Junior defenseman Max Nicastro was arrested early Sunday morning for an alleged sexual assault of a female student, and he has been suspended indefinitely from the No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team. The news was first reported by BU Today.
Neither BU coach Jack Parker nor any of the players are currently available for comment, and will not be until late Tuesday morning at the earliest.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said the incident occurred “on campus” in a dormitory, but could not offer much information.
“The facts as they are are upsetting,” he said.
No further action will be taken – be it concerning Nicastro’s status as a member of the team or a student at BU – until the investigation is complete, Riley said.
Jake Wark, Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman, said Nicastro will be arraigned in Brighton District Court Tuesday morning.
On the ice, Nicastro is currently the team’s third most offensively productive defenseman. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound blueliner has registered three goals and six assists, putting him behind sophomores Adam Clendening (three goals, 23 assists) and Garrett Noonan (11 goals, six assists).
Nicastro has also blocked 35 shots in 27 games this season, ranking him fourth among BU players.
His suspension again leaves the team with five defensemen. Freshman Alexx Privitera is out with a broken wrist – he may return this weekend against Vermont, Parker said on Thursday – and Parker used five defenseman when Nicastro was out earlier this semester with a bad shoulder.
The Nicastro incident comes just two months and six days after news broke that Corey Trivino was arrested and dismissed from the hockey team after an incident on Dec. 11.
Following that incident, residents of 10 Buick St. told The Daily Free Press there was consistently raucous behavior by members of the men’s hockey team. Those residents identified Nicastro as the worst offender, though to that point nothing had been reported to officials.
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As a BU alum and hockey fan I am embarassed and humiliated by the actions of this team. The season should be cancelled tomorrow. I don’t want to hear about a couple of bad apples; the players are responsible for each other. And at the top, Jack Parker needs to articulate why he should still be coaching this team if he has so little control over the players’ behavior.
As DFP alum and veteran of the hockey beat (1992-95), I could not be prouder of the coverage by the sports staff. Great job and keep it up!
Disappointed that this has happened again, but cancel the season? Thats a little ridiculous. Parker can only babysit these kids when they are in the rink and during team functions. And I am wrong to call them kids, they are young adults and shouldn’t need a babysitter.
All that needs to be said is that the program up the street has had no such issues. and it starts with the head coach.
BC fan: FYI, BC, in fact, had similar issues in 2007; York dealt with it the same way Parker did with Trivino. So, don’t be so fast to throw stones. None of this, of course, excuses, the alleged incident at BU.
The program up the street has had no such issues… recently. Back in the ’80s and early ’90s, in the Len Ceglarski/Steve Cedorchuk days, BC had a huge knucklehead problem. Kudos to Coach York for cleaning it up. BU’s program has been trending this way for a few years. Something has to change.
The program has been trending this way? I don’t think so! @ knuckheads who would have done this at BC or Harvard.. Don’t blame the coach or the school
As an alum (COM ’93), long time season ticket holder and a member of the BU Friends of Hockey, I am disgusted that this has happened twice in one season by members of this team. What a shame to throw away the opportunities that come with being an NCAA athlete at this level. And what an embarrassment to the BU community. Coach Parker can not hold their hands. These players are adults and need to learn to act as adults. Have some pride and show some respect not only for the name on the front of the jersey, but also for the name on the back of it as well.
Neil Goldberg, get a grip on yourself. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Cancel the season? What kind of lesson would that serve? Particularly for all of those that had nothing to do with any of this!
There is no question that this is very troubling. One incident like this is one too many.
I think BU and Jack Parker handled the Trivino incident very well, and that should provide us with some faith that they will also handle this situation properly.
BU does need to review what kind of student social education it provides, particularly to the hockey team, given these two incidents.
Coaches are not 24 hour babysitters, any more than their professors are responsible for their social conduct. Sure, coaches can and should have an influence, but they are still young adults that are accountable for themselves.
It would be wise for us to reserve further judgement until we have some real facts and see how legal authorities, BU and Parker handle the situation.
https://www.facebook.com/people/Max-Nicastro/589957542
From Thousand Oaks California. Wonder if that has anything to do with it? The girls here are definitely different from the girls from Cali. Different culture.
This is not an issue of women “being different” in one part of the country or another–and, by the way, as a female from southern California who lives in Boston, I can attest that “girls” in both places do not deserve sexual assault. Rather, it is an issue of a man in a position of power on campus abusing a woman classmate. This issue is not about the woman who was assaulted, it is about Nicastro’s behavior, which in this case was illegal and abusive, and about the culture on BU Hockey, or on campus, that led to this happening in two cases this season. To imply that the female accuser’s regional difference has anything to do with his actions is sexist and takes us all back 40 years, when females in situations like this woman’s could be quizzed about their clothes and sexual behavior in court after being raped.
Victims of rape are not responsible for rape. They are not “asking for it” if they are dressing a certain way, flirting, doing whatever. While I don’t know the details of this case, in ANY situation – If a person is forced to have sex with another person without giving their consent it is rape. Society needs to stop blaming victims. It is not a matter of “different culture.”I would like to see a different culture where we put more responsibility onto the rapists and stop judging the motives of the victims.
This won’t help.
http://www.myspace.com/slamman
Listen to his favorite song.
I just checked out the website. Maybe I’m out of touch – I’m a 55 year old Northeastern alumni that has a niece at BU. That website, well, all I can say is…what could this guy be thinking? Talk about an animal.
I thought colleges check out stuff like this, especially if the student is going to represent the college in sports? But that song on his Myspace page “I like to F$ck” and right next to pictures of his family. Nice touch. Again I though people get booted for stuff like this but maybe that is for jobs only.
Another sad day for us proud BU alums and fans of the hockey team. As much as I love Jack Parker, I think he needs to take a hard look at himself and how he’s running the program and then explain to the BU community why he deserves to continue to coach the program.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
As an alum of this University, I am saddened whenever an incident such as this one happens, whether it involves athletes or not. Unfortunately, these types of events happen all too often at our colleges and universities. In my opinion, there is a problem with our culture and the lessons we teach to young men about boundaries and appropriate behavior. All of that said, I am also cognizant that at the moment, these are all merely allegations.
The hockey program has to be about more than producing great hockey players. I’m sorry, but being successful on the ice is not enough. The program also has to mold student athletes, and young men who represent the university, because that is what they are, like it or not. In any organization, corporate, educational, or otherwise, the tone is set from the top down. When there is a failure of leadership, well then there have to be consequences. If a general cannot control his troops, perhaps he is no longer fit to lead them.
The comparison to BC’s current program is apt. I am not saying there are not “knuckleheads” that play in the heights, surely there are, but it seems (albeit from the outside) that Jerry York runs a pretty tight ship there. You get the sense that something like this is less likely to happen at BC these days because those players would not want to let coach York and the team down.
Lastly, don’t worry about Mr. Nicastro being treated like an adult. When his arraignment is called on Academy Hill Road on Tuesday morning and those charges are read aloud in open court, it will be the most adult moment of his life so far.
York may be running a clean program lately, but BC fans can’t possibly criticize. There have been more than a few incidents like this at the Heights..
Not to mention certain larger problems. We could ask Cardinal Law to discipline Nicastro. Maybe he’d give him a parish..
Look up where Corey griffin boston college and ohanley went in 2007
Yet another alum and season ticket holder adding his voice to the disappointment. First and foremost I hope the alleged victim is OK and getting the help she needs. That’s paramount.
These sad tales need to stop. I’m getting tired of the stories about guys getting suspended for breaking team rules, guys quitting mid-career (or midseason) because the academic rigors of an American undergraduate degree are just too tough, and guys getting arrested for violent behavior. This drags the entire team’s name and reputation through the muck. And what message does this send to recruits who are not budding sex offenders, who want to work, study, and play hard in a top tier college program? I don’t really blame a guy for bypassing BU to go play for Coach York, or Umile, or Flood or Berenson or any of the other top flight schools who compete for the best hockey talent coming to the NCAA, especially in light of this. What kid with his head screwed on straight is going to say “yeah, I don’t mind if I have to worry about my teammates assaulting women”?
I can’t deny Coach Parker’s legacy or leadership, but I really hope he doesn’t become our Joe Paterno, doing too little, too late. I hope he, his coaching staff and Mike Lynch find a way to right this ship, stop this misbehavior and get the program going again in a direction the staff, alumni and fans can be proud of once more.
I think Parker needs to reign the program in a bit, but the coach of college aged athletes should not have to remind his team “don’t sexually assault anyone after the game”
I think what we can knock Parker for is his taking a lesser quality person into the program he never did back when he was the only game in town for over a decade, until York got BC back on its feet
BU HOCKEY RULES. PARTY ON GARTH
It was really brave of the survivor to go to the police. It takes a lot of courage for someone to report a sexual assault and I commend the woman for reporting Nicastro’s actions to the police. Approximately 60% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police (and only 2% of them are made up). That is a startling statistic when combined with the fact that every 2 minutes a person in the US is sexually assaulted.
No one commenting on this thread (myself included) knows exactly what happened on Sunday morning. However, it is important to remember that it doesn’t matter what either of the people involved were wearing or whether or not they knew one another beforehand. It doesn’t matter if the woman let Nicastro into her room and they were making out and it doesn’t matter if they had been intimate before. What matters is that the survivor said no and the perpetrator didn’t listen. For all anyone knows they could have been in the middle of having consensual sex when the survivor said no – from that point forward if the sex had continued it would have been rape.
The point I am trying to make is that sexual assault is never the survivor’s fault. It will be extremely important to remember this when more facts about the case emerge.
http://www.rainn.org/statistics
This is a terrible situation and all victims should be cared for in this type of situation. I am not defending the defendant or questioning the plaintiff here. I know none of the facts in the case BUT, I do not believe “only 2% are made up”. That is a ridiculous statement. I know for a fact that false restraining orders are often enforced when the defendant has done nothing wrong and the only proof is if the victim (male or female) “cries” on the stand. A judge will enforce the restraining order. This happens in divorce cases every day! There are innocent people on death row. I know NOTHING about this particular case. It is a TRAGIC situation but please do not believe that “only 2% are made up”.
First let’s remember he is innocent until proven guilty. Say what you want, but these are still kids who do stupid things. What makes it worse is the microscope they have to live under when they make a stupid decision like this. (case in point: someone pulls up his MySpace – which was cool long before this kid even stepped foot onto BU campus).
As for me, I’m a little curious as to how all this went down so quickly. Assuming the incident was Saturday night, there must have been some pretty conclusive evidence to get a warrant and arrest him by 6:30 the next morning.
Lnf –
“Kids who do stupid things”? He’s accused of rape. That’s a hardcore felony not the typical carefree behavior from youth. And are you really sympathizing that the accused attacked has to live under a microscope? Poor kid. Just wanted to have a little fun and now everyone is all up in his business cause of one little rape.
As a recent alum, I echo the sentiments of other alums and current students and acknowledge that the team has had quite the reputation for quite some time. Anyone who’s ever lived in or even spent time in StuVi is well aware that they party hard, and while I never experienced it myself, stories about their less than gentlemanly interaction with women are plentiful. Whatever the outcome, I do think that the BU hockey program needs to re-evaluate the message it’s sending. They certainly are revered on campus, and I’ll admit, I’m a big BU hockey fan myself, which makes this even more difficult to hear about. These young men are certainly talented athletes, but that should not allow them to circumvent the standards of behavior and academics that all other students in the BU community are held to. I will not speculate about the circumstances surrounding the incident, nor will I pass judgement on either Nicastro or the victim, since I know nothing about what happened. It may turn out that what actually happened was far less serious than rape, who knows–though the fact that Riley said that the facts are “upsetting” is not a good sign. I will, however, stress that ANY allegation of rape or sexual assault should be taken VERY seriously. Far too many crimes of sexual violence go unreported, or are too quickly dismissed as a woman who was just “angry” about something and “cried rape”.
And Lnf, please do not boil this down to “kids who do stupid things”. He’s 21 years old, hardly a “kid”, and there are “kids” much younger than him who know the difference between right and wrong, respect women, and dare not cross those lines. Rape/sexual assault is not “doing a stupid thing”, it’s a serious and violent crime. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what type of relationship you may have had in the past, whether “signs” were given, or what she’s wearing; not consenting or withdrawing consent at any point means no, no questions asked.
I don’t care to follow how the team is doing anymore. To think I rooted for them against Cornell at Madison Square Garden when both of them were still on the team (Trivino and Nicastro). I also went to D.C. in 2009 to watch the championship game. All of that only to watch the team lose to Maine, UMass (OMG!) and UMass-Lowell and then have players kicked off because they can’t conduct themselves properly on or off the ice.
^Then don’t follow them. No one will miss you.