UND Hockey Knuckleheads

GRAND FORKS HERALD
The call to UND police earlier this month that resulted in four UND freshman hockey players cited for underage drinking and seven other players suspended, came in as a request for medical assistance.

The responding officer, Cheryl Sevigny, reported that paramedics suggested two of the freshmen be watched overnight and took another to the emergency room on suspicion of alcohol poisoning.

On Friday, Grand Forks County prosecutors charged the four freshmen players with underage drinking, a Class B misdemeanor. They are Jordan Schmaltz, 18; Bryn Chyzyk, 19; Zane Gothberg, 20; and Drake Caggiula, 18. All four are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 30. UND says it will handle their discipline internally.

In her report, Sevigny said she received a call from the 911 dispatch center around 8 p.m. Sept. 15 about “a highly intoxicated male subject passed out in room 102B Walsh Hall and the RAs were unable to wake him.” Nicholas Garfield, the resident assistant in Walsh, made the 911 call. He said he’s confident he kept one or more of the freshmen from a possibly critical problem, he said.

Just as Garfield was going on duty that evening, he told the Herald, “I saw members of the hockey team being brought in.” Freshman members of the hockey team live in Walsh Hall, Garfield said, and older team members were carrying in obviously intoxicated freshmen who could not walk on their own.

When he asked what was going on, Garfield said, “a few of the hockey members told me they have it taken care of and I should just go back to doing what I was doing.”

But he was concerned about the welfare of the freshmen and called 911, he said. “In the process of making the call, I deemed it morally weird and unethical if I did not go and check on them, either way. It didn’t matter what they said.”

Officer Sevigny said in her report that, when she arrived at Walsh Hall on the call about the one intoxicated player, Garfield told her there also was “another highly-intoxicated male subject passed out in room 202B Walsh.”

Gothberg, who had a strong odor of alcohol, was passed out face down on the floor and Chyzyk was lying on the futon. Sevigny shook Gothberg, and he responded, but Chyzyk did not, even though she “shook him, tapped his face and spoke to him,” Sevigny said. He had vomit on the front of his shirt.

“While I was trying to wake Chyzyk, someone mentioned that he had taken a lot of shots that night,” she said. “I then used a pressure point behind his right ear, Chyzyk started to move and I asked Chyzyk to speak with me. Chyzyk then mumbled he’s sleeping and swung his arm at me.”

Caggiula meanwhile, was taken to Altru Hospital for possible alcohol poisoning, Sevigny said.

Derek Forbort, a junior, and other older members of the team gathered in the hallway to find out what was happening, Sevigny said. Told that another officer was trying to call Athletic Director Brian Faison, Forbort asked why he “had to contact Faison.”

Forbort also told her “it wasn’t an initiation party but a party that had gotten a little out of hand,” Sevigny said. Once Faison heard about the party, the four senior captains on the team — Andrew MacWilliam, Corban Knight, Danny Kristo and Carter Rowney — were suspended for the Oct. 19 game against the University of Alaska Anchorage.

A few days later, it was announced that three sophomores, all 21 or older — Connor Gaarder, Andrew Panzarella and Stephane Pattyn — will be suspended for the Oct. 20 game against the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Both games, part of a tournament, will be played in Fairbanks.