Glad to hear it Stu though it makes this incident sound worse in a way.
Yes, I can see why you'd say that, M. I don't think it's something that the laws of the game particular cater for though I could be mistaken - mainly because it is just so rare. Hockey players have many ways of intimidating opponents but using skate blades doesn't really feature in them. Using sticks on each other, 'laying on the lumber' is frowned upon but it can still only mean a two-minute minor penalty for slashing, hooking, cross-checking or spearing. They are a regular event in games.
One of the original reasons that fighting was allowed in hockey, way back, is that in a game which is played at furious speed (30-45 second shifts at full pace) with a lot of bodily contact, it was considered that dropping the gloves and a square go ensuing was preferable to raising your stick on someone.
They have an old saying in Canada, 'if you can't them in the alley, you can't beat them on the ice'. Young hockey kids in Canada are still brought up that way - rightly or wrongly.
He comes at the guy, at speed, one leg on the ground with his other leg fully extended, outstretched at the guy, at chest height. It's glanced off his chest and gone straight into him under his jaw.
I dont even think he was the guy with the puck.
He didn't intend to kill him, but he absolutely meant to hurt him, and hurt him proper.
If you smashed a glass over someone and they bled out, you'd be done for some degree of murder. He deserves the same for trying to crush this dudes chest and missing.
Hockey is a rough, fast, hard sport played by some extremely tough dudes. But what he done, couldn't be further from the norm. And reading into him, he's made a name for himself being a real dirty player around the leagues.
He should've been clamped down on, not the sport.
I have watched and watched this incident as I wanted to try and satisfy myself what had happened, (I should add, not the sad and harrowing aftermath of poor Adam being struck. I don't feel that the footage is clear enough for me to decide conclusively, 100%, on the intent. I do though strongly feel that there was intent. I've read people say that Petgrave's skate connecting with that of the third player and sent him spinning and out of control and maybe that's a factor but my initial thought upon viewing was 'well he didn't do much to try and avoid Johnson there'.
After many views there are a few factors that show intent. One is the late kicking out motion by the player. Another is that if he was truly out of control whilst knocked off his skates his arms would most likely be flailing out involuntarily in a bid to right himself and they are not. Another factor is that he appeared to keep his eyes on the target - the player - throughout, which would be consistent with a martial arts kick. There is also the idea of 'tucking' the skates in when collisions happen, which certainly did not happen here. For what it's worth, Petgrave didn't even appear to show any concern but just skated away from the incident.
I came across a short video of Matt Petgrave as a 17 year-old playing in Canada. He was perpetrating one of the dirtiest moves in hockey - that of slew-footing an opponent from behind and targeting his knee - quite possibly a career-ending assault. It's cowardly and low. He currently has the highest penatly in minutes )pims) total in the Elite League.
Now, the only hockey I've played is pond hockey, for fun, very different of course but I have watched the game, often top level stuff, for over forty years. More than that, I was fortunate to be educated in the finer points of hockey culture and insight by Canadian family and friends. Those people knew the game inside out and learnt to skate about the same time they learned to walk. I feel pretty sure each and every one of them would point to intent.
The debate is not one of 'did he mean to kill him'. I don't think anyone really believes that. Did he mean to make contact though - absolutely he did. He did what he did to lay some contact on Adam Johnson - to stop him from skating into the Panthers attacking zone - something that any hockey player would do, just not in that reckless and dangerous manner.
Sorry for the long post, just my two-penn'orth
www.bbc.co.uk
that’s horrific. 
