A Portland-area cooperative boys hockey team will not play its final two games of the season, according to one of the athletic directors involved in the program.
The Portland/South Portland/Deering/Waynflete Beacons forfeited last Saturday’s game against Old Town-Orono. Beacons head coach Joe Robinson pulled his team off the ice in the first period at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena and the Portland-area team didn’t return.
The Maine Principals’ Association, which oversees high school sports in Maine, has a rule in its handbook that requires teams to complete their schedules. If teams fail to do so, they face a two-year ban on varsity competition — though teams can ask for a waiver in “extenuating circumstances,” according to the handbook.
Mike Bisson, the MPA’s assistant executive director, said the MPA rules don’t allow forfeits and teams face suspension for the rest of their season along with the mandated two-year ban if they do forfeit a game.
The Beacons will now appeal the two-year ban by seeking a waiver, according to South Portland athletic director Todd Livingston.
Livingston said the principals and athletic directors at the four schools met on Wednesday morning and agreed on the appeal. He said he called MPA executive director Mike Burnham after the meeting and informed him of their decision.
According to Old Town-Orono coach Scott Rhynold, the Beacons were assessed a minor penalty for interference in Saturday’s game and Robinson was assessed a two-minute bench minor for protesting the interference call.
Old Town-Orono was leading 2-1 and would have had a full two-minute, five-on-three power play.
But Robinson pulled his team off the ice and the Beacons headed home.
The appeal of the two-year suspension will be made to the MPA’s Interscholastic Management Committee.
“This gives us more time to work our way through what we’ve been dealing with and what things look like for the program moving forward,” Livingston said. “We will get our ducks lined up in a row to take that forward to the MPA and the Interscholastic Management Committee.”
Robinson had not been disciplined as of Wednesday, according to Livingston.
“We are going to review the entire program and determine how we move forward,” said Livingston, who plans to meet with Robinson soon.
Livingston met with the South Portland players on the team to discuss the situation and one of the prevailing themes was that they were disappointed to not finish the game after driving two hours to Orono.
“But they had various thoughts on what transpired and I’ll leave it at that,” the South Portland athletic director said.
There has been a lot of feedback offered in a shared Google document, Livingston said, which he was continuing to update as of Wednesday morning.
“We just need to take a deep breath, look at all the feedback that we’ve received and make a determination on moving the program forward,” Livingston said.
The Beacons will conclude the season with a 4-14 record as their final two games against the Marshwood of Eliot/Noble of North Berwick/Sanford/Traip Academy of Kittery and the Kennebunk/Wells co-op teams will be forfeit losses.
