In a tragic accident hockey player Adam Johnson was severely injured and died due to a collision with another player during a minor league hockey game. On Monday, a former NHL forward, died after his neck was cut by another player’s skate during a game Saturday in Sheffield, England. The fatal collision which Johnson’s team called a “freak accident” occurred midway through the second period of an Elite Ice Hockey League game between Johnson’s Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers.

Johnson was born June 22, 1994, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. After graduating from high school, he played junior hockey in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Indiana Ice and Sioux City Musketeers and was named a USHL All-Star in 2015. He made his NHL debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 21, 2019, and played 13 regular season games before COVID-19 stopped his season short. He then returned to the minor leagues to play for the Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish Hockey League.

Johnson was fatally injured in a game against the Sheffield Steelers at Utilita Arena when his neck was cut by the skate of Steelers player Matt Petgrave during an on-ice collision.  After the impact, Johnson attempted to skate to the team bench while bleeding out, before collapsing on the ice and being taken to the hospital where he would later die of his injuries.