Oak Bluffs police arrested a Lakeville man during a high school hockey game at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena Saturday on charges of trespassing and possession of a loaded firearm while intoxicated.

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys varsity hockey team was playing a visiting team from the Coyle and Cassidy School in Taunton. According to a police report, an off-duty police officer attending the game said he observed a group of men inside the arena using profanities and drinking beer. The officer observed a man later identified as Brian Hill discarding a beer can into a nearby trash can, the police report said

Officer Dan Cassidy reportedly ordered Mr. Hill to leave the arena and not return, but over the next 30 minutes Mr. Hill entered or tried to enter the arena three times.

Officer Cassidy requested assistance from Oak Bluffs police, and two on-duty police officers, Sgt. Nicholas Curelli and officer J.J. Mendez, responded.

They located Mr. Hill standing near the rink with his friends, police said, and observed a bulge on Mr. Hill’s right waistband. Police found a loaded nine-millimeter Ruger holstered on Mr. Hill’s right hip. He was arrested and transported to the Edgartown house of correction for booking.

High school athletic director Mark McCarthy, who was at the game, said Monday that he was aware of the police activity, but few other people in the rink knew about the disturbance. He praised the police who handled the situation.

“They didn’t want to make a big deal,” Mr. McCarthy said. “They had everything under control. The coaches and players on either team had no idea this was going on.”

Police took possession of the loaded pistol, and later determined that Mr. Hill had a valid license to carry a weapon. They contacted Lakeville police, where the shift commander asked Oak Bluffs police to seize Mr. Hill’s gun license, pending revocation.

Under state law, conviction for possessing a loaded weapon while intoxicated carries a penalty of a fine up to $5,000, two and a half years in a house of correction, or both.