Integrity the real winner as Sheffield Steelers squeeze past grieving Nottingham Panthers

On Saturday night, Steelers took two points from Panthers, a win keeping them 13 points ahead at the top of the league.

But after the 3-2 match, coach Aaron Fox was emotionally charged as he talked about the lingering aftermath of the tragedy.

Johnson, a 29-year-old American, died on October 28 last year following an incident during a cup match at Sheffield Arena.

The shockwaves continue to reverberate, especially inside the camps of Britain’s biggest ice hockey rivals.

Fox showed his respect for the Panthers’ staff, on and off the ice, for trying to come to terms with the calamity.

He described as “toxic” recent criticism of a Nottingham side, which is currently anchored at the bottom of the league.

Nottingham lack nothing in effort and compete-level he said, adding it angered him to see critics getting on their back after a previous defeat.

Fox said Steelers and Panthers had “endured something as a group”.

“There are some toxic people in this world,” he said, adding that the standing ovation given to Panthers on Saturday illustrated the majority of their following were honourable supporters.

“That is a courageous group of guys.

“Every single one of those guys could have walked out of this situation three months ago and nobody would have batted an eye.

“I know for a fact they don’t want to leave each other, they wanted to get through this together.

“Grief is a very, very hard thing.

“We were there with them in this situation, but the layer they have had added on top of our layer – they lost a friend, they lost a team-mate.”

Critics of them were “bad people”.

“I have a lot of respect for that staff and those players in that room.”

Fox revealed he hadn’t wanted to bring his team to the Motorpoint Arena, after seeing what Panthers had gone through.

“We still struggle with it in our building, some of our players, but I was happy to see how the crowd responded and I know there are a lot more positive people supporting that group.

“They have earned it, they have deserved it and I am rooting for them a little bit on the inside too.”

In the game itself, Nottingham had two penalties to defend in an untidy start for them.

Sheffield’s Patrick Watling hit a post before they went ahead at 8:13 with Zach Vinnell, scoring his first goal in his 10th Steeler game.

The visitors doubled their advantage at 22:05 through Mitchell Balmas.

Nottingham clawed back though in an unexpected fashion.

While Simon Despres was sitting out a slashing call, they registered a short-handed effort from Hugo Roy.

After 40 minutes, there was little between the teams, with Sheffield having 21 shots compared to the Pantehrs’ 19.

Panthers briefly drew level with Roy’s second of the evening, parity lasted a mere couple of minutes as Balmas collected his brace, for 3-2 to Steelers at 46:28.

It takes a strong team to prize anything out of Sheffield in the final 10 minutes of any game, and Panthers fell short despite the backing of their fans.

But Fox’s words show that the game isn’t everything – but integrity is.

Attendance: 6,454