Report: ASU did not vet workout plan before hockey player's collapse

Arizona State did not vet the training plan for the workout led by a former Green Beret during which a hockey player collapsed last month, according to a preliminary report the university released Tuesday. While the ASU hockey team's coaching staff requested permission for the former Green Beret, Tim Ziesel, to speak to the team in a three-day team building event, they "did not submit a plan of training activities for review by ASU's strength and conditioning coaches prior to the event," wrote James Rund, the university official leading the review. Ziesel, who was introduced to ASU hockey coach Greg Powers through a team supporter, did not have a contract with the school, according to the report. Ziesel had spoken with the team in January 2026 about his military experience, leadership and teamwork, Rund wrote. Rund, ASU's senior vice president of educational outreach and student services, wrote that his team or the ASU police department have interviewed 20 people so far, including several student-athletes. St. Louis Blues prospect Matthew Mayich collapsed on the morning of Aug. 20 during an offseason workout and has been hospitalized in critical condition. Mayich suffered exertional heat stroke that reduced the flow of oxygen to his brain and is unlikely to recover, according to his family's attorney, Rob Carey. In its review, the university said the temperature was in the high 80s at the time, with a relative humidity of 46 to 51 percent. All three ASU hockey coaches were present along with the team's athletic trainer, the school said. ASU athletes "regularly practice and train outside, and many sports compete outside," Rund noted. "Those competitions involve teams from other institutions that travel to Arizona from a variety of climates to play outdoors with little time for acclimation to desert conditions." All athletes, including Mayich, had been medically cleared to participate by the team physician and athletic trainer, and had participated in three voluntary strength and conditioning workouts before the Aug. 20 workout, according to the university. Those earlier sessions included 15-minute workouts outside using medicine balls, ropes and weighted sleds. The coaching staff told the players in a meeting and a written message to rest and hydrate in preparation for the Aug. 20 workout, according to the university. On the night before the workout, Mayich and his roommate went out for dinner, returned to their room, watched videos and went to sleep, Rund wrote. The workout consisted of pushups, planks, flutter kicks, bear crawls, squats, sprints and buddy carry, according to the university. Athletes wore short-sleeved, light-colored shirts and shorts provided by the school, and the athletic trainer brought water for them to drink as well as a cooler with iced towels, Rund said. Powers told Ziesel to give the athletes a water break 20 minutes into the workout, the university said, along with another break towards the end. Ziesel left the workout after telling the athletes to do a wind-down run with a medicine ball, leaving the coaches and the athletic trainer to oversee the final exercise, according to the report. Mayich collapsed during the wind-down exercise, according to the report. The athletic trainer and other students told him to stay on the ground, and the trainer gave him iced towels and cool water. Mayich was initially responsive, but after his condition deteriorated, the trainer called 911, moved Mayich to a shady area and continued applying iced towels and water from a hose while waiting for the paramedics, according to the university. "What the report doesn't say is what the players will tell you: this was a punishment workout," Carey told ESPN in a statement. "Miss a count, your group runs again. The head coach set it up, stood there and watched it, and didn't stop it when the signs were there. And when Matthew went down, there was no plan and no preparation, so he was treated in a way that hurt his chances rather than helped them." Ziesel's attorney, Buddy Rake, previously compared the workout to "a medium preseason high school workout." Rund said ASU will establish a panel of experts to provide recommendations on outdoor athletic activities, how to deal with changed conditions or adverse reactions to outdoor athletic activities, and the use of outside consultants. All ASU student-athletes are invited to provide suggestions and information, which can be kept confidential, according to Rund. "A month later, nobody's been named, nobody's been suspended, nobody's been fired for violating the very policies ASU published today, and the university wants to appoint a committee," Carey said in his statement. "A committee isn't going to tell us why grown men with a rulebook in their hands let this happen to a young man at his first real workout in the desert. That's what an investigation is for, and it's why we're going to ask the County Attorney to do one." Carey previously called for an independent investigation into Mayich's collapse and suggested it be led by the Phoenix Police Department. Rund said that his team will continue to gather information about the incident. The ASU Police Department is also conducting its own investigation. Rund wrote that ASUPD's investigative report will be sent to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for independent review when complete. University policy requires outside consultants to be certified under NCAA's health and safety rules, including first aid training. When asked whether Ziesel was certified, Rake told ESPN, "You do realize [an] ASU trainer was standing a few feet away," and added that Ziesel was a corpsman in the Navy and had additional medical training as a Green Beret. The university's "exertional heat illness policy" requires staff to take "regular measurements of environmental conditions." The initial report does not indicate whether ASU staff took the required measurements, but instead quotes data from Weather Underground sensors. The policy also directs staff to provide "cold water immersion tubs" for all practices during periods of increased heat or humidity. Any injured athletes should be taken into the shade or "preferably indoors with air conditioning." "I've read ASU's report. It recommends new policies," Carey said in his statement. "ASU had policies. They called for a cold tub on the field, a wet bulb globe thermometer reading, a consultant who'd been checked out, and a 911 call the moment an athlete goes down. None of that happened, and ASU's own timeline says so."