PHOENIX – Greg Powers still believes he is the man to lead the Arizona State men's hockey team in the wake of an Aug. 20 incident that left defenseman Matthew Mayich incapacitated with, what his family's attorney said, is no hope of recovery.

“There's obviously some things that have been said that you know about me, and I respect anything anybody has to say,” the Sun Devils coach said Wednesday. “But yeah, I believe that I am the right guy, and 20 years of a body of work and building a program almost 20 years now, I still believe that.”

Powers' remarks were his first public comments since Mayich collapsed during a team-sanctioned, early-morning workout with former Green Beret Tim Ziesel at Sun Angel Stadium. Powers read a prepared statement and then declined to further discuss the incident.

“As you undoubtedly know, it's a very difficult time for everybody in our program. Matthew Mayich has been hospitalized since Aug. 20,” Powers said during the National Collegiate Hockey Conference virtual preseason media day, a segment that was attended by 62 media members. Shortly after, David Carle, coach of defending national champion Denver, spoke to 19. 

“Matthew and his family are very much in our thoughts, in our prayers and at the forefront of our minds as we prepare for a new season.” 

Nine days before its season opener at Lindenwood, the Arizona State hockey program is still waiting for answers to multiple questions. Those questions include Mayich's long-term prognosis, where the university's initial review will lead, Powers’ future and the mental state of the players who watched a teammate collapse.

Mayich remains incapacitated at a Valley hospital. Rob Carey, the family's lead attorney, told ESPN that Mayich suffered an exertional heat stroke that reduced the flow of oxygen to his brain.

"There were no other contributing conditions, only exertion-related heat," Carey said earlier this month.

Mayich, 21, is from Stoney Creek, Ontario. He played four seasons with the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League and one at Clarkson University before transferring to Arizona State. He had been in Arizona for eight days before the workout.

Mayich collapsed shortly before 8:30 a.m. at Sun Angel Stadium on ASU’s Tempe campus, according to the university's initial report. The workout was the first day of a planned three-day team-building event. Temperatures during the session ranged from 86 to 89 degrees. 

“I don't run workouts,” Powers said. “Our strength and conditioning coach does and our guys are here every day working hard and preparing their minds and bodies and each other for a season ahead.”

Attorney Leonard Aragon, who is working closely with Carey, told Cronkite News that players described it as "the hardest workout that they've ever experienced."

“That this wasn’t a half-hour workout,” Aragon said. “This wasn’t some simple workout that any NCAA athlete could have done. That this was the most grueling workout that they’ve ever endured.”

Arizona State’s initial review revealed that coaches asked permission for Ziesel to speak to the team, although the report does not specify whom they asked or if permission was granted. Ziesel had addressed the players the previous season about leadership and teamwork.

"The ASU Hockey team coaching staff requested permission for Ziesel to speak to the team but did not submit a plan of training activities for review by ASU's strength and conditioning coaches prior to the event," the report stated.

The report did not assign responsibility. Instead, the university said it will form a blue-ribbon advisory panel to recommend practices for outdoor athletic activities and the use of outside consultants.

Carey criticized the findings in comments to The Athletic.

“This report, it’s more advocacy than fact-finding,” Carey said. “It completely misses the point. I’m just blown away that they’re offering up a committee to come up with new policies. The problem is not that ASU lacked policies. The problem is, no one followed them. They literally violated every policy they have, and their conclusion is, ‘Let’s call for a blue-ribbon panel to tell us about policies?’ Mind-boggling. We’re a month later, and ASU’s report holds no one accountable.”

The university has not announced any change in Powers' employment status and all signs point to him coaching the team to start the 2026-27 season. But with the season imminent and every other NCHC coach taking part in the preseason media event, ASU junior alternate captain Ben Muthersbaugh and NCHC commissioner Heather Weems took time to focus on Mayich and his family.

“I want to acknowledge the extraordinarily difficult circumstances surrounding Matthew Mayich and Arizona State University,” Weems said. “While the incident review continues, our foremost concern is for Matthew. 

“His family has asked for prayers, and I offer mine very sincerely. My heart is also with his parents and siblings, friends, teammates, the Arizona State community and so many others on whom he has made an impact and been a light. Out of respect for Matthew and the ongoing process, I will not offer further comment today.”

Muthersbaugh, a transfer from Union College, acknowledged that the incident has cast a pall over the program.

“At the forefront of our mind is Matthew and his family,” Muthersbaugh said. “It's been tough for a lot of guys that are 18 to 24 years old to go through something like this and especially with someone who is going to be one of our brothers and one of our best friends.”

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.