Joe Robinson, the head coach of the Beacons cooperative hockey team in the Portland area, said he pulled his squad off the ice in the first period of Saturday night’s game against Old Town-Orono because of safety concerns for players on both teams.
As a result of that move, his team made up of players from Portland, South Portland, Deering and Waynflete ended up forfeiting the game at Alfond Arena in Orono.
And even though the move has ended the Beacons’ season and could result in a two-year ban for the program, Robinson said on Wednesday that he would make the same decision again.
“I saw something early on in the first period that I had never seen before, and I realized there were some player safety issues for both teams,” said Robinson, who is in his 18th season as head coach after spending four years as an assistant at Cape Elizabeth.
Robinson pulled his team off the ice after one of his players was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for interference and the Beacons were also assessed a bench minor for protesting the call. He said the bench minor was assessed to one of his assistant coaches, not him.
“I have never done anything like that before. I would never drive my team up two and a half hours and pull some kind of stunt because we were poor losers or something like that,” Robinson said. “I saw that if the game had continued, somebody might have gotten hurt and I didn’t want that.”
He noted that his team had “only 13 kids with two goalies.”
Robinson declined to provide more specifics about his safety concerns. The coach said he “wasn’t at liberty to say” when pressed for additional details.
“As a head coach, your number one priority is the health and safety of your players. Sometimes, as the adult in the room, you have to make tough choices,” Robinson said. “A hockey game is not worth somebody getting hurt. I can’t turn a blind eye to something I’m not comfortable with.”
As a result of Saturday’s forfeit, the Beacons team will also forfeit its final two regular season games and is facing a two-year ban from varsity competition based on Maine Principals’ Association rules that require teams to complete their schedules.
The athletic directors from the four Portland-area schools are going to file an appeal to the MPA’s Interscholastic Management Committee for a waiver to lift the two-year ban, according to South Portland athletic director Todd Livingston. Schools are able to appeal for a waiver in “extenuating circumstances,” according to the MPA rules.
Robinson said he didn’t realize that a two-year ban could apply to a situation like this one, given his safety concerns.
“To be honest, I thought the rule was for a forfeit to a team that didn’t show up. I thought it was for teams who refused to play,” said the 50-year-old Robinson, a former South Portland High School hockey player.
But he stressed that, even if he knew the team could face a two-year ban for his actions or he could face potential disciplinary action, he’d make the same call.
“I’d do it again,” Robinson said.
He also doesn’t want to see the kids on the team punished for a decision he made.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Robinson said. “It’s sad.”