Arizona State University head hockey coach Greg Powers met with the media on Wednesday, September 23, for the first time since Sun Devils player Matthew Mayich was hospitalized after collapsing during a team workout.
“As you undoubtedly know, it’s a very difficult time for everybody in our program,” Powers, 49, said to begin his press conference.
He continued, “Matthew and his family are very much in our thoughts, in our prayers, and at the forefront of our minds as we try to prepare for a new season. The players and coaches and staff who work with the team, we are all affected by what has happened. And everybody is coping with this in different ways.”
Mayich, 21, suffered a heat stroke during an August 20 workout and has been hospitalized ever since. His family’s attorney, Robert Carey, previously said the NHL prospect has “zero chance of recovery.”
“There is a tremendous university support system in place for our student athletes and our staff, and whatever we may need,” Powers said. “For us being with each other, both at the rink and away from the rink, is what is helping us most.”
Powers added that he would be unable to answer specific questions about Mayich.
The coach stressed that the police investigation into the circumstances that led to Mayich’s collapse is ongoing, but that the university released a report on Tuesday, September 22, about the workout, which was led by former Green Beret Robert Ziesel.
The report revealed that no “plan” was ever submitted to ASU’s strength and conditioning coaches about an outdoor workout that day, after Ziesel agreed to speak to the team. All student-athletes present, including Mayich, were medically cleared to participate.
Arizona State will now “be undertaking a comprehensive review of its practices to identify and implement best practices regarding the planning, conduct and monitoring of athletic activities and the response to emergencies that arise during athletic activities.”
Carey, however, wasn’t satisfied by the report.
“What the report doesn’t say is what the players will tell you: this was a punishment workout,” he claimed in a statement to Us. “Miss a count, your group runs again. The head coach set it up, stood there and watched it, and didn’t stop it when the signs were there. And when Matthew went down, there was no plan and no preparation, so he was treated in a way that hurt his chances rather than helped them.”
Carey continued, “The report does settle one thing. The coach said the workout was planned for ninety minutes and cut short at forty-five. ASU’s own timeline has Matthew on that field for more than eighty minutes, in a grueling workout with almost no water, with no acclimation to anything like it, eight days off a plane from Canada, and nobody doing their job on safety or ready for an emergency.”
