ADRIAN, Mich. - St. Norbert College stormed into the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 3-1 win over Adrian College in the championship game of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoffs in front of a standing-room crowd of 1,296 at Arrington Ice Arena.

The Green Knights (22-6) earned the NCHA's automatic qualifier into the 13-team NCAA Tournament with the win. St. Norbert, making its 21st appearance in the championship, will find out its draw at 9 a.m. Monday, March 4. The NCHA Playoffs title is the 16th for the Green Knights and their first since 2019. St. Norbert entered the game ranked No. 8 and Adrian No. 3 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll. St. Norbert heads into the NCAA Tournament having won 12 of its last 13 games.

St. Norbert was able to get control by scoring the first goal when Curtis Hammond registered his fifth marker of the season, finishing off a Calvin Hanson assist at the 5:14 mark of the first period. Solid defense along with killing off an Adrian (22-6-1) power-play chance kept the score 1-0 after 20 minutes of action.

The Green Knights went on the power play at 3:32 of the second period after Adrian's Ryan Pitoscia was cited for slashing, with St. Norbert capitalizing 22 seconds later when Adam Stacho posted his 19th goal of the year. Stacho's score at 3:54 came off assists from Logan Dombrowsky and Carter Hottmann. Adrian would answer with a goal by Jaden Shields at 8:02 of the second period. St. Norbert would boost its lead back to two when Adrian was called for a face-off violation at 11:14 of the second period, and Hottmann scored at 11:49 for his sixth goal of the year. Hottmann's power-play goal came off assists from Stacho and Dombrowsky. The Green Knights would carry their 3-1 lead into second intermission.

St. Norbert's defense was up to the challenge in the third period, killing off a penalty at 5:40. The Green Knights then had to stop an Adrian 6-on-4 extra-attacker power-play chance in the final 1:15, but St. Norbert blocked several Adrian shots and goaltender Hunter Garvey made a sliding "Grade A" save during the sequence to keep the Green Knights up two.

Garvey, who made 35 saves, was named the Harris Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player. Garvey was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Stacho and defenseman Dayton Deics.

Stacho and Hottmann each finished with one goal and one assist for two points, while Dombrowsky had two assists for two points.

Adrian outshot St. Norbert 36-25, including 12-5 in the third period. Adrian goaltender Dershahn Stewart made 22 saves.

St. Norbert was a perfect 2-for-2 on the power play, while Adrian was 0-for-3.