arizona state

Arizona State hockey player Matthew Mayich remains incapacitated more than two weeks after he collapsed during an outdoor team practice in Tempe.

“Matthew’s injuries [are] from exertional heat stroke that caused the lack of oxygen to his brain,” the family’s attorney, Robert Carey, told The Times on Thursday. “There were no other contributing conditions, only exertion-related heat. This is not a coma, and the family is at his bedside praying for a miracle.”

While the family has not given up on the 21-year-old former draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, Carey said the prognosis they have received is not good.

“He’s been incapacitated from the moment he left the field, and with no chance of recovering,” said Carey, who added that he is limited on what he has been authorized to discuss concerning Mayich’s condition.

He added that the family is “just giving him a chance to have a miracle. And when they decide that’s not coming — I don’t know. They’re in a position no parent should ever be in.”

Mayich was selected by the Blues in the sixth round of the 2023 draft but never signed with the team. He played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League and one at Clarkson University last season before transferring to Arizona State.

Arizona State and its police department referred questions from The Times to a recent statement from the university. In its statement, the university did not mention Mayich by name because of “privacy interests” but talked about an ASU hockey player “who collapsed during an outdoor workout on Aug. 20” and “remains hospitalized.”

Arizona State said that the workout was a team event at which coaches and training staff were present, “along with a third party who had previously worked with the ASU Hockey team.”

The university stressed that it has policies regarding the engagement of “outside entities who interact with ASU student-athletes” and heat-illness guidelines for outdoor workouts. It added that James Rund, senior vice president for educational outreach and student services, would lead a review into the “circumstances surrounding the workout and related university policies, procedures and training protocols.”

“The review will take the time needed to collect and assess information in a manner that is thoughtful, respectful of the student-athlete, his family, his teammates and ASU’s privacy obligations,” the statement says.

The practice took place on a field outside the team’s on-campus arena. According to the university’s statement, the campus police department responded to a 911 call at approximately 8:30 a.m. “and began investigating as they would anytime they are called to a serious incident.”

The temperature at around that time in Tempe that morning was in the upper 80s.

Carey said that from talking to people who were present at the practice and relying on “other objective evidence,” he has determined that it was a military-style practice that ran “nonstop for well over an hour. And there was no rest, and there was almost no water.”

“Matthew was struggling,” Carey said, based on the information he has gathered. “He was disoriented, confused, dizzy, well before he collapsed. … Matthew was demonstrating signs of a problem well before he collapsed, and they did nothing.”

After Mayich’s collapse, Carey said, the staff was “completely and utterly unprepared” to treat him.

“So when he left the field that day, by the time he got to the hospital, there was almost zero chance of recovery,” Carey said.

Carey, who was chief deputy attorney general of Arizona during the 1990s, said he has been retained as the family’s counsel to help guide them through the situation, but no decision about any kind of legal action has been made at this point.

“They’re not going to make any decisions, and I’m not going to make any recommendations, until we get an investigation completed that’s transparent and robust and competent,” Carey said. “We need to know what happened before we can say you have rights or here’s a way to fix things for other kids down the road. …

“We just need to see what the evidence is. That’s our main goal right now, let’s go get the evidence and figure out what happened.”

He added that the family wanted him to express their gratitude for the outpouring of support they’ve gotten during this time.

“They’re from Canada and they’re in Arizona, where they had no connection really, and they’re sitting in a hospital every day,” Carey said, “and they’re just very appreciative of the support they’ve received across the country to help them.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

With an ever-present smile, infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality, defensive back Cole Martin is always undeniably himself.

And that was evident when he introduced himself — alongside defensive backs Rodrick Pleasant and Scooter Jackson — to Bob Chesney during the head football coach’s first day in the UCLA facility.

“That’s him from Day One,” Chesney said, noting Martin has never changed the high energy he brought to the program on the day they met.

Martin is no stranger to the Bruins.

The Pasadena native grew up around the program and attended UCLA games at the Rose Bowl, where his dad, Demetrice Martin, was the defensive backs coach from 2012-2017.

“Growing up as a kid running around here, I just want to see this university back on top,” Martin said during UCLA spring workouts.

And while Cole Martin spent his first two seasons at Oregon and Arizona State, the defensive back followed his father back to Westwood ahead of the 2025 season.

During his inaugural year as a Bruin, Martin was one of three players to start all 12 games and ranked fourth on the team in total tackles with 65.

But after a 3-9 season, during which former head coach DeShaun Foster, defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri departed the program, Cole entered the transfer portal.

And while his father left for Arizona State to become a defensive analyst, Martin, alongside Jackson and Pleasant, ultimately decided to stay after meeting Chesney and hearing his vision.

“California boys, we are all here after coaches parted and we were up here, and Chesney came and we had a conversation with him and we all got together after and we were like, ‘He’s different,’” Martin said. “Being able to have that conversation and be genuine with your brothers who you had a hard season with, and you got a coach that is trying to change the whole trajectory. You have got to believe in somebody, and he’s somebody you can believe in.”

UCLA defensive back Cole Martin lines up on the field during the Bruins’ 2025 spring game.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

After his first meeting with Chesney, Martin withdrew his name from the portal and got to work in Westwood.

While 10 transfers Chesney brought with him from James Madison know his system, Martin has demonstrated a natural understanding of the coach’s values.

Chesney selected Martin to be one of his first ambassadors to regional and national media outlets covering Big Ten football media days in Chicago, joining linebacker Sammy Omosigho and quarterback Nico Iamaleava representing the Bruins. Chesney called Martin an unbelievable leader and said that his energy will give people a window into what his program strives to look like.

“You just felt Cole’s personality and his infectious positivity, and I just said, ‘Man, we need this kid to stay. This kid is what I feel like our team should be like on a day-to-day basis,’ and he’s done a really good job of that,” Chesney said Monday while recalling his first impression of Martin.

Martin said Chesney’s focus on a family culture and competition has helped him thrive in a deep, experienced defensive back group.

“It’s a brotherhood. He does a great job of making sure that everybody buys into building that relationship with your brother next to you, the little things, such as more talking in the locker room, or doing things extra,” Martin said of Chesney. “He’s done a great job at doing that and it feels like a full brotherhood here.”

Chesney said that Cole is recovering from a minor injury during preseason camp, but he refuses to let his absence on the turf affect his impact on the squad.

“He’s been out for a little bit here, working through a muscle thing, but he’s still present,” Chesney said. “You watch him move around; he’s really close right now, and he’ll never stop being himself, which is great.”