Nottingham Panthers explain heartbreaking reason for team's poor run of form

Nottingham Panthers’ Tyler Welsh battles for possession of the puck

Nottingham Panthers assistant coach Kevin Moore has issued a heartbreaking message as the club continue to grieve the death of teammate Adam Johnson. Moore was speaking after the club lost 6-3 at home to Glasgow Clan at the Motorpoint Arena on Wednesday (January 24) having led 3-0.

He pinpointed “mental lapses” during games were affecting the team’s results. Johnson, 29, died after suffering a fatal cut to his throat during a game against Sheffield Steelers on October 28, 2023.

The Panthers sit bottom of the Elite Ice Hockey League standings having taken a month off after the incident. They returned to action for the Adam Johnson memorial game on November 18, 2023.

Get the latest news straight to your phone by joining us on WhatsApp

But they have won only one game since and a number of players have also left the club. Speaking to Panthers TV after Wednesday’s game, a visibly emotional Moore, who attended and spoke at Johnson’s funeral in his hometown of Hibbing, Minneosta, in the United States, said: “Summing it up, it’s not about Xs and Os.

“This team, right now, when one thing wrong happens, we’re having trouble with grasping the focus and the reality is because they watched a teammate die on the ice – that’s what happened.

“Those men are as resilient as anybody I’ve ever met. We absolutely love them and we believe in them but what’s happening on the ice is mental mistakes, everybody sees that, it’s not the physical effort.

“Nobody here is making excuses, we are all in this together but that’s the reason. When there’s mental lapses it’s been compounding and rolling and when you mix that with a losing streak it gets really hard to grab that mentality and stop the momentum in a game.”

Sheffield’s senior coroner Tanyka Rawden opened an inquest into Mr Johnson’s death last year but, since then, South Yorkshire Police have arrested a man on suspicion of manslaughter. Following a review of the case by Ms Rawden on Friday, her office confirmed the suspension of her investigation.