Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Tournament Mode

With a 22-2-1 record, Hobart cruised to an 8-1 win over Vermont State University Castleton in their opening game of the NEHC tournament. Luke Aquaro ’25 led the team with five points on two goals and three assists. Bauer Morrissey ’27, Shane Shell ’25 and Hartman had two assists each.

In the semifinals, the Statesmen bested seventh-seed Southern Maine Huskies 4-1 to reach the NEHC Championship game. Facing No. 9 Skidmore, Hobart opened the scoring with six seconds left in the first period and never looked back. Hartman scored two goals, and Artem Buzoverya ’24, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had a goal and an assist. Defeating the Thoroughbreds 5-0, the Statesmen captured their second consecutive NEHC tournament title.

With the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and the No. 1 seed secured, the Statesmen enjoyed a first round bye before facing Curry in the quarterfinals at The Cooler for the second straight year. This time, the teams played two games for the price of one, keeping the 640 fans in attendance on the edge of their seats for five hours.

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  Forward Tristan Fasig ’26 cheers Morrissey’s winning shot.
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  Exhaustion sets in after the marathon game for forward Tristan Fasig ’26
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  Fans erupt after Hobart’s victory over Curry in The Cooler.
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  A grueling game ends with Hobart and Curry players shaking hands and sharing their appreciation.
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  Matthieu Wuth ’24 and his fellow co-captains, Artem Buzoverya ‘24 and Jared Patterson ’24, received this year’s Holden Award for sportsmanship, character and leadership.

As they did last season, Curry took the lead first, scoring with 32 seconds remaining in the first period. The Colonels scored again five minutes into the second period, briefly quieting the Hobart crowd before Tanner Daniels ’26, Chris Duclair ’27 and Alexander hit back with a goal apiece. With seven minutes remaining in regulation, a Curry goal forced the game into overtime, and while the Statesmen dominated play, they would not solve Curry goalie Shane Soderwall for the next 75 minutes and 17 seconds.

As the clock struck midnight on March 17, the teams took the ice for the fourth overtime period. Bauer Morrissey ’27 lauched a shot from the point that finally broke through the Colonel goalie and found the back of the net, bringing an end to the second-longest game in NCAA Division III history, clocking in at 135:17 minutes of play — just three minutes hy of the NCAA record. The game got #D3HKY hashtag trending on X (Twitter) and earned Hobart a shoutout from MSG during a New York Rangers game, as well as ESPN and Associated Press coverage.

While the Statesmen outshot Curry 102-47, Soderwall’s 98 saves during the game matched the NCAA men’s record and garnered applause from the crowd and his opponents alike. This attitude of appreciation underpinned Hobart’s entire season. Taylor described it in a Finger Lakes Times article as a representation of “mudita,” a Buddhist concept of feeling happiness or joy for someone else’s success. “I think this group is better at that than anybody that I’ve had, in terms of celebrating for other guys....” he said.