Hamilton College is two victories away…

When I was a student at Hamilton College, way back in ancient times (the early 1980’s), our school’s sports teams were part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). What that meant was … we could play games, we could win games, but our conference prohibited any games played one week after our final regularly scheduled competition. That meant we could play games in the NESCAC tournament, and be crowned NESCAC champion (which we were several timese in men’s basketball), but we could not participate in the NCAA basketball tournament or any other NCAA multi-team tournament.

Ugh.

So we didn’t get that chance to act like crazy alumni when our school could advance in the NCAA’s.

That changed about 20+ years ago, when Hamilton relocated their athletic teams from the NESCAC to the Liberty League, which permitted appearances in NCAA Div III tournaments. And in 2008 …

Hamilton College won its first NCAA national championship. We claimed it in women’s lacrosse – which is significant on so many levels. The fact that we won in lacrosse hearkens back to Hamilton’s long connection with the original Six Nations of the Iroquois and Mohawks. It’s also significant because the school became co-ed in 1979, and even during my undergraduate years, women’s lacrosse was a club sport at most.

But yeah, it was fun to watch a streaming feed of Hamilton stomping all over Franklin & Marshall on a Salem, Virginia lacrosse field in 2008. Now I know how those Crimson Tide football fans feel.

Well … Hamilton could have a second NCAA tournament championship before the weekend concludes.

Let me explain.

The Hamilton College men’s hockey team finished their 2025-26 season with a stellar 19-5-2 record, and after stomping all over Neumann college in a 6-2 “what, me worry?” game, they upended Norwich 2-1 in overtime. Which means …

Hamilton is now in the NCAA Division III Frozen Four ice hockey tournament.

And they’re essentially playing the final games on local turf – the NCAA Division III Frozen Four will take place this weekend at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Okay, the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, gotta get the branding correct.

We first need to clobber Aurora University (some Illinois school whose kids probably major in registration), then we would get the winner of Hobart / Wisconsin-Stout (yep, we either get to mangle an old rival in Hobart, or we treat Wisconsin-Stout like it’s some stale craft beer).

This is important. I didn’t get to celebrate these championships as an undergraduate. And I’m not taking the “Undefeated, Untied, and Uninvited” mantra anywhere.

Trust me. We’ve got one beautiful NCAA Championship Trophy on display at the athletic atrium between Alumni Gymnasium and Sage Rink.

I want a second trophy. One should strive for a matching set.

Let’s Go Blue!