ASU Hockey Players Demand Coaching Staff Be Suspended Over Workout That Left Teammate Matthew Mayich in a Coma

Matthew Mayich, a 21-year-old sophomore defenseman drafted by the St. Louis Blues, collapsed during an outdoor conditioning workout at Sun Angel Stadium on Aug. 20. More than five weeks later, he remains hospitalized. His family's attorney, Robert Carey, has said Mayich suffered exertional heatstroke that cut off oxygen to his brain and that he has no chance of meaningful recovery, according to Cronkite News and the Associated Press report carried by Fox Sports.

On Monday, Sept. 28, seven Arizona State hockey players sent a 26-page letter to university president Michael Crow through attorney Timothy J. Casey, asking that head coach Greg Powers and his assistants be placed on administrative leave. The players wrote anonymously, saying they fear retaliation, but Casey says he has verified their identities and holds signed attestations confirming they were on the field that day, according to KJZZ and FOX 10 Phoenix.

"The head coach and his assistant coaches were all on the field on August 20, all remain in their positions, and together they decide our playing time, scholarship levels, and roster status," the players wrote, according to multiple outlets including Yahoo Sports and Cronkite News. "We should not have to choose between telling the truth about August 20 and keeping what we have worked our whole lives for."

The letter is a direct rebuttal to ASU's own internal review. On Sept. 21, senior vice president James Rund delivered an initial report to Crow that did not assign blame to any individual but recommended forming an advisory panel to study outdoor-workout policy, per FOX 10 Phoenix. The players say that report got the basic timeline wrong.

Rund's report found players got a water break about 20 minutes into the session. The players say it came 35 to 45 minutes in. It lasted only seconds and reached just the first eight or so players who finished a bear crawl drill, according to KJZZ. Mayich, they wrote, was still crawling and never got water at all.

The National Weather Service had issued an extreme heat warning for the Phoenix area that day, KJZZ reported, a detail largely absent from other outlets' coverage of the letter. The players say Mayich showed disorientation well before the workout's final drill and could not complete a buddy-carry exercise, and that other teammates were also showing signs of heat illness, including vomiting and dropping to a knee, before the session continued.

When Mayich went down, the players say he was left in direct sunlight for several minutes and had to be carried by teammates to a parking slab, contradicting ASU's account that he sat upright twice on his own. They say there was no immersion tub, no ice chest and no stretcher on site, despite Sun Devil Athletics' own heat-illness policy requiring a cold-water tub and multiple ice coolers for immediate use, per KJZZ.

Cronkite News reported additional detail the other outlets did not: the workout was run by Tim Ziesel, a former Green Beret introduced to the program by an ASU booster. ASU policy requires outside consultants to be approved before working with athletes. Rund's report shows a request to use Ziesel was submitted Aug. 12 without a training plan attached, but it does not say whether that request was ever formally reviewed or approved.

The players also say Ziesel admitted forgetting the team needed water, telling Powers, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you guys need water," and separately told players he didn't drink water during combat missions, according to Cronkite News and Fox News.

The seven players who signed represent roughly a quarter of the roster. They wrote that other teammates share the same concerns but declined to put their names on the letter out of the same retaliation fears, according to Cronkite News.

ASU's own process has not stood still. The Arizona State University Police Department is investigating, and its findings will go to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for independent review once complete, according to the AP report carried by Fox Sports. A criminal referral to county prosecutors is already queued up. Placing coaches on leave before either process concludes would be a decision made without the facts a police report and prosecutor's review are meant to establish.

But that argument now faces political pressure. Arizona House education committee chairman Matt Gress said Monday that "ASU should not be left to investigate its own conduct and decide whether anyone should be held accountable," and both the House and Senate education committee chairs asked the Arizona Board of Regents to retain an independent investigator, according to Fox Sports and Cronkite News.

The players want answers and action before Arizona State's season opener, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 2. As of Monday, ASU has not announced whether Powers or any assistant coach will be placed on leave, and the university has not issued a public response to the players' 26-page letter.