Arizona State’s hockey season is arriving with a weight no team can game-plan around.
At NCHC virtual media day on Wednesday, head coach Greg Powers fielded questions for the first time publicly since sophomore defenseman Matthew Mayich was hospitalized after suffering critical heat stroke-related brain trauma during an Aug. 20 workout at Sun Angel Stadium. The discussion kept circling back to that incident, even though Powers made clear in his opening remarks that he would not address the events of Aug. 20 or the school’s review of what happened.
Reporters from outlets including ESPN and The Athletic pressed for answers anyway. Powers, who has remained ASU’s head coach in the weeks since the incident, “respectfully declined” nearly as many questions as he answered in the 30-minute session.
“We are all affected by what has happened and everybody is coping with this in different ways,” Powers said. “There is a tremendous university support system in place to help our student-athletes and our staff in whatever we may need. For us, being with each other both at the rink and away from the rink is what is helping us most.”
That’s where ASU is now: trying to prepare for Oct. 2, when the Sun Devils open at Lindenwood, while carrying the emotional burden of Mayich’s hospitalization. Junior forward Ben Muthersbaugh said the team is still trying to get its footing with 18 newcomers working to build chemistry under circumstances nobody expected.
“It’s a super tough time right now,” Muthersbaugh said. “At the forefront of our mind is Matthew and his family.
It’s tough to get ready for a season when this wrench was thrown in pretty early, but we have a great group of guys and great support staff here at ASU. We just gotta keep him in our thoughts and prayers and continue to get ready for the season.”
Before Aug. 20, the conversation around ASU centered on how the Sun Devils would respond to a last-place finish in the NCHC after putting together what Puck Preps ranked as the best transfer class in the country. Now, the team enters the 2026 campaign under a far heavier spotlight, and for reasons no one inside the program wanted.
“You can’t plan for the unexpected,” Muthersbaugh said. “It’s been tough for a lot of guys that are 18 to 24 years old to go through something like this, especially with someone who was going to be one of our brothers and best friends. We still have a season to play for, and we’re playing for him each and every night.”
Muthersbaugh is also part of the leadership group, and he was the only newcomer among the five players who earned those roles. Senior forward Kyle Smolen is the lone captain, while Muthersbaugh, sophomore forward Jack Beck, junior forward Logan Morrell and senior forward Sean McGurn were named alternate captains.
For Muthersbaugh, the challenge is bigger now than it was six weeks ago.
“Everyone’s kind of looking to be a leader in their own way,” he said. “It’s just about being yourself and gaining respect from other guys and the staff. Obviously, the leadership group has a little more pressure on them, but everyone’s a leader amongst different groups.”
Powers said the program’s struggles last season showed just how unforgiving the NCHC can be. ASU is trying to climb back after a year in which the Sun Devils backslid, and Powers said the league demands depth, balance and commitment on the defensive side.
“It wasn’t the season that we obviously wanted,” Powers said. “I think the biggest lesson as a new program in the league is just how good the league is, how deep the league is, how hard it is.
You have to be deep. You have to be balanced.
You have to be very committed to the defensive side of the puck.”
That message fits the roster construction this year, especially with Mayich among six new defensemen expected to help stabilize a unit that struggled with turnovers in its own zone a season ago. The other seven blueliners will be counted on to help set the tone in a league that leaves little margin for error.
“It’s definitely an area that we have really focused on in building this roster,” Powers said. “You’ve got to keep the puck out of your net, and we didn’t do a really good job of that last year. It’s a tough league; there are no nights off, it’s an honor to be in this league, and we’re looking to rebound in a big way.”
Whether ASU reaches that rebound remains to be seen. Powers said he believes it will.
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