Fans were evacuated, the game was stopped and he was transported to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital before the announcement of his death.
Johnson, originally from Minnesota, played collegiately for the University of Minnesota Duluth in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) and went undrafted. He eventually signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins where he appeared in 13 total games during two different stints with the team. He scored one goal in the NHL.
A snowboarder was killed in a backcountry avalanche Monday in southwest Colorado.
The San Miguel County Sheriff identified the man as 67-year-old Peter Harrelson, a longtime resident of the town of Ophir.
The avalanche happened outside the town in an area called Waterfall Creek. Ophir is in the San Juan Mountains near Telluride.
Friends of Harrelson’s had followed his tracks to search for him when he didn’t return home Monday night. They alerted emergency personnel and a search was launched that lasted until Tuesday morning, when Harrelson’s body was found.
“On behalf of all of us at the Sheriff’s Office and our Search and Rescue team, I would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of this gentleman. I’d also like to thank our SAR team for their work in this inherently risky mission,” San Miguel Sheriff Bill Masters said in a statement.
The incident was the first fatal avalanche in Colorado this year, but the fourth nationwide in less than two weeks as a parade of winter storms marched across the country.
The other deadly avalanches this month happened Jan. 14 in Wyoming, Jan. 11 in Idaho and Jan. 10 in California.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center said more than 300 avalanches were reported in the San Juan Mountains since Jan. 1, marking the most dangerous stretch of the season so far. The center noted that fresh snow piled onto the existing snowpack, which was weak from warm and dry spells in December.
Several parts of the West were at considerable or high risk of avalanche Tuesday, including a wide swath of the Colorado mountains as well as sections of Washington, California, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.
Leave a Reply