After an altercation at an Orono bar last week, three players from the University of Maine women’s ice hockey team were suspended indefinitely for violation of the University’s student-athlete code of conduct. An additional player was suspended after being arrested last week.
UMaine’s Senior Director of Public Relations Operations in the Division of Marketing and Communications Margaret Nagle confirmed these violations, saying the players are “being withheld from team activities indefinitely.”
The four players suspended are: Cailey Hutchison, a fourth-year nursing student from Hicksville, New York; fourth-year child development and family relations student Alyson Matteau from Mirabel, Quebec; third-year history student Brittany Kucera from Toronto, Ontario; and second-year student Maggie Blair from Cornwall, Ontario.
Orono Police Department (OPD) reported that Blair was arrested for operating under the influence on Feb. 17. According to OPD, an officer was parked at the Avenue Apartment Complex when Blair, visibly drunk, pulled up beside him. The officer called for backup and talked with Blair, who said she had been at a local bar earlier in the night.
Blair was then taken to the OPD station where she blew over the legal limit and was given a court date of March 21. She is no longer listed as a member of the team on the roster on the women’s hockey team website.
The suspensions left the women’s hockey team down members on Saturday when they played the University of Vermont. UMaine ended up tying the game to end their season.
