Matthew Mayich’s family has acknowledged the tragic road ahead after the NHL prospect collapsed and was hospitalized following an intense outdoor workout that resulted in a heat stroke.
“The family really appreciates all the support they’re getting,” the Mayichs’ attorney, Rob Carey, exclusively told Us on Thursday, September 3. “It matters to them. They’re in a state they never knew about. They’re all huddled around Matthew.”
Carey continued, “Every day is the same. No good outcome is coming. They really appreciate the prayers and the love and the support.”
Mayich, 21, was hospitalized on August 20, after a military-style workout with the Arizona State hockey team, which reportedly lasted for roughly an hour and included sprints, planks, push-ups and bear crawls. The session was led by former Green Beret Tim Ziesel.
During the workout, Mayich became dizzy and disoriented before suffering “exertional heat stroke that caused a lack of oxygen to the brain.” Carey has alleged that players were not given standard breaks and only players who led the exercises were given water.
Carey previously acknowledged that there was “zero road to recovery” for Mayich, a sophomore defenseman from Stoney Creek, Ontario, who transferred to Arizona State from Clarkson University during the offseason.
“When you have a 21-year-old step on a field for his first coach-led practice ever — he’d only been in Arizona for five days — and he’s incapacitated and never to recover? There’s a mistake. There’s something wrong” Carey said. “Something happened that shouldn’t have happened.”
Carey called out Arizona State for their initial response, after athletic director Graham Rossini instituted a review, but stopped short of admitting “something went wrong.”
“If you can’t even admit that there’s a problem, you’re probably not going to be able to fix that problem, right?” Carey argued. “That’s the problem with their initial review. They wouldn’t even call it an investigation.”
He added, “That’s just not appropriate.”
Us has reached out to Rossini and Arizona State University for comment.
The Athletic reported on Thursday that the incident is now under formal investigation by the police department at Arizona State, which Carey confirmed.
“I’m glad it’s happening,” Carey said. “I hope they follow police protocols relating to tracking down all the evidence, using subpoenas or warrants, if necessary, that they get unfettered access to the university systems for digital information.”
When it comes to potential criminal charges, Carey said “you have to wait until you get the evidence.”
“I can’t really opine on who should be charged, if anyone, until you get the facts,” he explained. “You have to know: Was this approved by the athletics department, or did the coach just kind of decide to go rogue and have a practice outside without telling anybody? What was this charge to the Green Beret? Was he doing what he was told to do? What were the safety precautions? Was there a cold water immersion tub nearby? Any other cooling equipment? Because that is fundamental: the cooling.”
Carey continued, “If you are at risk for heat stroke, the number one thing that needs to happen right off the bat before transport is cooling … and I don’t think that happened here. We’ll find out, but I don’t think it happened at all.”
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