An apparent case of friendly fire nearly cost a Toronto Maple Leafs fan his prized fedora following Auston Matthews’ recent hat trick against Philadelphia.
Season-ticket holder John Hamilton, 73, was celebrating Matthews’ three-goal effort in a win over the Flyers when a man seated behind him took the liberty of grabbing his brown $300 Stetson and flinging it onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena.
‘I was surprised,’ Hamilton told the Toronto Sun. ‘I thought it was a joke at first, too, until I saw my hat on the ice.’
Video of the incident has since gone viral, showing the younger fan blaming his friend and cameraman for his own overexuberance.
‘He told me to,’ the fan said, gesturing towards his friend off screen.
Season-ticket holder John Hamilton, 73, was celebrating Matthews’ three-goal effort in a win over the Flyers when a man seated behind him tossed his $300 fedora onto the ice
The incident went viral, drawing many negative reactions to the unidentified offender (right)
And as the Sun reported, the unnamed fan may have been planning to throw Hamilton’s hat onto the ice.
‘After Matthews scored the second goal, the guy said to me, ”Are you going to throw your hat over if he scores the third?”’ Hamilton said. ‘I told him, ”No way. I love this hat.”
‘I have different fedoras for different games,’ he added. ‘I would never throw away one of my expensive hats.’
Matthews’ natural hat trick took place in the second period of Thursday’s win over Philly
The perpetrator has not been identified publicly and according to Hamilton, ‘the guy definitely did not apologize,’ even as witnesses began to criticize him.
‘His buddy apologized over and over and bought myself and my guests a beer,’ Hamilton, a season-ticket holder for 40 years, told the Sun. ‘But nothing from the guy, who must have been embarrassed and took off after all the people were yelling at him.’
There is a happy ending: Hamilton has been reunited with his hat.
Maple Leafs staff apparently witnessed the fedora landing on the ice and were quick to seek out its owner.
‘I didn’t even have to look for my hat thanks to the amazing usherette in our section,’ Hamilton said. ‘She told me, ‘I knew you wouldn’t have thrown it out there.’ I want to thank them all for getting my hat back so quickly.’
As it turns out, Hamilton is a fedora aficionado, who owns 15 custom-made Stetsons.
He’s also a forgiving man, who doesn’t want the offender to be identified for fear the man could lose his job or face some other kind of penalty.
‘My friends told me in today’s world when something goes around on social media they can lose their job,’ Hamilton said. ‘I wouldn’t want that to happen. I would accept an apology for sure, forgive him and move on. I got my hat back, and we have done stupid things in our youth.’
Leafs staff clear caps following Matthews’ natural hat trick in the second period on Thursday
Auston Matthews (No. 34) and teammates head off the ice following his natural hat trick
Fans on social media were less forgiving.
‘That deserves a crosscheck,’ one user wrote on X.
‘Those hats are also very expensive,’ another pointed out.
Many fans insisted that unlike Hamilton, they would have become violent: ‘Someone does that to me I’m either getting thrown out or carried out.’
The Maple Leafs would go on to win the game in overtime on a goal by William Nylander and Matthews would go on to register another hat trick in his next game – a 9-2 victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
Luckily for Hamilton, his fedora went unharmed.
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