It is the most feared type of hockey collision and one that hangs over every match.

Adam Johnson, a Minnesota native and former Pittsburgh Penguins center, fell to the ice. He had taken another skater’s blade to his neck during a game in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League on Saturday, a horrific incident in a sport played essentially with knives on participants’ feet.

Johnson, a former University of Minnesota Duluth star, died of his injuries at 29.

Most responded similarly to watching an unthinkable tragedy take place on a hockey rink.