The St. Louis Blues announced that defense prospect Matthew Mayich was hospitalized after collapsing during off-season workouts with Arizona State University, and the fallout around that incident has now reshaped the Sun Devils’ hockey program as well.
Mayich, 21, was taking part in a team-sanctioned outdoor workout when he collapsed on Thursday, August 21 at 8:31 a.m., per AZ Central and The Arizona Republic. Local NBC station 12News reported that he was left incapacitated.
Arizona State has launched an investigation into the workout, and the Arizona State University Police Department has also opened its own inquiry, which a school spokesperson told The Athletic is standard practice after a serious injury on campus. That review will include conversations with other ASU hockey players.
The concern around Mayich’s condition only deepened on Sept. 2, when Rob Carey, an attorney for the Mayich family, spoke with College Hockey News and said Mayich has “zero chance” of recovery. Carey also criticized Arizona State’s investigation and said he would begin his own.
The situation has already triggered major changes at the university. On Sept.
30, Arizona State placed head coach Greg Powers on paid administrative leave while the investigation continued. No assistant coaches were placed on leave.
Mike Corbett was set to take over as head coach for the Sun Devils’ opening weekend against Lindenwood University while the school considered whether to name an interim coach. Alex Hicks, who has worked with Powers for more than a decade in helping build ASU hockey from club level to Division 1, remained with the team.
A group of seven Arizona State players also worked with an attorney to release a letter describing their experience during the August 20 workout. That letter disputed several findings from the school’s investigation and said Powers minimized the severity of Mayich’s injury after his collapse. The Sun Devils’ roster included 10 freshmen and seven incoming transfers, including Mayich.
Then, on Oct. 12, Elliotte Friedman reported that assistant coach Dave Hakstol will take over as Arizona State’s new head coach.
Colorado has allowed Hakstol to negotiate with the program, and he is expected behind the bench as soon as the Sun Devils’ next game, Friday at UMass Lowell. Hakstol had been running the Avalanche power play, and since his tenure began in 2025-26, Colorado has ranked 26th in the NHL on the man-advantage at 17.4 percent.
Hakstol brings a long coaching résumé to the job. He previously served as head coach of the Seattle Kraken for the franchise’s first three seasons and coached the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015-16 through 31 games into the 2018-19 season.
Before his NHL work, he spent 10 years as the head coach at North Dakota, leading the program to the national championship game in his first season. His North Dakota teams won four conference titles and reached the NCAA Frozen Four seven times.
Mayich was preparing for his first season at Arizona State after transferring from Clarkson last season. He made the move after becoming one of the first CHL players to commit to college in 2025.
In his freshman year at Clarkson, he scored seven goals and 15 points with a plus-13 rating in 34 games. Before that, he spent four seasons with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, where he posted 22 points in 64 games in 2022-23, then 24 and 42 points in his next two seasons while appearing in 66 games each year.
The Blues selected the 6-foot-3, 205-pound defenseman in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft. He is described as a strong one-on-one defender whose stick work has been a key part of his game, allowing him to steer opponents and force turnovers.
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