Will Matthew Mayich’s Collapse Change Anything?

The Arizona State hockey team plays their home opener on Friday, but hanging over their season, and the entire program, will be what happened to defenseman Matthew Mayich. At an outdoor, "military-style" team workout on Aug. 20, Mayich collapsed from exertional heat stroke. He's been in the hospital on life support ever since, with his family attorneys saying that he has "zero chance" of making a complete recovery. Mayich's hospitalization has shone a harsh light on both the ASU administration and the wider culture of "military-style" workouts in athletics. The guy who ran this ASU workout, Tim Ziesel, is a former Army Green Beret who pushed the players through intense exercises in high-80s heat with limited water, and he ordered extra running for those who didn't perform to his specifications. An Ontario native and 2023 St. Louis Blues draft pick who transferred to ASU from Clarkson University in upstate New York, Mayich was one of 18 new players on the roster this season and was unused to the Arizona climate, putting him more at risk for heat stroke. According to The Athletic, when Mayich collapsed to the ground, "he stayed in the sun for several minutes before four players carried him into the shade." The workout was symbolic of a philosophy that head coach Greg Powers, the only man to coach the program since it joined D-I in 2015, attempted to implement after a lackluster end to the previous season. “I hate to say the word ‘soft,’ but that’s what we were,” Powers said in May. “And it became contagious." Per The Athletic, he was known around the program for a quick temper and a willingness to insult his players. Ziesel's whole deal seems specifically engineered to appeal to a guy who's anxious about making his charges "tougher." Per ASU players, Ziesel told them during the workout that he didn't drink water during combat and that "none of [the players] were worthy of his daughter."

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