‘We hurt too’: ASU hockey assistant coach says human element is forgotten in Mayich situation

Arizona State hockey played its first home game since transfer player Matthew Mayich collapsed during a military-style workout on Aug. 20. On an emotional night, the Sun Devils lost to Holy Cross 2-1 despite leading 1-0 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

Players and coaches donned yellow ribbons with Mayich’s No. 27 etched on it, and the team hung his jersey in the locker room, but no other acknowledgment of Mayich was made during the game at Mullett Arena, notably meaning there was no moment of silence held.

Assistant coach Mike Corbett, acting as the team’s interim head coach after Greg Powers was put on administrative leave, spoke to reporters after the game about the emotions of the team currently, specifically about how he thinks people are forgetting the human element of what the coaching staff is going through.

“It’s hard. People can say what they want to say about the coaching staff or me personally, and dig up things and that’s their prerogative to do that,” Corbett said. “We hurt too. We are human beings, too. We were there, too, and we hurt.

“People have to understand that. …There’s always emotions — this is a young man I recruited,” he continued, in reference to Mayich. “So, to me, that was something that was very big. We know this kid and we hurt just like everybody else. I think people lose sight of that at times — to think that we’re these monsters — and we’re not.”

On Sept. 28, seven ASU hockey players anonymously wrote a letter asking for the entire coaching staff, including Corbett, to be replaced — while also disputing the findings of the university’s initial review.

Corbett was asked about that dissension toward him from the team, specifically about a rumor that one player asked to be a healthy scratch until a new interim head coach came in.

“That I don’t know. As far as that, all the guys were healthy scratches and coach’s decisions,” Corbett said.

Later he added, “You just don’t put something on the wall and say, ‘Okay, everybody’s going to buy in.’ They’re not going to. I’ve done this for 30 years and we know that that’s not how it’s going to be. It’s going to take time. And yes, due to some of the other things outside of hockey, it’s probably going to take this team a little bit more time to be able to do that.”

Neither Corbett nor captains Kyle Smolen and Sean McGurn elected to answer specific questions about what the team’s conversations surrounding Mayich have been, with Corbett once saying “that’s our business in our locker room.”

The status of ASU’s hockey staff remains in limbo as Mayich is still in “terrible, critical condition,” according to Leonard Aragon, the Mayich family’s attorney.

Former North Dakota head coach Brad Berry and former Northern Michigan head coach Grant Potulny are considered to be top candidates to assume the role of head coach.

“We just buy into each other,” Smolen said postgame when asked about possible changes to the coaching staff. “That’s what we’re playing for. We’re playing for (Mayich). We’re playing for each other, playing for our hockey careers each night.”

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