An apparent case of friendly fire nearly cost a Toronto Maple Leafs fan his prized fedora after Auston Matthews’ recent hat trick against Philadelphia.
Season ticket holder John Hamilton, 73, was celebrating Matthews’ three goals in a win over the Flyers when a man sitting behind him took the liberty of grabbing his $300 brown Stetson and throwing it onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena.
‘I was suprised,’ 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 exuberance.
“He told me to do it,” the fan said, gesturing to his friend off-screen.
Season ticket holder John Hamilton, 73, was celebrating Matthews’ three goals in a win over the Flyers when a man behind him threw his $300 fedora onto the ice.
The incident went viral and provoked many negative reactions to the unknown perpetrator (right)
And as the Sun reported, the unnamed fan may have intended to throw Hamilton’s hat on the ice.
“After Matthews scored the second goal, the guy said to me, ‘Are you going to tip your hat 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 came in the second period of Thursday’s win over Philly
The perpetrator has not been publicly identified and, according to Hamilton, “the man has absolutely not apologized,” even though witnesses began to criticize him.
“His friend apologized again and again and treated myself and my guests to a beer,” Hamilton, a season ticket holder for 40 years, told the Sun. “But nothing from the guy, who probably got embarrassed and ran off after everyone yelled at him.”
There is a happy ending: Hamilton is reunited with his hat.
Maple Leafs personnel apparently witnessed the fedora land on the ice and were quick to track down the owner.
“I didn’t even have to look for my hat thanks to the great usherette in our department,” Hamilton said. “She said to me, ‘I knew you wouldn’t have thrown it away there.’ I would like to thank them all for getting my hat back so quickly.”
It turns out Hamilton is a fedora enthusiast who owns 15 custom Stetsons.
He is also a forgiving man, who does not want the perpetrator to be identified for fear that the man will lose his job or face some other punishment.
“My friends told me that if something happens on social media these days, they could lose their jobs,” Hamilton said. ‘I wouldn’t want that. I would definitely accept an apology, forgive him and move on. I got my hat back, and we did stupid things growing up.”
The Leafs staff cleared the caps after Matthews’ natural hat trick in the second period on Thursday
Auston Matthews (No. 34) and teammates leave the ice after his natural hat trick
Fans on social media were less forgiving.
“That deserves a cross-check,” one user wrote on X.
“Those hats are also very expensive,” another commented.
Many fans insisted that, unlike Hamilton, they would have become violent: “If someone does that to me, I’ll be thrown out or executed.”
The Maple Leafs would win the game in overtime on a goal from William Nylander and Matthews would record another hat trick in his next game, a 9-2 victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
Fortunately for Hamilton, his fedora was unscathed.