Michigan hockey legend Red Berenson talks before Frozen Four semifinal
Michigan hockey legend Red Berenson talks before Frozen Four semifinal at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 9, 2026.
- Sixteen former University of Michigan hockey players filed a federal lawsuit alleging decades of ritualized sexual abuse and hazing.
- The lawsuit claims the coaching staff was aware of the abuse, which included players being stripped, forcibly shaved, and assaulted.
- The University of Michigan disputed the allegations, calling them misleading and denying responsibility for the alleged incidents.
Sexual abuse described as “torture” was a regular part of ritualized hazing within the University of Michigan’s ice hockey team for more than three decades, according to a new federal lawsuit filed by 16 former members of the program.
The allegations feature many younger players describing themselves as being stripped naked and their genitals forcibly shaved by older players within the program. Others said the handles of razors were also forcibly inserted into their anuses. Multiple people in the lawsuit alleged their pubic hair was singed by a blowtorch. There were also allegations that older players tied a hockey helmet to the genitalia of younger players and filled the helmet with pucks.
None of the plaintiffs are identified in the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Detroit. It also alleges Michigan’s coaching staff was aware of the alleged hazing between 1984 and 2001 and required players to endure it in order to be in the program. The lawsuit was first reported by the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“Men as young as seventeen years old – new to adult life and in many cases dependent on hockey to access education at Michigan – were subjected to sexualized abuse that would be immediately recognized as torture under any other circumstance. The abuse was ritualized, meticulously planned, and sadistic,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit further alleges Michigan’s coaches “concealed the nature of the abuse and misled the players by chiding the few players who complained to ‘be a Michigan man;’ that they were not being ‘good teammates;’ and even penalizing players with reduced ice time.”
What Michigan said about hockey lawsuit
The University of Michigan disputed the allegations, calling some of the claims “misleading” in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. The school denied it should be held responsible or liable for any damages as a result of the litigation.
“The allegations outlined in the plaintiffs’ complaint are disturbing, but many elements of the complaint are misleading,” University of Michigan spokesman Paul Corliss said. “The former student athletes, who attended the university more than 25 years ago, describe behavior at the hands of fellow teammates that allegedly happened in the 1980s and 1990s. To the extent any former student athlete engaged in hazing or other misconduct, they were violating university policy. The university denies that it is any way responsible or liable for the claims alleged.
“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. Today, all university student athletes are required to complete annual training on university policies and protections against hazing, discrimination, and other forms of misconduct. We are committed to an environment of safety for all of our students.”
What former Michigan hockey players said about lawsuit
Many of the former players say in the lawsuit they suffered years of trauma related to the hazing, including substance abuse issues, depression and other mental health problems they believe are directly tied to the hockey program.
The players are asking for an unspecified amount of money from the university and for the school to require sexualized hazing prevention training for all University of Michigan athletes.
“They want accountability, but they want their privacy to go with their efforts to achieve accountability,” Michael Pitt, one of the lawyers representing the former players, told the Detroit Free Press. “Given the nature of the allegations that are in the complaint, that’s totally understandable.”
The Michigan hockey program previously dealt with bullying and misconduct allegations, prompting an outside investigation that identified “cultural issues within the hockey program that warrant attention.” The ensuing report did not specifically mention hazing, but ultimately led to the firing of former coach Mel Pearson. He was also an assistant coach within the program during the time of the allegations presented in the Sept. 9 federal lawsuit filing.
The lawsuit features at least one specific reference to longtime Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson, a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame who coached the Wolverines from 1984-2017.
“(John Doe 8) and his teammates understood that ‘Red’s practice was to shave you from the neck down,’ so no one would notice,” the lawsuit states.
In 2012, Berenson publicly announced the end of freshman hazing.
“We’ve taken all of the little freshmen things out of our program,” Berenson said at the time, according to the Ann Arbor News. “It’s hard enough to make the transition as a freshman without going through some of that. It’s borderline embarrassment or humiliation.”
Detroit Free Press reporters Dave Boucher and Tony Garcia contributed to this report.