Former hockey players at University of Michigan sue, say they were sexually abused decades ago

DETROIT (AP) — More than a dozen former hockey players are suing the University of Michigan, alleging their coach and other staff were aware of sexual hazing that included the forced shaving of their genitals and other abuse by teammates decades ago.

“The abuse was ritualized, meticulously planned, and sadistic. … Enduring sexual abuse was required to be a member of the Michigan Men’s Ice Hockey team,” attorney Michael Pitt said in a sex discrimination lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Detroit.

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The plaintiffs are 16 men who played at Michigan between 1984 and 2001. The lawsuit apparently grew out of conversations among several former teammates in 2024.

The university said the allegations are “disturbing,” but denies responsibility.

“To the extent any former student athlete engaged in hazing or other misconduct, they were violating university policy,” spokesperson Paul Corliss said in a written statement.

“The university first adopted an official anti-hazing policy in 1982. It was one of the first universities in the country to do so, and it has earned its standing as a leader in this area,” he said.

The lawsuit says Red Berenson, who was coach from 1984 to 2017, was aware of the abuse and did not intervene.

Berenson announced the end of “freshman hazing” in 2012, referring to first-year players being forced to carry equipment and eat team meals. He made no mention of physical abuse but acknowledged “captains that got too carried away,” according to news reports at the time.

Berenson, 86, declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday.

“Give me a chance to absorb what’s going on,” the former NHL player said.

The university could argue that the hockey players waited too long to file a lawsuit, a position it took in 2020 when former athletes sued over sexual misconduct committed decades earlier by a campus sports doctor. The university ultimately agreed to pay $490 million to settle claims by more than 1,000 people.