Photo: Josh McKee (https://www.mckeephotoarts.com/)

Box Score

Curtiss Sturgeon '29 scores the overtime goal that clinches the 2026 national championship against Hobart on Sunday, March 29.

Hamilton HAM 23-5-2

Hobart HOB 30-1-0

Hamilton HAM

23-5-2

Final

Mar. 29, 2026

Hobart HOB

30-1-0

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	OT 1	F
Hamilton HAM	0	1	0	1	2
Hobart HOB	1	0	0	0	1

Game Recap: Men's Ice Hockey | 3/30/2026 12:03:00 AM | Jim Taylor

NATIONAL CHAMPS! Men's hockey tops Hobart in final on Sturgeon '29 OT goal

First-year clinched the title with just his second goal all season for the Continentals

UTICA, N.Y. -- Hamilton College's Curtiss Sturgeon '29 scored with 3:16 left in the first sudden-victory overtime period and lifted the Continentals to a 2-1 victory against the Hobart College Statesmen and their first national title in the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Championship final inside a sold-out Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Sunday afternoon, March 29.

Season Update

Nationally ranked No. 6 Hamilton (23-5-2 overall) set a team record with its 23 wins this season. The Continentals won their sixth overtime game of 2025-26, including their third in five postseason victories.
No. 1 Hobart (30-1-0) was trying to become the first Division III men's hockey team since Middlebury College (1995-99) to win four straight national titles. The Statesmen also would have been the first undefeated NCAA Division III men's hockey champion.

How It Happened

The game-winning play started with defenseman Zach Walsh '29 flipping the puck with his backhand from deep in Hamilton's defensive end high into the air and out of the zone. Luke Tchor '27 caught up to the bouncing puck near the left-side boards at the opposite blue line. Tchor skated into the left circle and fired a pass to an unmarked Sturgeon just before Tchor reached the faceoff dot. Sturgeon took the pass in stride in the slot and flipped a wrist shot high into the top of the net before goaltender and Division III Player of the Year Damon Beaver could recover.
Hobart had the hot start in the first period as the Statesmen held a 12-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Continentals took a penalty – their only one of the game – for hitting from behind at 7:32 of the first. Hobart's Kahlil Fontana gave the Statesmen a 1-0 lead 67 seconds later with assists from Conor Lally and Bauer Morrissey.
It didn't take Hamilton long to pull even in the second period, 15 seconds to be exact. Defenseman John Wojciechowski '28 pressured Hobart into a defensive zone turnover along the right-side boards and Noah Leibl '27 came up with the loose puck. Leibl's wrist shot from the dot in the left circle was tipped out of mid-air by Tchor, who was positioned below the circle, and past Beaver.
The Continentals had their lone power-play chance of the day midway through the second but couldn't pull ahead.
Hamilton outshot the Statesmen 13-10 in the third period, but Lally nearly put Hobart back in front with about 9:50 remaining when his wrist shot from the blue line above the left circle rang off the crossbar.
The Continentals had four shots on goal in overtime, but they only needed one, and Sturgeon's will forever be remembered in Hamilton athletics lore.

Notes

Sturgeon, who didn't play his first game until Jan. 9, scored just his second collegiate goal. His first was an empty-netter in the NCAA first round win against Neumann University on March 14.
Tchor produced his first multi-point game since he scored two goals against Trinity College on Jan. 31. The two-time all-American led the Continentals with 18 goals and 34 points this season. He became the 27^th player in team history to reach the 100-point milestone in a career on March 27 against Aurora and will have 102 going into next season.
Aksel Reid '27, who came up with the big save time and time again, finished with a career-high 39 stops and was named the NCAA championship Most Valuable Player.
Leibl picked up his 12^th assist, but his first since Feb. 20.
Walsh's helper on the game-winning goal was his third point this season.
Max Bulawka '26 won 15-of-24 faceoffs. The 15 wins were Bulawka's most this season.
Wojciechowski and Michael Gallary '28 blocked three shots apiece as Hamilton finished with 15 as a team. Wojciechowski was one of the Division III leaders with 51 blocked shots.
Reid, Tchor, Sturgeon, Wojciechowski and Justin Biraben '27 were selected for the all-tournament team.
Beaver made 13 of his 23 saves in the third period for the Statesmen.
The NCAA team title is the second in Hamilton history, joining the one women's lacrosse won in 2008.
The Continentals were fifth in the NCAA in scoring defense.
Hamilton ended up 4-0 in the Adirondack Bank Center this season including the two wins this weekend and two more in late November at Utica University's Thanksgiving holiday tournament.