Daniel DeLoach/Utica Observer-Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
On Sunday, Hobart walked away with a win over Utica in the DIII college hockey championship game. It was a hard-fought contest between both teams and also featured a hilarious showdown between a player and a fan who walked away with a souvenir after a stick sailed over the glass.
I’m going to assume most people reading this are not diehard fans of Division III college hockey, which boasts 84 men’s teams who compete for the national championship decided by a four-round tournament that features 14 of those squads getting the chance to play for a title.
This year’s championship showdown featured the top-seeded Utica Pioneers facing off in front of a friendly crowd at their own arena while hosting the Hobart Statesmen, the two-seed that headed into Sunday’s showdown hoping to win it all for the third year in a row.
The visiting team knew it was going to get a hostile reception at the Adirondack Bank Center, and that certainly ended up being the case.
We were treated to an incredibly entertaining moment midway through the first period when Hobart forward Tristan Fasig got separated from the stick that ended up in the hands of a Utica fan sitting a couple of rows behind the glass after it ended up in the stands.
DIII hockey teams aren’t working with the same kind of budget as the ones currently competing in the Frozen Four, so while Fasig understanbly tried to retrieve his twig, he was rebuffed by the spectator who refused to give it back before an official stepped in to end the standoff while forcing the alternate captain to get a new stick back at the bench.
this standoff was low key hilarious https://t.co/cTZxRUm0VQ pic.twitter.com/DHAZduHvdd
— Brennan Dowd (@dontdowdit) March 31, 2025
However, the Statesmen eventually got the last laugh, as they earned their third straight title with the goal that gave them the 2-1 win in the closing minutes of overtime.