- Seven ASU players sent a 26-page letter to school president Michael Crow
- The players dispute key findings from ASU’s review of the Aug. 20 workout
- Read below for what the letter says about Matthew Mayich’s collapse and who they want behind the bench
Seven Arizona State hockey players want head coach Greg Powers placed on leave, according to a letter obtained by The Athletic. Katie Strang, Adam Kilgore and Nathan Fenno reported the story Monday afternoon.
The 26-page letter went to ASU president Michael Crow through the players’ attorney, Tim Casey. It asks that every coach who approved, ran or supervised the Aug. 20 workout that left teammate Matthew Mayich on life support be put on administrative leave until an outside agency finishes investigating.
Roughly a quarter of the roster signed on, all anonymously. They explained why:
“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. “We should not have to choose between telling the truth about August 20 and keeping what we have worked our whole lives for.”
Their account clashes with the initial review ASU released last week, which said the lone water break came about 20 minutes in. The players say it came 35 to 45 minutes into a workout that ran over 75 minutes, and only the first eight or so guys to finish a bear crawl reached the bottles.
Mayich was still crawling. According to the letter, he never got any water.
Teammates say the 21-year-old looked disoriented well before he went down and couldn’t carry a teammate during a buddy-carry drill. Cooling him came down to a few towels, squirt bottles and less than a minute of warm water from a garden hose. No cold-water tub was on site.
Then there’s how Powers handled it afterward. The letter says he told the team it was “just a little heat stroke” and something he’d “seen a million times.” The next day, he told players Mayich would be fine, and practice went on as scheduled.
“From what we could tell, at no point did Coach Powers seem to appreciate the severity of the situation,” the players wrote.
Powers has barely spoken publicly. He read a prepared statement at NCHC Media Day last Wednesday, declined questions about Aug. 20 and said he’s still the right person to lead the program.
Watch Powers get pressed on it at media day:
For an interim coach, the players floated a familiar name. Former Coyotes captain Shane Doan is “an excellent candidate,” according to the letter. His son Josh played for Powers at ASU from 2021 to 2023.
A Blues sixth-round pick in 2023, Mayich transferred in from Clarkson this summer after four seasons with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. Family attorney Robert Carey has said he suffered exertional heat stroke and has no chance of a meaningful recovery. ASU police are investigating, and the school’s first review assigned no blame to anyone.
ASU opens its season Friday at Lindenwood in St. Charles, Missouri. The players asked Crow to name an interim staff before that game.
