One by one, they made their way up the hill, down the steps and across the concourse to the floral carpet that has taken shape since the terrible events of Saturday.
Even when the rain was at its heaviest, a steady procession arrived to pay its respects to Adam Johnson, the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey player who lost his life during their game against Sheffield Steelers.
Even when darkness started to fall, there were still people standing quietly, in their own thoughts, outside the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.
Many of them brought their own flowers. There were cards, mugs, candles, an ice hockey stick, shirts bearing messages for the former NHL player and a pumpkin with Johnson’s number 47 carved out, Halloween-style. “Keep skating in the sky, Adam,” read one card. “Forever our number 47.”
In happier times, Nottingham’s ice rink was famous around the world for being the venue where Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean created the magic that turned them into British, European, world and Olympic ice-dancing champions. And now, on the first day of the school holidays, the rink was packed again with skaters.
On the ice, it was a happy, normal scene: wobbly kids, couples holding hands, jumps and pirouettes from some of the more confident skaters.
Outside, though, the concourse had turned into a huge shrine and the newspaper stands at the railway station reminded us that the city was mourning. “Horror On The Ice,” was the front-page headline of the Nottingham Post, the local newspaper.
GO DEEPER
EIHA mandates neck guards after Johnson’s death
One of the wreaths was laid by John McGovern, captain of the Nottingham Forest football team that won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980. Nottingham, famous internationally as the city of Robin Hood, has a closely knit sporting community. Tom Cartledge, Forest’s chairman, has written a private letter of condolences to the Panthers to offer his sympathy and support.
In Nottingham today: a city in mourning for Adam Johnson of @PanthersIHC
John McGovern – two-time European Cup winner with #NFFC – has just laid a wreath on behalf of club.
All sorts of other tributes here from Widnes Wild, Cardiff Devils and many others. pic.twitter.com/Nd5l3K6APW
— Daniel Taylor (@DTathletic) October 30, 2023
Other tributes were laid by fans of sports teams from further afield. Many came from Steelers fans. A family of Widnes Wild fans had made the 100-mile trip. A Cardiff Devils shirt was tucked among the bank of flowers. One woman had driven through the night on a 560-mile round trip from Glasgow.
“We couldn’t cope with being here yesterday,” said Glynis, a Panthers regular for more than 20 years. “We were so very tired because we didn’t sleep the night before. All the years we’ve been coming, we’ve seen hits, we’ve seen breaks, we’ve seen fights, we’ve had blood on the ice before. But you just don’t expect something like this to happen.”
Glynis was not among the 8,000 spectators who watched the horrors unfold at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena. Instead, she and her daughter, Rhiannon, were watching an internet stream as Johnson was struck in the neck by an opponent’s bladed boot in what the Panthers have described as a “freak accident”.
“You saw the hit, the collision,” says Rhiannon. “You could see Otto Nieminen (another Panthers player) try to help. They skated to the bench, he went down again. And then the cameras panned away.”
Glynis, a Panthers season-ticket holder, has tears in her eyes. She has found it emotional and distressing to be at the arena with the rest of a Panthers-mad family.
A tribute to Adam Johnson outside Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham (Daniel Taylor/The Athletic)
“My grandson, who is five, plays ball hockey and has been coming to (Panthers) games since he was a baby,” she says. “My daughter decided we needed to tell him what had happened because it was all over the television and the news. We had to explain that we had never seen anything like this before, that, hopefully, it would never happen again and that Adam had gone to be a star in the sky.
“It was my grandson who said, ‘I want to write a letter, I want to take flowers.’ We have come with him today to put his letter with all the other tributes.”
Johnson, 29, had grown up in Minnesota and came to England via a nomadic route that included spells with Pittsburgh Penguins, Malmo Redhawks of Sweden, Ontario Reign and the German team Augsburger Panther.
He had not been in Nottingham for a huge amount of time but it does not need long, reading from a sea of tributes, to realise he had been taken in as “one of our own” in a city that has had to endure far too much tragedy this year.
In June, a knifeman went on the rampage. Two students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, were stabbed to death before a van was stolen and driven at a group of people waiting by a bus stop near the Theatre Royal in the city centre, injuring three pedestrians. The van driver, Ian Coates, a 65-year-old school caretaker, was killed in the street.
Then, like now, the city rallied and the local sports teams made sure they were at the heart of the community.
Mick Holland spent 33 years as the Panthers correspondent for the Nottingham Post and has been involved in the city’s ice hockey scene for four decades.
“We have already seen outpourings of compassion and support from the NHL and other top leagues and teams in North America, Europe and especially in the UK,” he says. “But it is here in Nottingham where, among the tears and disbelief, kindheartedness and sympathy transcends sport.
“It’s a caring city that comes together in difficult times and, judging by the number of calls and messages I have received, including from people outside the hockey fraternity, it is a city that is still in shock.”
A minute’s silence will be held before Notts County play Lincoln City in an FA Youth Cup tie on Tuesday, and possibly again when the senior team face Crawley Town on Saturday in the FA Cup first round.
Tributes are being discussed for Forest’s game against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday. As soon as the club heard what had happened, Cartledge wanted them to show support.
(Daniel Taylor/ The Athletic)
“As a Nottingham man born and bred, I know first-hand that, built into the very fabric of our city, is a unique set of values, which include respect, honesty and care for others,” he says. “Across our city’s sports clubs, our rivalries are born out of mutual respect and healthy competition and, in times of tragedy, those bonds help unite us.
“But that also extends to our wider community. With the tragic events of June, we saw our student communities unite with everyone across the city, as people shared the grief of those families and friends so horrifically taken from us.
“At Forest, a family club, we proudly embrace our role in supporting the communities we serve. We take very seriously our responsibility to help people come together for shared grief and comfort in the darkest moments.”
On Sunday, as the crowds of mourners and well-wishers started to gather outside the Nottingham arena, the Panthers’ assistant coach, Kevin Moore, gave an impromptu speech on the forecourt.
“Our heart breaks with all of yours,” Moore, previously assistant coach with Indy Fuel in the East Coast Hockey League, told the crowd. “We just want you to know we’re all grieving together, as a team, a community and a city. We’re going to get through this together with a lot of love, a lot of thought and a lot of laughter. As time goes on, we’re all going to heal. But we’re going to do it together.”
To a round of applause, he continued: “Our group is strong and connected and we’re going to do you guys proud. We appreciate everyone coming out today and thank you for the support, we love you all.”
It was a tragic yet beautiful moment, with the Panthers players lining up beside him and laying their own floral tributes.
“This has been the most difficult few days in the history of the club and our hearts and thoughts continue to be with Adam’s family and friends,” says Chris Ellis, spokesman for the Panthers. “There is a lot of grief but the messages of support from all across the world are helping everyone. I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to get in touch. The team are a close-knit group of guys. They will be there for each other and get through it.”
As the rain continued to fall, this was the message from many of the fans gathering outside the arena. Many expect there will be a permanent tribute put in place to commemorate Johnson’s life.
(Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)
And yet, there is also recognition here that there ought to be some difficult questions for the entire sport when it comes to the safety of its participants.
“Hockey is a rough and tough sport, no doubt,” says Holland. “That’s some of the thrill of watching this fast-moving spectacle on ice. But the question everyone is asking is: ‘How did this happen and what can be done to prevent a repeat?’”
The English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA) has already “strongly recommended” that all players at players use an approved ice hockey neck guard or protector for on-ice activities, and this will become mandatory from January 1, 2024. This guidance, introduced on Monday, does not however cover the Elite Ice Hockey League in which the Panthers and Steelers participate.
Holland believes this needs to become the norm, not the exception.
“It would be a lasting tribute for Adam Johnson if that regulation was repeated by the world’s pro leagues, with no more young lives being put at risk of another ‘freak accident’,” he says. “Adam’s Law, indeed.”
(Top photo: Daniel Taylor/ The Athletic)
