Sixteen former University of Michigan men’s hockey players have sued the school and its Board of Regents, alleging they were subjected to years of ritualized, sexualized hazing by teammates that coaches and staff knew about, tolerated and in some cases directed.
The federal complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, covers players who competed between 1984 and 2001. All 16 plaintiffs are identified only as John Does. They say older players forced them to undergo genital shaving, used blowtorches to singe pubic hair, tied genitals to hockey helmets or buckets weighted with pucks, and in some cases anally penetrated them with razor handles. The lawsuit describes the conduct as “ritualized, meticulously planned, and sadistic” and says it would be “immediately recognized as torture under any other circumstance.”
The case is the latest in a string of sexual-misconduct and culture problems that have roiled Michigan athletics.
The complaint says the abuse typically occurred early in a freshman season, often after heavy drinking, and was treated as a condition of remaining on the team. Trainers sometimes set up tables in team facilities. Upperclassmen then shaved freshmen from the neck down — genitals, chest, underarms and, in some accounts, the anus — using electric and disposable razors, sometimes without cream.
Several plaintiffs say teammates used a blowtorch during the ritual. One account describes an upperclassman taunting a player on a table with the torch, then handling and pulling his genitals while singeing pubic hair. Another says a towel was used to dampen the flame. A third says the torch was used to burn off pubic hair before razors were applied. Some players reported cuts from the razors.
Other alleged rituals included:
- Tying a penis or testicles to a hockey helmet or five-gallon bucket that older players then filled with pucks.
- Inserting the handle of a disposable razor into a freshman‘s anus — referred to in the complaint as a “shocker.”
- Forcing players to swallow live goldfish until they vomited.
- Simulated sex acts, threats of sexual assault, and other humiliating acts while nude at parties.
- Blindfolding and flicking or handling genitals over multiple days.
Equipment managers and athletic trainers were present during some of the locker-room rituals in certain years, the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs say they suffered lasting harm, including post-traumatic stress, depression, insomnia, substance abuse and sexual dysfunction. They seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and ask the university to require sexualized-hazing prevention training for all Michigan athletes.
Attorney Michael Pitt, whose Royal Oak firm represents the players, said the men began talking among themselves in September 2024 and realized the rituals had been far more widespread than any of them knew at the time. “The abuse was ritualized, meticulously planned and sadistic,” Pitt said. “Enduring sexual abuse was required to be a member of the Michigan men’s ice hockey team.” He added that the university had known of the potential claims for more than a year and declined meaningful settlement talks.
The lawsuit does not name former coaches as defendants, but it accuses Hall of Fame coach Red Berenson, who led the program from 1984 to 2017, of knowing about, directing and facilitating the hazing for years. It says Berenson instructed upperclassmen to shave only “from the neck down” so the results would be hidden under clothing, and that he moved some rituals inside hockey facilities after they had previously occurred off-site.
The complaint portrays the hazing as part of what it calls Berenson’s “abusive coaching style” — demanding extreme deference, arbitrarily benching players and cultivating hostility toward underclassmen so they would be desperate for belonging. Players who complained were allegedly told to “be a Michigan man” and “good teammates.” One plaintiff says he reported the abuse to Berenson and later had his playing time “drastically” cut. Another says he went to the athletic director; the complaint claims the AD then told Berenson without the player’s consent.
Then-assistant coach Mel Pearson, who later succeeded Berenson as head coach from 2017 to 2022, is also accused of knowing about the rituals and telling freshmen to “just get through it.” Pearson’s contract was not renewed after a 2022 outside investigation found cultural problems in the program. He did not respond to media requests for comment.
Berenson, 86, denied that coaches promoted or encouraged the conduct. “We knew there was a certain element of initiation on our team, and it was usually orchestrated by the seniors,” he told MLive. “We didn’t promote it. We didn’t encourage it.” In a brief phone call with the Detroit Free Press on Thursday he said he would not comment further and needed time to look into the story. In 2012 Berenson publicly announced an end to “freshman hazing,” citing bag-carrying and meal-line traditions and acknowledging that some captains “got too carried away.” The lawsuit says that public account omitted the sexualized abuse.
