Counter-Currents
Including Audio Version by Jim Goad!
A Fly in a Pail of Milk
Jim Goad
Matt Petgrave
1,217 words / 8:54
Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one below or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”
What would be more shocking to the average person: the fact that a black professional hockey player actually exists, or the fact that he’s currently suspected of murdering a white player during a game?
In a world where blacks seem to dominate pro sports just like they dominate crime statistics, ice hockey — AKA “the NASCAR of the North” – remains a white man’s redoubt. Out of a total of 1,058 National Hockey League Players for the 2022-2023 season, a tally from last summer lists “34 active black players.”Although many of them have typically hockey-sounding names such as Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Nicholas Baptiste, there’s even a K’Andre Miller and a Kyle Okposo tossed into the mix. Despite the fact that black players barely comprise 3% of the total, it’s a tremendous uptick from the all-white 1940s and ‘50s, when Herb Carnegie, an allegedly talented black hockey player, was denied a spot in the National Hockey League (NHL) because his skin color made him stick out — as the title of his memoir put it, like A Fly in a Pail of Milk.
I suppose the fact that pro hockey has now “diversified,” however slightly, would be comforting to the types who fret that the NHL was formerly regarded “as a league riddled with racism and exclusiveness,” a barbaric hyperborean bloodsport where, “for much of its history, only the puck has been black.”
But since we still live in an at least a partially racist world, there is also another contingent who, when they hear that someone actually let a black player into an obscure British hockey league — and who last Saturday night killed a white player after his skate’s blade sliced his throat — will reflexively bellow, “See? This is why we can’t have nice sports!”
Never mind the fact that one of hockey’s selling points is its implicit ultraviolence. My all-time favorite sports team, the Philadelphia Flyers of the mid-1970s, earned the moniker the “Broad Street Bullies” not due to any excessive athletic ability but because they snagged two Stanley Cups in a row by punching the teeth out of everyone else in the league. The “goon” or “enforcer” is a stock character in hockey, and his role is not to rack up points but to terrify and sometimes maim his opponents. As someone who’s attended both NHL games and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) races — the other white sport — I can attest that nothing gets the crowd up on its feet, screaming in horny bloodlust more quickly than a fistfight or a car crash.
Last Saturday night in Sheffield, England during an Elite Ice Hockey League game between the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers, the blade on black defenseman Matt Petgrave’s skate sliced across white forward Adam Johnson’s throat during a frenetic collision that some claim was a tragic accident, but others insist was a deliberate act of murder.
You can buy Jim Goad’s ANSWER Me! here.
To clarify, the black player was on the Steelers, while the white player was a Panther. I suppose it would have been more gruesomely poetic if the black player was a Panther, but we can’t have everything.
Apparently only one person in a crowd of 8,000 was filming the event, because the only video I’ve seen plastered all over the Internet is a super-grainy clip shot from up in the stands that yields more questions than it answers. What’s not disputed is that immediately after Petgrave’s skate made contact with Johnson’s throat, Johnson began spouting buckets of blood all over the ice. The game was halted, players from both teams formed a protective shield around him, and Johnson was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
News outlets, especially in England, where authorities infamously looked away from Muslim grooming gangs for fear of being called racist, referred to the incident as a “freak accident.” Official statements from the Nottingham Panthers and the Elite Ice Hockey League also called it a “freak accident.” As of this writing, a search for the name “Petgrave” alongside the phrase “freak accident” already yields 55,200 results, which itself is freaky. Why do so many insist on using the word “freak”? Is it because any black hockey player is, by implication, a freak?
Appearing on FOX News, former NHL player Sean Avery says it was no accident, but he disagreed with host Jesse Watters that the fatal collision between Petgrave and Johnson looked like “murder”:
That’s a pretty dangerous word to be throwing around. I’ve watched it, it’s terrible, it’s tough to watch. . . . Did this kid make a move that was very unorthodox? Do I think he was trying to make contact of some sort? Absolutely. . . . Do I think he woke up and said, “I’m going to murder somebody today”? No.
On Twitter, former NHL player Chris Therien wrote:
After seeing the incident involving Adam Johnson, that Bush [sic] league needs to shut down for investigation immediately. I was literally appalled and sickened by what I saw. It looked intentional. It was a Kung [sic] fu kick. My eyes are not lying tell me I’m wrong.
The film is so low resolution that even when you try to blow it up and slow it down frame-by-frame, it’s little more than a live-action Rorschach inkblot where people wind up seeing whatever they want to see.
I’ve pored over the clip for the last 24 hours as if it was the Zapruder film, and I’m still baffled as to whether or not Petgrave intentionally kicked Johnson. It looks as if Petgrave may have tripped over another player en route to Johnson, which may have sent his legs flying in the air unintentionally. Then again, it also looks as if Petgrave got in an extra kick, but since Johnson was wearing a black glove and Petgrave was wearing black skates, the glove and skate meld together, making it hard to discern whether Johnson is moving his glove to protect his throat after it was sliced, or if Petgrave kicks again.
British police are currently investigating the incident, but have yet to press criminal charges against Petgrave. Many have noted that Petgrave, in addition to being black, had a reputation as a dirty goon who had allegedly racked up more penalty minutes last year than any other player in the league.
Wikipedia lists 20 pro hockey players dating all the way back to 1904 who either died during a game or as a direct result of playing. The bulk of fatalities seem to have involved head injuries and heart attacks. Four players died after being hit in the head, neck, or heart by hockey pucks.
Adam Johnson’s death wasn’t the first time a hockey player died in the wake of an on-ice slash. While playing in an Italian league in 1992, Miran Schrott died of cardiac arrest after being slashed by another player, who later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Three years later in Sweden, Bengt Åkerblom bled to death after his carotid artery was slashed during an exhibition game.
But unlike the others, Adam Johnson perished from a blade on a skate wielded by a negroidal foot, which is what makes this case stand out like a fly in a pail of milk.
Enjoyed this article?
Be the first to leave a tip in the jar!
* * *
Counter-Currents has extended special privileges to those who donate at least $10/month or $120/year.
- Donors will have immediate access to all Counter-Currents posts. Everyone else will find that one post a day, five posts a week will be behind a “paywall” and will be available to the general public after 30 days. Naturally, we do not grant permission to other websites to repost paywall content before 30 days have passed.
- Paywall member comments will appear immediately instead of waiting in a moderation queue. (People who abuse this privilege will lose it.)
- Paywall members have the option of editing their comments.
- Paywall members get an Badge badge on their comments.
- Paywall members can “like” comments.
- Paywall members can “commission” a yearly article from Counter-Currents. Just send a question that you’d like to have discussed to [email protected]. (Obviously, the topics must be suitable to Counter-Currents and its broader project, as well as the interests and expertise of our writers.)
To get full access to all content behind the paywall, please visit our redesigned Paywall page.
18 comments
From the moment I read this story, I was hoping you’d cover it. Thank you.
I think the hit was intentional and that the guy guarding Petgrave influenced the way Petgrave struck Johnson.
It looks like Petgrave was looking to follow through with the hit, not that I think he intended to slash Johnson’s throat.
Can’t we abolish ice hockey? It seems to engender hooliganism. Even before they let shines in. I was driving cab in Center City Philadelphia the day the Flyers won the Stanley Cup. Gridlock traffic on Chestnut Street with no sign of abating as the celebratory shenanigans of mild-mannered Flyers fans swirled to a fever pitch all around my humble taxi. Fareless, I might add, until a guy jumped in just to escape the danger. I threw the meter on him.
Nope. It’s an integral part of Canadian culture. Every good white man in Canada has some connection to hockey. Abolishing it would mean even weaker Canadians.
What you’re describing is a case of Philadelphians being Philadelphians.
Guilty.
It was the SECOND Flyers’ Stanley Cup I got caught in the reverie of. Uncouth ruffians were beside themselves.
That was no accident, it was intentional. Matt Petgrave HIMSELF raised his left skate & into Adam Johnson’s face area. No collision occurred that caused Petgrave’s skate to rise.
Hockey fans, if they are true to hockey, have to boycott ALL games until Matt Petgrave is arrested & charged for Adam Johnson’s death. Rest assured this will not go away; hockey fans the world over have to STOP seeing any hockey where players make a living from fans. We need a clever meme for this. Obviously, should hockey fans do this honourable boycott act, Matt Petgrave will have to face criminal charges. Of course, Petgrave has to be kicked out for life.
Agreed. Why is your ice skate leaving the ice? How “sharp” is an ice skate? Not very. I believe necks have a lot to offer as far as forensic evidence. Determining whether force was used or an incidental collision. Add to that he’s of the race that will kill someone for their barbecue potato chips.
This is an English hockey league. No one is boycotting the NHL for something that happened in England.
Then, the English need to show their steel. If they don’t, then, they deserve what they tolerate. Petgrave’s skate attack was no accident, he must pay for his actions. We’ll see what the English are made of. I’m not optimistic as the English did nothing when their own children were raped in Rotherham.
we deserve what we tolerate.
we deserve what we tolerate.
I’m going to use that.
Matt Petgrave certainly looks like an evil man.
Just look at his eyes.
Looks like he’s done that a time or two, doesn’t it? Stood for a “photo,” so to speak?
This negro will kill again on the ice. He got his taste of white blood. He will kill again and again until he is removed. Expel him now and maybe give him a NASCAR to drive.
As a lifelong hockey player (not professional), and hockey fan, I can attest that, though the hockey culture tolerates a lot of “goon” tactics and ridiculous “settle the score” revenge hits, the one action that it not tolerated is the kick. It’s an unwritten rule – the skate can be so dangerous, that even slashes and punches to the head are acceptable, the kicking another player is the one action that is ostracized.
I heard about this story from the Canadian sports media sites, and when I read that the English police were investigating the incident, I was curious as to why the “freak accident” was played up, without details and without video, or proper analysis of this tragic event. Of course, I had to go to Amren to find the video and learn that the perp was black. Disgustingly typical media cover up. It was a deliberate kick towards Johnson as Petgrave was lifted off his skates by a collision with one of Johnson’s teammates.
This negro unquestionably reached out with his leg to ensure he made contact with Johnson, rather than attempt to regain his feet. Any true white hockey player who respected the game and competition, would never make such a move. He should be charged with manslaughter.
You can always assume if the media is exonerating a person of wrong-doing ahead of trial it’s because they’re not White.
Good heavens! Now blacks are even following us to the world’s whitest sport, just for yet another opportunity to harm us!
They are absolutely persistent in their ongoing quest to wipe us off of the earth. The cognitive dissonance is so strong on this one….. “I hate white people and I want to destroy them, but they’re also the only race who can make My life better.”
It makes me so sick. It will take an unbelievably serious solution to stop this problem with blacks. I’d even call for reevaluating their citizenship in white countries at this point. Half-measures will not change anything
“Good heavens! Now blacks are even following us to the world’s whitest sport,”
Remember the Jamaican bobsleigh team in the 1988 Winter Olympics?
It appears we can run – but we can’t hide. One question: Who’s going to play the nasty Nazi and evil SS officers in holocaust movies when whites more or less cease to exist due to on going mass immigration and the resultant widespread miscegenation in perhaps just a few decades from now? Answers on a postcard, please.
1% / 100%
Hat tip to a guy on censored.tv (not Jim)
Comments are closed.
If you have a Subscriber access,
simply login first to see your comment auto-approved.
Note on comments privacy & moderation
Your email is never published nor shared.
Comments are moderated. If you don't see your comment, please be patient. If approved, it will appear here soon. Do not post your comment a second time.
Paywall Access
Lost your password?Edit your comment