Former Minnesota Duluth forward Adam Johnson played two seasons with the Bulldogs, and earlier this week, UMD coach Scott Sandelin explained why Johnson would’ve gone on to captain the team if he hadn’t left early for pro hockey.
Johnson’s intangibles on and off the ice helped make him a coveted prospect out of Minnesota high school hockey with Hibbing/Chisholm, and the Pittsburgh Penguins saw that, too. Johnson signed with them before what would’ve been his junior season in Duluth, and went on to play 13 games with the Penguins in a pro career that ran for six years.
During a press conference Monday, Sandelin heralded his former assistant captain, who died Saturday after an on-ice accident while playing for the Nottingham Panthers, a professional team in England. Johnson was 29.
“It’s just the kind of person he was,” Sandelin said of why he held Johnson in such high regard. “The guys loved him and respected him, and obviously he was a talented player, but it was his personality.
“He got along with everybody, he was fun to be around, sometimes the life of the party. When you have that and your teammates see that, I think that would’ve been a big reason why we saw him as being a leader.”
The son of Davey Johnson, a former UMD captain and four-year letterman with the Bulldogs, Adam was UMD’s top-scoring rookie in the 2015-16 season and then posted a career-best 18 goals, 31 points, 133 shots and seven power-play goals as a sophomore, when the Bulldogs won their first NCHC playoff title. He was also twice named as a NCHC All-Academic Team selection.
HIs pro career would include stints with Pittsburgh as well as Pittsburgh’s American Hockey League feeder team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He later appeared for the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL team. Johnson also played for clubs in Sweden and Germany before joining Nottingham this season.
He played seven games with the Panthers, and suffered a medical emergency Saturday when an errant skate blade slashed his neck during a road game against the Sheffield Steelers. The Elite Ice Hockey League’s three games scheduled elsewhere for Sunday were postponed following Johnson’s death.
UMD coaches learned of the incident before the Bulldogs’ own game Saturday, a 3-0 defeat at Cornell.
“Right before the game, we were notified that he had passed away,” Sandelin said. “The players didn’t really know. After the game, they were obviously aware. There are a few guys on our team that had a little closer relationship with Adam, but we didn’t really say much.
“Any time you lose a family member, it hurts, and there’s guys on our team, including staff, who probably know Adam a little bit better and have a little deeper relationship, but that doesn’t matter. It does matter that we all look after each other, and make sure everyone’s handling it the right way.
“The incident itself is scary, right?” Sandelin continued. “We’re all hockey players, and I know I saw a couple of (AHL) guys wear neck guards the next day in their game. Those are all things we’ll probably talk about over time, but I want to get our guys together and make sure we’re all there for each other, and some guys probably need it a little bit more. We’ve got to get through it together, and that’s why you’re a team and that’s why you’re a family.”
Johnson’s passing was bound to prompt Sandelin to look at the bigger picture.
“(Saturday’s game against Cornell), at the end, to me, was very inconsequential,” said Sandelin, himself a Hibbing native. “It does put it in perspective, but we still have a job to do, and it’s no different this week. We’ve got to talk about it, move on, hopefully get strength from it and stay together.
“The beauty of this is hockey’s a unique world. You see the outpouring from everybody. Hockey’s unique, and it’s pretty touching to see everybody has reached out. It’s on everybody’s radar, and that helps you get through it, too.”
