What was it like to be a part of the second longest NCAA Division III men’s hockey game that Hobart eventually won 4-3 late in the fourth overtime over Curry?
Historic.
Whenever you attend a sports event, you never know what will transpire. Unlike a movie, where the storyline has already been laid out and only your ignorance can leave you surprised, a sports event does not follow a script.
There are storylines entering any contest. And last night’s NCAA D-III quarterfinal round contest between Curry and Hobart had plenty of storylines:
– Hobart was trying to become the first team to repeat as national champions since 2012 when St. Norbert did it.
– Curry was trying to reach their first national championship weekend by taking their second upset on the road.
– Hobart was trying to set the all-time D-III record for home winning streak, also held by St. Norbert.
– It was a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal game.
However, sometimes a sports event transpires in such a way, it surpasses the storylines and becomes an iconic event in and of itself.
That is what happened last night at what is affectionally known as “The Cooler,” AKA the Geneva Recreation Complex in Geneva, N.Y., home of the Hobart Statesmen.
WHAT A FINISH 🤯
After more than 130 minutes of action, @HWSAthletics secures a spot in the #d3hky semifinals after this 4OT game-winner from Bauer Morrissey.
This game is the second-longest in DIII history and @CurryColonels goalie Soderwall tied a DIII record with 98 saves.… pic.twitter.com/80BwXPRpGJ
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) March 17, 2024
What started out as a hockey game became a marathon. What started out as a bid to advance to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., became a test of survival. What started out as a 60-minute game became a seemingly endless battle.
At the postgame press conference, the reporter from the Finger Lakes Times asked about the initial 2-0 lead Curry had on goals by Killian Rowlee and Gage Dill.
I actually said out loud, “I completely forgot about that.”
That was just one important storyline which got dumped into the trash heap of time … and lack of sleep.
“First and second period seemed like a lifetime ago,” Curry coach Peter Roundy admitted after the game.
The other important storyline of the “regular” game was the shutout streak Curry goalie Shane Soderwall was posting. As a freshman, he started out his NCAA playoff career shutting out Geneseo last week, 3-0. Against Hobart, he didn’t let up a goal until 15:21 of the second period when Tanner Daniels scored. A streak of 95:21.
Also lost to short term memory was the moment which produced the overtime in the first place. With Hobart completing the comeback with a quick goal in the second (Chris Duclair at 1:44) and then a quick goal in the third (Jonah Alexander at 4:16), they seemingly had control.
Then, late in the third, Hobart had a two-on-one develop deep in Curry’s zone. However, the recipient on the cross-ice pass shot what could have been the clinching goal wide of the open side of the net.
Curry came right back down the ice and Tao Ishizuka tied it at 13:15.
And that was it for a very, very long time.
At that point, I committed a sin. I posted on Twitter how I hoped it wouldn’t go as long as the earlier four overtime game in the D-I women’s quarterfinal between Minnesota and Clarkson. I taunted the hockey gods, and I paid for it.
As the overtimes started to click off, a scary thing emerged. The skaters were getting tired, but the goalies appeared to be getting stronger. Damon Beaver, last year’s national freshman goalie sensation, and Soderwall, this year’s national freshman goalie sensation, were making save after save, some of them were spectacular. Both their glove hands were robbing the opposition. The reality this game could conceivably never end was starting to sink in.
Hobart coach Mark Taylor said he observed during the last overtime intermission, “Look at Beavs, he’s ready for three more games.”
Waiting in line in the bathroom after the third overtime, a kid washing his hands said to another still waiting in line, “I just hope this game ends.” His friend said, “Everyone hopes this game ends!”
As I went back to the press box, I went by the Curry locker room and made eye contact with Roundy. He gave a brief wave, I rolled my eyes, and he smiled. We non-verbally communicated the fact this game was beyond the level of absurdity … but it was still a whole lot of fun.
Entering the fourth overtime meant we surpassed the fourth longest game at 111:07 between Plattsburgh and Buffalo State on Feb. 25, 2012. It took a minute in the seventh period to pass 120:54 between Augsburg and St. John’s on March 2, 2019.
Halfway through the period it was goodbye to 129:28 between Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Augsburg on March 11, 2023. Now, we were gunning for the apex — 138:38 between Gustavus Adolphus and Augsburg — what’s with Augsburg? — on Feb. 27, 2010.
As players were barely moving, some cramping up trying to get back to the bench, the referee observer and former Canisius coach, Brian Cavanaugh, said to me, “That (Hobart) number four looks like he has a lot more energy than anyone else.”
Sure enough — never doubt a coach’s observation — Bauer Morrissey took the puck after a faceoff win, skated from left to right, and from the top of the right circle, fired a wrist shot that beat Soderwall up high, near side through a screen.
It was over.
“I did,” Morrissey said when asked if he felt energized so late in the game. “Thankfully we play seven D. So, by the fourth overtime, I still felt alright. We came so close so many times, one of them was bound to go in.”
And in the true testament of how cruel sports can be, comes this statistic. Soderwall tied the D3 men’s record for most saves in one game — 98. The shot which would have broken that record went in.
The statistics were mind boggling. 149 shots on goal (102 just for Hobart). 289 shots attempted (203 for Hobart). 70 blocked shots. 162 faceoffs. Duration of game: five hours and 21 minutes.
The biggest stat of them all was time of game: 135:17. Anyone who stayed for the whole thing (except the Hobart players) would probably admit at this point they wished it went another 3:21 plus at least one more second. If you’re going to put up with this, you may as well get the record out of it.
Curry didn’t win, “but I think we took another step,” Roundy said. “We were a completely different team than we were last year in this game.”
Hobart got the home winning streak record at 37 and a trip to the national semifinals against Utica.
In Taylor’s usual humorous manner, he answered how the team will physically recover from this game, “We didn’t play last weekend. We played two this weekend so as far as I’m concerned, we’re even. We played two games over two weeks.”
Meanwhile, social media was blowing up. General D-III sports and general hockey sites were retweeting comments on the game. So much so that #d3hky became a leading trending hashtag on Twitter/X late into the night.
Roundy said it best: “A once in a lifetime game.”
