Hockey ref’s car vandalized

BRUNSWICK – Brunswick High School’s athletic director wants to find out whether vandalism of a hockey referee’s car was linked to a game whose outcome was apparently decided by a controversial misconduct call.

The official, Richard Soldano of Augusta, told police that he left Dayton Arena on Monday night to find that the windshield wipers and radio antenna on his 1996 Saturn were broken. Damage was estimated at $50.

Soldano said he made the misconduct call against the Brunswick team after the penalty-filled game went into overtime. Westbrook High then scored a power-play goal and won the game 4-3.

Police have no suspects in the vandalism incident, and Brunswick High Athletic Director Rick Crawford says he’s not totally convinced that it’s linked to Soldano’s officiating.

“(The vandalism) could have been related to the calls; it was a pretty physical game,” said Crawford. “We’ll be talking with the team and the coaches to find out what they know. We want to find out what happened, why it happened and who was involved.”

Larry LaBrie, assistant executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association, said incidents like this are cause for great concern in his organization.

“These are the types of things that make officials question what they’re doing,” LaBrie said. “This does not have to be reported to us, but if it is, we’ll certainly investigate.”