The NCAA Ice Hockey Committee has reprimanded University of Maine senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf for the comments he made about referee Steve Piotrowski in the press conference following Maine’s 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota in the NCAA championship game two months ago.

His comments will cost the university anywhere from $500-$1200 because the NCAA has withheld Metcalf’s $80 per day per diem and his transportation costs.

He violated a bylaw which forbids representatives of a member institution criticizing officials in an NCAA championship event.

In the postgame press conference, Metcalf said Piotrowski “had it out for us.”

Piotrowski called a tripping penalty on Maine’s Michael Schutte in the overtime and the Gophers scored the game-winner on the power play. Piotrowski had refereed Maine’s 3-1 loss to Boston College in the 2000-2001 NCAA quarterfinals and ejected coach Shawn Walsh after calling three successive penalties on Maine.

“I think someone should have taken note of that and not thrown him in the game. Bad play by the NCAA,” said Metcalf in the press conference on April 6.

Walsh died of cancer on Sept. 24.

Maine athletic director Sue Tyler said the school hasn’t received a bill from the NCAA yet but that UMaine intends to pay it. The school won’t appeal the sanction.

“It happened and we have to live with it. It was an unfortunate thing. We don’t condone it. Peter is very intense and was very much into the game and to lose in that fashion disturbed him. We hope our student-athletes control themselves better,” said Tyler. “Peter wrote a letter of apology to me and to [coach] Tim Whitehead and we apologized to the NCAA.

“We will use it as an educational tool for all of our teams in the future,” added Tyler, who said Maine’s sports information specialists brief each team at the outset of their seasons about avoiding such outbursts.