For ASU hockey, Saturday was not about a result, a ranking or a game plan. It was about a teammate who remains hospitalized in a coma after collapsing during a sanctioned outdoor morning team workout on Aug. 20, and about a program trying to say something simple in a moment that is still deeply unsettled.
Sun Devil Hockey posted a short message for Matthew Mayich, writing, “Thinking of you, 27,” and adding that “Matthew- your ASU teammates and the entire Sun Devil community are keeping you and your family in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time.” In a story defined by uncertainty, that public gesture was the clearest sign yet of how the team is responding to the situation.
Mayich, who is 21 years old and recently transferred to ASU from Ontario, Canada, collapsed during the workout on Aug. 20. According to Leonard Aragon, he remains hospitalized in a coma after the incident. Aragon said, “Matthew’s there, but he’s not, right?” He added that “His brain activity’s not registering. And so their son is, for all intents and purposes, gone.”
Those comments make the central issue painfully clear: this is no longer just about an athlete missing time. It is about the condition of a college player whose family has been forced into a crisis that began during a team workout. The family is seeking an outside investigation into what happened, and Aragon said, “We know it’s heat exhaustion,” while also noting, “There’s been no other indication that there’s any reason for him to have collapsed.”
The details matter because they frame the gap between what a team activity is supposed to be and what it became. A sanctioned workout is meant to be routine preparation. Instead, it became the setting for a medical emergency that has left ASU hockey with grief, unanswered questions and a teammate still fighting for his life.
That is why the team’s message carried so much weight. It did not answer the questions surrounding the collapse, and it was never meant to. But it did show that Mayich remains at the center of the Sun Devil Hockey community’s thoughts as the family pushes for clarity and the broader story continues to unfold.
