Adam Johnson, the Ice Man who melted hearts: Tributes pour in for ice hockey star as hundreds flock to Nottingham to mourn his radiance and optimism following his tragic death… the sport will never forget him

He began building a new life in Nottingham and, in consultation with his coach, gave up training one day a week to make the 30-minute drive to Loughborough, where he started a course at the university’s business school.

He drew a large crowd to a local John Lewis store when he arrived to sign replica shirts a few weeks ago. He was modest. He never expected that.

But for Adam Johnson, things never really got better than one Saturday night four years ago, when, after taking a shot at the top level, he arrived at a team in the American National Hockey League (NHL) – the highest level of his sport. . for an away game in his home state of Minnesota.

He played in the colors of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there was an ovation from the locals in that hockey-mad city when he ran out for the ‘rookie lap’ – the right to skate alone around the edge of the rink, awarded to a debutant. And he actually scored.

To see Johnson’s reaction to the goal he fired into the top of the net – “Top shelf, right where mommy keeps the peanut butter,” as the commentator put it – and to his teammate Sydney Crosby presenting him with a firefighter’s helmet handed over as the man-of-the-match recalls a humility and self-destruction that is rare in the sometimes brutal, alpha-male sport of ice hockey.

“I’ve been hoping to play here for a while and it was a lot of fun to do it in front of friends and family,” said Johnson, or “Johnny” as they knew him, his smile as wide as the nearby Mississippi.

It was the only goal he scored at the highest level of hockey. His chance at the NHL lasted 13 games before he embarked on a nomadic journey through the European leagues, playing for clubs in Norway, Germany and, this summer, Nottingham.

For some ex-NHL players, that journey is a swan song, but not for Johnson, someone who “sees the ice,” as they call the anticipation and peripheral vision of the exceptional few.

“The younger players looked up to him,” said Chris Ellis, a member of the Panthers backroom team. ‘He wasn’t a captain, but he was clearly a leader. It was a pleasure to work with him.’

The charisma and optimism Johnson brought have compounded the pain felt here since his life was abruptly ended last Saturday night in front of a crowd of 8,000 people when the knife of an opponent, Matt Petgrave of the Sheffield Steelers, struck his neck.

The horror of the moment, which initially saw Johnson stagger to his feet before falling to the ice, has been exacerbated by the tenor of a debate over Petgrave’s guilt in the days that followed, some of it racially motivated against one of the relatively few players in the sport. non-white players.

Some have viewed the grainy footage, shared it millions of times, and extrapolated the view that Petgrave, whose left leg is raised above shoulder height, deliberately intended to injure. The 31-year-old Canadian’s poor disciplinary record hasn’t helped.

A more considered and credible view is that Petgrave may have thrown himself into Johnson’s path, embellishing his own collision with a skate that knocked him off balance seconds before, to deliberately impede the 29-year-old’s progress.

Players are reluctant to publicly suggest this because even a reckless action like this goes against the ethos of a sport in which having control over razor-sharp skates – which players typically use to sharpen between each of the three competition periods – is sacrosanct .

“It looked like (Petgrave) was deliberately trying to get his leg and body in (Johnson’s) way,” a highly experienced former player told the Mail on Sunday. ‘The position he (Petgrave) is in just doesn’t look natural. It’s embedded in the game’s ethos that you don’t act recklessly. Of course it is impossible that he deliberately tries to put a skate there.’

Many believe that Petgrave was simply off balance by ‘catching an edge’ from another player’s sword. But some refuse to see it that way. Britain’s leading authority on the culture of violence in ice hockey, Swansea University academic Dr Victoria Silverwood, is one of many tagged this week in vicious racist posts and gifs about Petgrave, in which the view was expressed that this was a deliberate attempt to injure.

The ultra-macho culture of the sport appears to be attracting this group of people, who have latched onto the fact that Nottinghamshire Police have announced they are investigating, as they must.

“People seem confused by this and don’t understand how police investigations work,” says Dr Silverwood. ‘But no player would deliberately inflict such an injury.’

The tragedy has certainly forced the sport to examine a machismo that makes players reluctant to wear full neck guards which, like full-face visors, are only mandatory until the age of 18. Wayne Gretzky, the world’s greatest player, wore neck guards in the 1980s. But players say they are uncomfortable in the heat of arenas, where the sport is played at such a pace that team members typically compete for 60 to 90 seconds before being rotated.

Protective measures will now be introduced. The English Ice Hockey Association has announced that it will make neck protectors mandatory from January. Individual clubs purchased equipment for players this week.

On Saturday evening in Nottingham, the profound impact of the tragedy on those who had seen it happen was written on the faces of around 300 people who gathered in the rain to lay flowers and sign a book of condolence at the Nottingham Arena, where the Panthers play. A significant number had made the journey from Sheffield.

The Sheffield contingent usually arrives for the sport’s most anticipated match in Britain, which is always played on Boxing Day. This time it was quiet in the place where scarves, a floral ice hockey stick and a pair of boots were placed among the sea of ​​flowers. Many were too shocked to say anything.

“I was in the arena last Saturday and it really affected me,” said Robert Downing, one of the Sheffield Steelers contingent. “I feel like my being here can put things right in my mind.” He had witnessed blood on the rink in the minutes before the screens were installed.

“I’m a first aider,” he said, describing several supporters who fainted as the euphoria of Saturday’s match gave way to stunned silence. “My inner monologue keeps wondering: Could I have done more to help?”

The commemorative Adam Johnson jersey was for sale in the arena, part of the fundraising campaign for the player’s family.

Ice hockey has ways of self-regulation to protect players from serious injury and ensure codes of conduct are adhered to, says Ryan O’Marra, a Canadian who ended his career with Coventry Blaze. “It’s a violent, respectful game,” he told Mail Sport. ‘We always run the risk of injuries and that makes the skills so nice to watch. If something happens recklessly, there will be retaliation.”

The sport will not forget Adam Johnson. That debut goal of his for the Penguins was featured in a film shown above a floral bouquet in the shape of his surname as people entered the rink here to sign books of condolence before a two-minute silence was observed. The sequence ended with a black-and-white image of Johnson staring into a camera lens – full of youthful optimism about a sport that was his life, and yet cost him his life.