Ben Johnson (ice hockey)

Amateur hockey

Johnson attended Calumet High School in Calumet, Michigan where he played on the high school hockey team.^[2] He was recognized for his outstanding play during the 2010–11 season when he was named a co-winner of Michigan's Mr. Hockey as the Top High School Player in Michigan, becoming only the second junior to win the award (Justin Abdelkader won the award as a junior in 2004).^[2][3]

With the 2011–12 season, Johnson joined the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Playing three seasons of major junior hockey with the Spitfires, Johnson scored 66 goals and 62 assists for 128 points, while earning 106 penalty minutes, in 191 games played.

Professional hockey

On April 3, 2014, Johnson signed an amateur tryout contract with the Albany Devils,^[4] and played five games with the AHL team near the end of the 2013–14 season. On May 20, 2014, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League signed Johnson to a three-year entry-level contract.^[5]

Sexual assault conviction

In March 2013, Johnson was charged with two counts of sexual assault in connection with two separate incidents that took place in Windsor. The first occurred against a 16-year-old girl in the washroom of Mynt nightclub during the Spitfires' end of season St. Patrick's Day party. Johnson forced her to perform oral sex in a bathroom stall while she was intoxicated before he raped her, causing vaginal bleeding.^[6][7] During the course of the investigation, a second woman, aged 20, came forward and told police that she had also been sexually assaulted by Johnson in the washroom of a second bar weeks prior.

In November 2015, Johnson was acquitted of sexual assaulting the second woman, with the judge finding that while there had been an incident between them in the bar washroom, it was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he had forced her to touch his penis.^[8] In September 2016, Johnson was convicted of the charge related to events at the Mynt nightclub.^[9] That same day, the Devils initiated the process to terminate Johnson's contract.^[10] On October 25, 2016, he was sentenced to a 3-year prison term for the sexual assault.^[11] Before being released into Watertown, New York in 2018, Johnson served one month in jail at Windsor and 12 months in a prison in Kingston, Ontario.^[2][12]

Subsequent career

On December 7, 2018 Johnson resumed his professional career in the ECHL signing a contract for the remainder of the 2018–19 ECHL season with the Cincinnati Cyclones.^[13]

Following a two-season stint with the Cyclones, Johnson sat out for the COVID-19 pandemic affected 2020–21 season. He made his return to the ECHL during the 2021–22 season, agreeing to a contract with the Kansas City Mavericks on December 5, 2021.^[14] The Mavericks extended a qualifying contract offer to Johnson for the 2022–23 ECHL season, but Johnson had already committed to playing in the Slovak Extraliga for that season.^[15]

In the 2024–25 Slovak Extraliga season, Johnson played with HK Dukla Michalovce and HK Spisska Nova Ves and had 34 points in 39 games.^[2][12]

On November 18, 2025, the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder coaching staff agreed to sign Johnson, but the decision was reversed within 24 hours after backlash by team ownership.^[2] In mid December, Johnson made an Instagram post saying that he went to prison for "things that were alleged to have happened" and "damaging accusations" and criticized the NHL for being "pro cancel and pro silencing" and that were stopping him from being a professional hockey player in the United States.^[2] On December 29, 2025, Johnson was signed to an amateur tryout with the Allen Americans of the ECHL. The following day, again after backlash, he was released from the contract.^[12]