N H L Returns: Official Ice hockey thread

[Savage Henry]

33 minutes ago, Meatwad said:

Adam Johnson, Center for the Nottingham Panthers and one-time Pittsburgh Penguins prospect, has died in hospital after an utterly horrific accident when he was sliced across the throat by the skate of a player who was sent flying in a body check.
 

Unfortunately the video is all over Twitter.  I really wish I hadn’t seen it.  Oddly, the guy sprints off the ice, but the amount of blood is just horrible.  

[Venti]

Wasn't there something similar years ago?

The lad survived if I remember.

[peasy23]

1 hour ago, Venti said:

Wasn't there something similar years ago?

The lad survived if I remember.

Clint Malarchuk, a Canadian goaltender playing with the Buffalo Sabres. He had his carotid artery severed and jugular vein partially cut, he survived largely due to being lucky enough that his team's trainer had served in Vietnam and had a lot of experience of stemming blood loss. He sat and pinched the artery closed until doctors could stabilise the wound.

Both incidents must have been horrific for those watching, especially any kids in the crowd.

[Rugster]

Spare a thought for the guy whose skate slashed him. How must he be feeling. I know there are certifiable lunatics on Twitter wanting him up on murder charges but he’d need to have been Bruce Lee to have done that deliberately. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

1 hour ago, peasy23 said:

Clint Malarchuk, a Canadian goaltender playing with the Buffalo Sabres. He had his carotid artery severed and jugular vein partially cut, he survived largely due to being lucky enough that his team's trainer had served in Vietnam and had a lot of experience of stemming blood loss. He sat and pinched the artery closed until doctors could stabilise the wound.

Both incidents must have been horrific for those watching, especially any kids in the crowd.

There have been a few other incidents in the NHL where people got cut by skates. If anyone's seen the video of Johnson and seen the force that went into that impact, look at how light this one seems to be and what happens:

Just last year Evander Kane's wrist got cut too:

I know some players wear extra guards in that area but neck guards are much less common. Even in leagues like Sweden where they're apparently mandatory the amount of neck actually guarded will vary greatly from player to player.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Oh now I'm remembering others. Taylor Hall managed to get hit in the face with a skate during warm-ups:

I think it became mandatory to wear helmets in warm-ups after this but I don't know how well that's enforced. 

Ryan O'Byrne got hit in the face by a skate (by Hall!) and finished his shift:

Here's one in the recommendations I didn't know about - Dany Heatley goes for a dive and manages to hit his own teammate in the face:

Pretty much all of these are an inch away from taking a guy's head off. Just a completely freak set of circumstances.

[Savage Henry]

There’s absolutely zero chance I’m watching any of these!  

[Thereisalight..]

Hate to be that guy, but Petgrave should be facing a ban. It was dangerous play. The lad will be feeling terrible and I feel for him, imagine having to live with that. 

Been thinking a lot about Adam Johnson today. Horrible for all who witnessed it and of course his friends and family 

[philpy]

4 hours ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Hate to be that guy, but Petgrave should be facing a ban. It was dangerous play. The lad will be feeling terrible and I feel for him, imagine having to live with that. 

Been thinking a lot about Adam Johnson today. Horrible for all who witnessed it and of course his friends and family 

I have to disagree with you on that first sentence. No way on this earth does it warrant a ban. Petgrave has attempted to get between two panthers players, one of was was Johnson. Petgrave has then caught his skate on the other panthers skate and as result his momentum has carried him downwards with his legs involuntary going upwards. There's also no way he's known that Johnson has been behind him when he's landed how he did.  If I'm being honest, I think Petgrave will pack hockey in. It'll take a massive amount of mental and psychological strength for him to even consider getting back on the ice anytime soon.

Edited October 29, 2023 by philpy

[Todd_is_God]

Surprised that neck guards are not more commonly worn and/or mandatory tbh.

Safety is such a huge focus in the modern sports era and it's not as if there haven't been close calls in recent times (though none with the amount of force seen here).

[Thereisalight..]

2 hours ago, philpy said:

I have to disagree with you on that first sentence. No way on this earth does it warrant a ban. Petgrave has attempted to get between two panthers players, one of was was Johnson. Petgrave has then caught his skate on the other panthers skate and as result his momentum has carried him downwards with his legs involuntary going upwards. There's also no way he's known that Johnson has been behind him when he's landed how he did.  If I'm being honest, I think Petgrave will pack hockey in. It'll take a massive amount of mental and psychological strength for him to even consider getting back on the ice anytime soon.

I'm not wanting a witch hunt on the lad as he will be going through enough turmoil, but why shouldn't hockey be held to the same standards as football? Plenty of unintentional challenges get punished. Regardless, a young lad has lost his life and another has had his ruined. Horrible situation all round 

[Torpar]

Hard to judge from the one video that's available, but I'm of the opinion that Petgrave catches the hip of another player that sends him flying and causes the accident. Usually the other players on the ice's reaction tell you something, and while of course most of them were more concerned about the injury, if Nottingham players thought it was an intentional act, I'm sure one of them would have jumped the Sheffield player. 

As for neck guards, I had to wear one until I was 18. The one I wore in my late teens was nothing more than a piece of fabric round my neck, probably offered zero protection in reality. I've seen the odd adult player wearing them, but among ice hockey players there is this culture of having to appear as tough as possible, which means no neck guard and the minimum facial protection, which means when they turn 18, most switch to the half visor, even though if we were all honest with ourselves, we should be wearing full face protection.  

ETA - Trivial side note, which is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things I know, but whoever is writing articles of the UK tabloids could have stopped for 2 seconds to do some basic fact checking, apparently Johnson is a former NFL player and played at the University of Maryland....  

Edited October 30, 2023 by Torpar

[peasy23]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67261168

 

[Todd_is_God]

1 hour ago, Torpar said:

Hard to judge from the one video that's available

If it's the footage on twitter then it's far too grainy to tell exactly what happened. Anyone definitively claiming it was deliberate or reckless (or vice versa) based on that alone is essentially guessing.

11 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67261168

Unsurprising that the police will investigate a death to rule out any foul play tbh.

[Mr. Brightside]

There's people on Twitter claiming that it was a racially motivated murder. Utter moon-howlers.

[philpy]

5 hours ago, Mr. Brightside said:

There's people on Twitter claiming that it was a racially motivated murder. Utter moon-howlers.

It's amazing how many people are now suddenly experts on ice hockey.

[Spyro]

8 hours ago, Torpar said:

ETA - Trivial side note, which is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things I know, but whoever is writing articles of the UK tabloids could have stopped for 2 seconds to do some basic fact checking, apparently Johnson is a former NFL player and played at the University of Maryland....  

Did you expect anything else from them?

Lots of amazing journalist kicking about but finding them is a nightmare amongst the wiki, copy and paste merchants in the big jobs. 

 

 

As for the accident, there's nothing more I can add. Absolutely devastating for all involved, I can't help thinking it's a game a lot of families would have been at. I won't be watching the video but going by what guys WHO ACTUALLY PLAY HOCKEY are saying, it was a freak ACCIDENT and the Sheffield player really needs someone to look after him right now 

[Zanetti]

The Twitter discourse around this is an absolute cesspool. Morons and racists who need to have a shite opinion on everything for the sake of engagement, even though they've probably never seen a game of hockey in their life.

I really hope Matt Petgrave is being supported through all of this. Can't imagine how the guy is feeling right now, it's just a horrible tragedy for everyone involved.

[Craig fae the Vale]

I've not watched the video and I'm not planning on watching it. An absolutely horrific situation, and seems to be very clearly a horrible accident. The online discourse is terrible, but it always happens with situations "like" this. The internet is a cesspit.

Watched the first period of Kraken at Lightning last night, making the most of the time difference being an hour less for a few weeks. Kraken ended up winning in overtime, which can hopefully kickstart what has been a sluggish start to the season.

[Todd_is_God]