Adam Johnson: Ice hockey participant’s household describe watching second he was fatally injured

The household of the ice hockey participant who died after his throat was slashed by a skate throughout a sport have mentioned they knew he was “really in trouble” as quickly because it occurred.

The American participant Adam Johnson’s aunt, Kari Johnson, was watching him play for the Nottingham Panthers by way of a livestream together with his father and grandmother when he was fatally injured final Saturday.

“It was terrible, it was horrific, we didn’t know what to do,” she instructed Sky News from Minnesota within the US. There was “nothing we could do”, she mentioned.

Johnson, 29, had been enjoying at Sheffield Arena throughout his staff’s derby conflict towards Sheffield Steelers final Saturday. During the sport, his neck was slashed by a skate. He died of his accidents in hospital.

A vigil is being held this night on the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, the place the Panthers are primarily based. Neither the Panthers nor the Steelers are enjoying this weekend.

“It means a lot to us to see how much everybody thought of our boy,” Ms Johnson mentioned of the vigil. “He liked it there [Nottingham], he thought the fans were great, he was meeting some of them and really enjoying it.

“It means so much to our household. It means the world.”

She described watching the game via a livestream with his family, and how they “knew immediately he was in bother”.

One of his teammates finally acquired maintain of his cellphone and referred to as Johnson’s father, saying he would be in contact.

After listening to Johnson had died, his aunt mentioned: “We all just broke down: it was a mess, it was a nightmare, it was like it wasn’t real. We were in shock, we couldn’t believe this was happening,” including that coping with his loss of life is the “toughest thing we’ve ever had to do”.

Ms Johnson described her nephew as a “kind soul” and a “private kid” who would “never would have wanted to be in the limelight like this”.

He merely needed to be “good at hockey and have fun”, she mentioned, including that he was “having the time of his life in the UK” and was planning to get engaged to his girlfriend.

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It was introduced on Friday that the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) is not going to be making neck guards obligatory following Johnson’s loss of life.

Ms Johnson thinks they need to be. “When kids start playing in youth hockey, if you get them used to wearing it it’s just going to be like any other piece of equipment,” she mentioned.

A funeral will likely be held on Sunday in Johnson’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota.