Arizona legislators join calls for investigation into workout that left ASU athlete hospitalized

The Education Committee chairs in the Arizona Legislature are joining calls for an investigation into an Arizona State University hockey practice that left a player hospitalized.

Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Mayich was new to ASU’s hockey team and had been in Arizona just eight days when he suffered life-threatening heatstroke during the first day of coach-led training on Aug. 20. More than a month later, he remains hospitalized. His family’s attorney has said Mayich is unlikely to recover.

The National Weather Service had issued an extreme heat warning for that day. The outdoor practice lasted more than an hour and other players on the team have said Mayich never had a water break.

Arizona House Education Committee Chair Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) and Senate Education Committee Chair Hildy Angius (R-Bullhead City) on Monday sent a letter urging the Arizona Board of Regents to retain an investigator with no relationship to ASU to investigate the Aug. 20 hockey workout. The Board of Regents oversees the state’s three public universities.

An ASU police investigation is ongoing. And ASU released an initial report about the workout earlier this month. The report does not place blame on any party involved, but recommends ASU form an advisory panel to review university policies for outdoor athletic activities.

Gress and Angius said ASU’s response so far falls short.

“This is no longer simply a question of whether ASU's policies are adequate,” Gress and Angius wrote. “It is a question of whether ASU followed its own policies, who was responsible for ensuring compliance, what happened when those safeguards apparently failed, and whether an investigation conducted by the same institution can provide the independence necessary to answer those questions.”

Gress and Angius cited details about the workout that were described by seven anonymous members of the hockey team in an account submitted via an attorney on Monday to ASU President Michael Crow.

The players said they wanted to remain anonymous because they feared retaliation from the coaching staff. They said they believed several ASU policies for heat safety and for the use of outside consultants were violated during the Aug. 20 practice. And they called for hockey coaches to be put on administrative leave until an independent investigation can be completed.

“Student-athletes should never have to choose between telling the truth and protecting their scholarship, roster spot or playing time,” Angius said in a press release. “If players fear retaliation for speaking about what happened to a teammate, the Regents need to act. They should protect these students and appoint an investigator who answers to the Board, not ASU.”

Gress and Angius asked the Board of Regents to reply by Oct. 9.

In a statement to KJZZ, Megan Gilbertson, Board of Regents associate vice president of Public Affairs, said the Board was planning a reply to Gress and Angius.

"The questions they raise are serious and deserve a considered answer," Gilbertson said. "Our hearts remain with the student, his family, his teammates, and the entire ASU community during this very hard time. The health and safety of our students are deeply important to the Board."

KJZZ's Wayne Schutsky contributed to this story.