he says.
He also helped me piece together what will be going on behind the scenes, where police and the senior investigating officer they have appointed, still appear to be waiting for some new evidence or witness to materialize.
‘No matter how good, how experienced and how committed they are, they won’t ever have come across an incident such as this,’ he tells me.
Proper investigation is necessary, of course. Johnson’s family is certainly owed that
Among Johnson’s own teammates, it’s been hard to find any sense that Petgrave’s conduct is viewed as extreme as having been so reckless that death or serious injury was foreseeable
The force will have probably involved the College of Policing and other working groups, looking for anyone who has dealt with an incident with some similarities. ‘I don’t think there are any and that will be a key part of the delay,’ the former senior detective tells me.
Every officer knows that there are two tests to pass if the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service is to sanction Petgrave being charged and tried by a jury. The case clearly passes a public interest test, with the potential safety of other players a factor.
But there must also be a realistic possibility that a jury would be more likely than not to convict on the facts as they are, ‘The 51/49 test’ as it is known. A jury would be considering an allegation of gross negligence manslaughter – killing without intent, but having been so reckless that death or serious injury was foreseeable.
Among Johnson’s teammates, it has been hard to find any sense that Petgrave’s conduct is viewed as extreme. Some former players I have spoken to take an extremely dim view of Petgrave’s actions in the moment that took Johnson’s life.
One vastly experienced former player sees a departure from the most sacrosanct rule, embedded in hockey culture – that all players must have control of their skates. Petgrave’s challenge angers him, but he does not see it as criminal.
Among those who are yet to be approached for expert testimony by police is Dr Silverwood, whose PhD is in criminology and sports violence.
‘If hockey players can’t agree on whether they think the challenge was likely to have caused serious injury and could have happened to anybody, then I’m not sure who could say that,’ she tells me. Strange that this expertise has not been sought by police, all these months on.
A successful prosecution would set a precedent significant to all contact sports. It is hard to imagine the hockey authorities wanting that.
It’s hard to see why a police force in need of resources wants to investigate this so deeply
Petgrave has already paid a heavy price and his life will never be the same after the incident
It’s just hard to see why a police force in need of all available resources wants to investigate this to the end of the earth. Officers will be asking themselves, ‘Can we ever get there with this?’ the detective says.
In his Crowdfunding appeal, Petgrave thanks team-mates, fellow players and league personnel, though significantly not the Steelers.
His fundraising target is $388,000, with any unused funds going to initiatives promoting safety in hockey, yet that fund has only raised a little over $20,000.
He has already paid a heavy price and his life will never be the same. Knowing that he caused an opponent’s death was only the start of the torture.
