(KNSI) – An arrest has been made in connection to the death of a professional hockey player from Minnesota who died after a skate blade slashed his throat during a game in England.
South Yorkshire Police did not name the suspect or provide his age.
Adam Johnson was playing for a team in Sheffield when video shows him skating with the puck toward the net while 31-year-old Matt Petgrave skates toward Johnson and collides with another player. Petgrave’s left skate kicks up as he begins to go down, and the blade hits Johnson in the neck.
Both players fell to the ice. Petgrave immediately got up, but Johnson rose slowly and was helped off the ice. His jersey was covered in blood, and Johnson later died at a hospital.
The incident has reverberated around the hockey community and led to moments of silence in the NHL and discussions about making neckguards mandatory.
The 29-year-old Johnson, who is from Hibbing, played college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth and appeared in 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
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