Adam Johnson death: Team-mate Victor Bjorkung still gets 'flashbacks'
Adam Johnson death: Team-mate Victor Bjorkung still gets 'flashbacks'
Ice hockey player Victor Bjorkung speaks to BBC Sport about the pain of losing Nottingham Panthers team-mate Adam Johnson.
"I think about it every day, more or less. I get a lot of flashbacks, and they're not very pleasant."
Victor Bjorkung had just played a pass to his Nottingham Panthers team-mate Adam Johnson when he saw tragedy unfold on the ice.
On 28 October last year, during a match against the Sheffield Steelers, Johnson’s neck was cut by a blade and he died later in hospital.
What happened to American Johnson was a big enough wake-up call to Bjorkung of the dangers of ice hockey.
And yet he was to have his own potentially catastrophic injury from a blade just a few months later.
It struck his groin area, and cut through his protective gear and skin "like butter".
This is the best summary I could come up with:
"Victor Bjorkung had just played a pass to his Nottingham Panthers team-mate Adam Johnson when he saw tragedy unfold on the ice.On 28 October last year, during a match against the Sheffield Steelers, Johnson’s neck was cut by a blade and he died later in hospital.Bjorkung left the team a few weeks later and returned to his native Sweden, traumatised by what he had seen happen to his team-mate, who he called "an unbelievable guy".In an interview with BBC Sport, he spoke about the lasting impact the incident has had on him and the sport.He also revealed his views on the need for safer clothing were only strengthened when he suffered his own laceration injury.
Bjorkung has tried to block out a lot of what he witnessed that night at Sheffield's Utilita Arena.
"A lot of the trauma I’ve been dealing with and all my team-mates I've been speaking to after I left, it’s not easy."
What happened to American Johnson was a big enough wake-up call to Bjorkung of the dangers of ice hockey.And yet he was to have his own potentially catastrophic injury from a blade just a few months later.It struck his groin area, and cut through his protective gear and skin "like butter".
A man was arrested in November on suspicion of manslaughter and had his bail extended last month.It is rare for events in a sporting arena to end up in criminal investigations, and Bjorkung said he found it “crazy” when he learned the police were involved in this case.
"It’s so easy to sit in the stands and think 'he did that, he did this' but if you watch it in real time you know it's too fast to judge."
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