When the Orono High School hockey team hosts an Eastern Maine Class B playoff game next Monday at Alfond Arena, a jersey with No. 10 on it will be presented to members of B.J. Hale’s family in memory of the popular former Orono High hockey star, referee, and hockey coach.

The 36-year-old Hale died in his sleep on Thursday.

Hale was a tri-captain for Orono’s first varsity hockey team in 1984-85 and, the next year, he led the Red Riots to the top seed and a berth in the EM Class B championship game where the Riots were edged by Winslow 4-3.

Hale, who also played football and baseball at Orono, went into the U.S. Marine Corps before eventually returning to eastern Maine to work in health care security. He was the chairman/president of the Maine Chapter of the International Association of Hospital Security.

Hale had coached travel hockey before assisting the late Ray Thibodeau at John Bapst High School and Lance Cote at Old Town High.

He had also been a referee at all levels for several years.

“It’s a real tragedy,” said former Old Town High School hockey coach Gene Fadrigon. “I know he enjoyed working with young people as a coach and as a referee and he was the type of guy you would want involved with young people. You wanted him coaching your kids.”

Fadrigon also remembered him as a player since his Indians and the Riots were archrivals.

“He was a tenacious hockey player. He always played hard, but he still maintained a classy demeanor. He always shook hands and spoke to me after games. He was always respectful. We had a healthy rivalry with Orono and he was a big part of it. He was an awesome person,” said Fadrigon.

Current John Bapst coach Doug Damon, who replaced Thibodeau and offered Hale a job assisting him, called Hale a “tremendous young man.”

“It’s such a shame to lose someone who cares so much about the kids,” Damon said. “I always enjoyed him when he refereed our games because I knew it would never be about B.J. Hale. He would never upstage the teams. He had a calm disposition and would always keep the kids grounded.

“The community lost such a wonderful young man.”

Damon considered Hale a friend and said they would occasionally get together and talk about “the Marines, the Air Force, and hockey.”

“He was a great American,” said Damon.

Damon said the John Bapst players he coached who had played for Hale “really liked him.”

Orono athletic director Mike Archer said they will have a brief ceremony and will present the jersey to the Hale family between the first and second periods of the playoff game and he encouraged all Orono alumni to join them on the ice.