It is a benchmark for the world in which we are in that some were so desperate to show a finger and distribute criminal debt when the American hockey player Adam Johnson was killed almost 18 months ago on the ice rink on the darkest day of sport.
The images of the devastating moment at which the Carotis artery of the Young Nottingham Panthers Man was separated by the knife raised by Matt Petgrave, a player of Sheffield Steelers, was grainy and unclear.
Yet it was sieved for signs of deliberate damage. Petgrave's disciplinary record was raced. Trolls of some of the filthy swamps of the US even added disgusting racial hatred to the mix. Petgrave is one of the few players of color in professional hockey.
Good research is of course needed. Johnson's family certainly owes that. But nowhere in the hurry to condemn was the point that hockey is dangerous and that knives are raised, week in, week out, sometimes cause serious injury.
A few weeks ago there was proof of Nottingham Panthers ice rink.
An American player with the Belfast Giants, Elijiah Barriga, was a challenge near the net in the first period of a match against the Nottingham Panthers then an opponent, Zsombor Garat, caught him with his skateblade, who persuaded his jaw.
Adam Johnson was killed by the skate of Matt Petgrave on Hockey's Darkest Day 18 months ago
Petgrave confronted the social media trolls on social media in the following months
The American, depicted on his wedding day, died in October 2023 while playing in the UK
The blood that flowed out of the wound left a lively spot on the ice – just like on that terrible October evening in 2023 when Johnson died. Barriga later placed Instagram images of the wound before and after receiving 28 stitches.
It was just one of the many incidents of the skating of hockey players who came high since the Sheffield tragedy, one of the leading authorities about the culture of violence in ice hockey, Dr. Victoria Silverwood, tells me.
This all seems very important in the case of Petgrave, which was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter shortly after the death of Sheffield and has since been on bail.
A boring report from the latest bail extension of the Canadian, 'awaiting further research', recently appeared and lives behind it the story of an individual cast in Limbo.
Petgrave has now been forced to surrender his passport for 16 months to prevent him from leaving the country, unable to do work because his British visa has expired and, without income and his legal insurance, now has been reduced to crowdfunding to raise money for lawyers.
Those lawyers cannot discuss the case with me, but this endless waiting feels wrong and inhumane. I asked a friend of mine, a former chief inspector of the detective who worked on complex criminal prosecutions, including high profile murder cases, for his assessment. “It's bizarre that it's gone for so long,” he says.
He also helped me to merge what is happening behind the scenes, where the police and the senior investigative officer they have appointed still seem to wait for some new evidence or witness to materialize.
“It doesn't matter how good, how experienced and how dedicated they are, they will never have come across such an incident,” he tells me.
Good research is of course needed. Johnson's family is certainly owing that
Under Johnson's own teammates it was difficult to find any feeling that Petgrave's behavior is considered extremely as reckless that death or serious injury could be foreseen
The power will probably have taken into account the College of Policing and other working groups in search of anyone who has dealt with an incident with a few similarities. “I don't think there are one and that will be an important part of the delay,” the former Senior Detective tells me.
Every officer knows that there are two tests to succeed if the British Crown Prosecution Service is to punish Petgrave that is charged and tried by a jury. The case clearly succeeds for a public interest test, with the potential safety of other players a factor.
But there must also be a realistic possibility that a jury would more likely than not condemn the facts as they are, “the 51/49 test” as known. A jury would consider a statement of gross negligence manslaughter – killing without intention, but so reckless that death or serious injury could be foreseen.
Among the teammates of Johnson it was difficult to find some feeling that Petgrave's behavior is considered extreme. Some former players I spoke to getting an extremely vague picture of Petgrave's actions when Johnson's life cost.
An enormous experienced former player sees a deviation from the most holy rule, embedded in hockey culture – that all players must have control over their skates. Petgrave's challenge makes him angry, but he doesn't see it as a criminal.
Among those who still have to be approached for police testimony is Dr. Silverwood, whose promotion in criminology and sports violence is.
“If hockey players can't agree or they think the challenge probably caused serious injury and could have happened to someone, then I'm not sure who could say that,” she tells me. Strange that this expertise was not sought by the police, all those months.
A successful persecution would be a precedent important for all contact sports. It is difficult to imagine that the hockey authorities want that.
It is hard to see why a police who need resources wants to investigate this so deeply
Petgrave has already paid a tough price and his life will never be the same after the incident
It is simply difficult to see why a police of all available resources want to investigate this in the end of the earth. Officers will wonder: “Can we ever get there?” the detective says.
In his crowdfunding appetizer, Petgrave thanks teammates, fellow players and competition staff, although considerably not the stalkers.
His fundraising target is $ 388,000, with unused funds that go to initiatives that promote safety in hockey, but that fund has only collected just over $ 20,000.
He has already paid a tough price and his life will never be the same again. Knowing that he caused the death of an opponent was only the beginning of torture.
