Arizona State University, where Hamilton-born NHL prospect Matthew Mayich collapsed during a workout on a hot August day, says it commissioned an independent review to make recommendations on how to safely train athletes outdoors and how to respond to “adverse events or reactions.”
A lawyer representing the family of 21-year-old Mayich says the review is “not what’s needed right now,” because it won’t address who is responsible for what happened to the student hockey player.
In a separate review published in September, Arizona State University (ASU) official James Rund wrote Mayich collapsed just before 8:30 a.m. during Aug. 20 training at Sun Angel Stadium on ASU’s Tempe campus. It also determined school hockey coaches didn’t submit a plan for review by trainers before the training session.
Mayich remains in hospital. His parents, Christina and John Mayich, previously told CBC News he’s “a fighter” and they’re not giving up on him. The family’s lawyers at U..S. firm Hagens Berman have told CBC the 21-year-old suffered heatstroke and “needs a miracle.”
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On Oct. 2, Jay Thorne, ASU’s vice-president of media relations shared a communication from Rund — ASU senior vice-present — to university present Michael Crow.
In it, Rund said ASU retained former Supreme Court of Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales to lead “an independent review of the facts that have been identified by the university, attorneys for the Mayich family, attorneys for members of the ASU hockey team, law enforcement agencies, and others as appropriate.”
The Mayich family and their attorneys have questioned the circumstances of the Aug. 20 workout and how coaches and school officials responded to the player’s collapse. Mayich’s parents say their son — who was drafted by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues in 2023 — was healthy prior to the workout. Lawyers have said the “military-style,” session took place in “overwhelming” heat and that water was withheld from players.
In a Sept. 28 anonymous letter to Crow, some of Mayich’s ASU Sun Devils teammates alleged Mayich “received no water” during the outdoor workout and called for the university to place the trainers “responsible for approving, conducting and supervising the session” on leave pending an independent investigation.
Two days later, the school put ASU hockey coach Greg Powers on paid administrative leave.
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According to Rund’s Oct. 2 letter, the new independent review by Bales will result in recommendations for:
Student athletes at ASU will be invited to participate in the review with confidential and anonymous options, Rund said.
ASU requested Bales’s review be completed by early December, Rund added.
“Justice Bales is a respected choice, and he will do an excellent job,” lawyer Rob Carey said in an Oct. 2 statement to reporters on behalf of the Mayich family. “But ASU hired him to review policies that may help prevent a tragedy like this in the future.”
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“What is necessary, and what the Mayich family has asked for and deserves, is an investigation of what went wrong on that field and who is responsible,” Carey said. “Justice Bales has not been asked to answer those fundamental questions.”
Carey said ASU needs to answer how the workout happened, why it didn’t stop when players were in “visible distress” and which ASU and athletics association rules were broken.
The university, Carey said, should “expand Justice Bales’s mandate to cover the questions that matter and let him bring in the expertise he needs,” or, it should have a second independent investigation into the actions of ASU employees.
He added Bales’s findings should be made public and until “the work is done,” ASU should keep coaches who were involved away from players.
ASU said Sept. 30 that it appointed assistant coach Mike Corbett to lead the hockey team after it put Powers on leave.
Hockey coaches didn’t submit training plan before Matthew Mayich collapsed in workout: Arizona university
CBC Hamilton asked ASU to respond to the family’s concerns. The university did not respond prior to publication.
In an Oct. 5 news release, Arizona State Legislature House and Senate education chairs Matt Gress and Hildy Angius said they welcome Bales’s review, noting they had called for an independent investigation.
Mayich played minor hockey with the Hamilton Huskies between 2016 and 2020 then with the Ottawa 67’s before the St. Louis Blues drafted the defenceman in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL draft.
