Max Nicastro Arrested For Rape: BU Hockey Defenseman Faces Sexual Assault Charge

Boston University was rocked by another scandal involving the school's hockey team over the weekend when star defenseman Max Nicastro was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with raping a female student.

Nicastro was taken into custody early on Sunday by Boston University Police and then transfered to the Boston Police Department in Brighton, reports the Boston Globe. According to the school's student news site BU Today, the alleged assault happened on campus and the 21-year-old was initially held on $25,000 cash bail pending his arraignment.

Following Tuesday's arraignment, in which Nicastro pleaded not guilty, bail was set at $10,000. The Associated Press reports that Nicastro's lawyer says no crime was committed.

BU athletic director Michael Lynch said that Nicastro has been suspended from the team pending the result of the investigation.

Nicastro, a 2008 Detroit Red Wings draft pick, is the second BU hockey player in 10 weeks to be arrested on sexual assault charges. University police took Corey Trivino, the team's leading scorer at the time, into custody in December and charged him with three counts of indecent assault and battery of a female student and one count of assault with attempt to rape.

Trivino, 21, pleaded not guilty to the charges in January and was kicked off the hockey team. Trivino is scheduled to be back in court on March 22.

The Boston Globe reports that school officials are investigating whether the two incidents are disturbing coincidences or a much bigger problem with the hockey program.

RELATED: BOSTON UNIVERSITY FALLS TO BOSTON COLLEGE IN BEANPOT 2012

Comments

[John Paulson]

03:15 AM on 06/04/2012

Now look at all these commenters who were ready to hang in last winter sincel all charges were dropped. Whre is everybody now?

[BonanderR]

01:08 PM on 03/26/2012

indecent assault. what does decent assault look like?

[t pal98]

04:42 PM on 02/22/2012

What happened to inncoent until proven guilty and teh right to face a named and indentified accuser ?
I understand rape shield laws, but remember the Duke Lacrosse team ?
This guy has been ruined....rightly or wrongly and either way we will never know the identity of the the accuser. shame on BU for throwing the kid out based on unprove allegations....
What an insult to our system.

[mike morales]

11:34 AM on 02/22/2012

College hockey. Should this not be a club or intramural activity? Tax money spent to send these guys around the region playing other schools is a gigantic waste of money.

[Veritas 1]

09:56 PM on 02/22/2012

Many of these teams pay for themselves and generate money for their respective universities. Look at the embedded video on this page, there are probably 20 thousand people watching that game. In addition, the travel distance is somewhat limited geographically with the exception of tournaments. Few of the big name hockey schools have football or basketball teams (or competitive ones) and, in many cases, the hockey team is a bigger attraction. BC, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Minnesota are the exceptions.

[Jeff s]

09:58 PM on 02/22/2012

Ahhh, BU is a private school. Tax money doesn't play into it. Plus, I'm retry sure the program makes money.

[Parttimer]

07:54 AM on 02/22/2012

Not one comment recognizes that he has not been tried nor has he been convicted. Not one commentor has any knowledge about the actual level of guilt or innocence. Does anybody remember the Duke Lacrosse team? They were convicted in the media long before they were declared innocent by the judge.

[Winthorpe]

11:06 AM on 02/22/2012

No kidding. I'm not a great student, but I learned "innocent until proven guilty" easily. I haven't figured out why figured out why others find it such a difficult concept.

[smlyttle]

06:53 AM on 02/22/2012

Wonderful. An evil part of me wonders if the girls accusing them are doing it to bring down the team. Not saying the guys are innocent, but all you have to do is accuse someone of rape and you ruin their lives. Same for pedophiles. If they are guilty then yeah, hang them out to dry. But for the jerks that do it just to ruin them I almost wish they had to suffer through the real thing so they learn it isn't a good idea to cry wolf. Flip of that though is if you are raped or abused then SPEAK UP! This is proof they will do something.

[squirrely girl]

08:18 PM on 02/22/2012

So on one hand you wish rape on women you think might be lying and on the other you encourage them to speak out... attitudes like that are why plenty of women don't :/

[smlyttle]

01:20 AM on 02/23/2012

Ok, you missed the part where I wrote about them just doing it to ruin people, as in they were never raped they just wanted to hurt the other person. If they are in fact raped then yes, they have every right and should report it. If they are just doing it to ruin someone because they want to that is messed up, because real rape victims sometimes have problems even touching family members after such events while fakers laugh about it.

[The Albany Kid]

06:32 AM on 02/22/2012

Interesting, but relatively non-incendiary, comments for this article.

I wonder what sort of comments this article would engender if the underlying events involved, e.g., the football team at Florida A & M or the basketball team at Morgan State.

[LovethemSkins]

12:00 AM on 02/23/2012

Oh, you know exactly where and what direction the comments would be going, if that had been the case!

[larueskee]

02:54 AM on 02/22/2012

These fools had a opportunity to play hockey for Boston University ? Way to screw yourself fellas. I would just love to meet their parents.

[jimi23]

04:21 AM on 02/22/2012

Not every story needs a punchline.

[hottingers]

04:44 AM on 02/22/2012

Yes, yes it does.

[Brain Surgeon]

01:59 AM on 02/22/2012

I went to NMU in the upper penninsula (who kicked BU's butt in the NCAA finals the year I graduated) and the hockey players at our schools were the playboys of the mansion. In my life, I have never seen a group of athletes so successful at getting laid. For two years I lived in the same dorm as all the hockey players and it was one amazing revolving door of woman. I wonder, twenty years later, if it is the same way now that it is so easy to cross the line between (especially with so much alcohol involved) picking up on ridiculously drunk woman and forcing their will on young woman that simply don't know what is a good idea and a bad idea, and most times were certainly too drunk to even know, until the next day. Different rules for different times.

[adb0406]

02:22 AM on 02/22/2012

New Mexico University is in the Upper Penninsula?

[Brain Surgeon]

06:20 AM on 02/22/2012

No, but rumor has it, it is in northern michigan.

[debbh24]

08:34 AM on 02/22/2012

I went to UMaine (Go Black Bears!) and yeah, the hockey team was/is revered. It was an amazing revolving door of parties and women. We called them "Puck Sl*ts". So much so, that they moved off campus so that security would stop busting up the parties. I am not saying either side is totally guilty, or totally innocent, but I agree that in the dark, and drunk, things look completely different then they do sober and in the daylight. For both the male and female involved. Very sad, but very true.

[ScorpioTop]

01:20 AM on 02/22/2012

Every male school sports team should make it a requirement to attend an rape is not OK seminar if they intend to play on the team. Too many athletes have harmed women.

[adb0406]

01:49 AM on 02/22/2012

Pretty big generalization? Do you think no other rapes happen? Shouldn't your "rape is not OK seminar" be offered to all students not just athletes?

[ScorpioTop]

02:44 AM on 02/22/2012

It is a generalization, all male students can benefit from a seminar. Any male can be a rapist, but when you add the muscle and stature of a student athlete plus the bravado of the locker room, they have to learn that no means NO!

[squirrely girl]

08:16 PM on 02/22/2012

All-male student groups have higher rates of rape... this isn't new information...

[adb0406]

01:07 AM on 02/22/2012

Dear BU Hockey,

Do you realize you just gave Nancy Grace more material? I hope you all get herpes!

Thanks,

Society

[victorzeller]

12:19 AM on 02/22/2012

A catholic school, how interesting.

[ecrichert12]

12:56 AM on 02/22/2012

BU has no religious offiliation

[donmalone]

01:06 AM on 02/22/2012

Not that it is at all relevant but Boston University is not a catholic school, Boston College is.
Try knowing what you are talking about before you post. .

[henrypapillon]

12:01 AM on 02/22/2012

Score!

[Christianovich]

10:09 PM on 02/21/2012

i grew up playing with this kid. so sad. im not defending him, i dont know the details but he had a ton of natural hockey talent. could have gone somewhere.

[henrypapillon]

12:01 AM on 02/22/2012

And he still could. Depends on the lawyer.