The Bridgewater State Bears will be starting their next season with two players noticeably missing from the ice.

Tragedy first struck the team when player Matthew Benting died suddenly on June 10. The team was faced with heartbreak again when a second player, James Crockett, died Friday.

“I was just stunned,” Michael Monahan, head coach for the Bridgewater State University hockey team, said about the moment he got the call about the death of the second member of his team.

Crockett, 22, of Rockland, died in a car crash in Avon early Friday morning. Crockett, who Monahan described as “Mr. Hockey” and “an all around classy guy,” was the president of the club team.


Matthew Benting, 20, of Pembroke, died suddenly six weeks earlier from a complication from an underlying heart condition after playing a summer league hockey game the night before, according to Monahan. He described Benting as “one of the happiest guys around.”

“It was just shocking for the whole team,” he said. “And then to find out about James Friday morning. … They lost another brother so it’s just been very hard.”

Monahan said he and the team’s captains faced a difficult decision over the weekend about whether to continue to host Sunday’s annual golf tournament. But Monahan said that as president, Crockett did most of the organizing and put a lot of work into the tournament, so they decided to play as scheduled.

Around 75 people participated in the tournament and dinner, Monahan said. Golfers were asked to take a moment of silence at the ninth hole for Benting, No. 9, and the 18th hole for Crockett, No. 18.

“I’m glad we had the tournament [Sunday] to get together quickly as a whole to honor James for hard work he put into that tournament and for the guys there to show up for each other,” he said.

The team will also dedicate their next season to their “missing brothers.”


“It’s really tough to deal with the reality of these guys not being around, but when they play this upcoming season they will be with them no matter what,” Monahan said. “They will dedicate their performances as individuals and as a team to Matt and James.”

“It’s a tight knit group we have, they are just a great group of kids,” he added. “I have no doubt they will always appreciate their time together, but moving forward I think they might appreciate it a little more now.”