Earlier this week, I saw a few reports that former NHL'er Adam Johnson had died in a "freak accident" on the ice.
I looked up Johnson's stats and saw that he had played a TOTAL of 13 games in the NHL during his career. I was kind of surprised that the death of a minor league hockey player made national news.
CNN: "Freak Accident"
ESPN: "Freak Accident"
Fox News: "Freak Accident"
NBC News: "Freak Accident"
NPR: "Freak Accident"
When I saw that Johnson was in the EIHL, the 16th best league in the world, I just moved on.
A few days later, I was at the Daily Mail (UK): Ex-NHL player Sean Avery says he believes Matt Petgrave was 'absolutely' trying to make contact with Adam Johnson - but did not wake up and think 'I'm gonna murder somebody today'
What the hell? Sean Avery was the dirtiest player of his generation. Not the meanest, not the toughest, THE DIRTIEST. Who is he to judge anything?
So I broke down and watched the video.
Now the video above is just a clip of the incident. The full incident has more blood in it than I think I've ever seen on the ice before in my life. I was not prepared for what I saw. I was sick to my stomach, and after repeated viewings, I agree with Sean Avery. I didn't see a freak accident, I saw reckless endangerment. (If you look around the internet, you can find the uncensored version.)
I did not see a hockey play.
Taking it a step further, Zero Hedge saw Black on White Crime.
After the Zero Hedge article-
The Blaze: Not a Freak Accident
Daily Mail (UK): Not A Freak Accident
Daily Mail (UK): Definitely Not A Freak Accident
The Federalist: Not A Freak Accident
Newsweek: Not A Freak Accident
My take? At minimum, Matt Petgrave has to be banned from all levels of hockey for life.
I don't even want to talk about it anymore. The authorities in Great Britain are going to have a hard time with this case moving forward because, to me, the intent to injure is there. The intent to kill is not.