The weather might be warming up, but we're still in the thick of college ice hockey season.
The NCAA Women's Frozen Four semifinals will be held on Friday, March 17th and the final will be held on Sunday, March 19th in Duluth, Minnesota at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The four teams that will be making the journey to this year's Frozen Four are the Northeastern Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, and the Minnesota Gophers. The WCHA conference is being well represented at the Frozen Four this year, as three of the four teams hail from that conference. The Northeastern Huskies are the lone team that is representing the Hockey East Conference.
One of the four teams participating in the women's Frozen Four, is the defending national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes. So far this season, the Buckeyes have an overall record of 32-5-2. The Buckeyes made it to the WCHA Frozen Face-off championship game before losing to the Minnesota Gophers. Ohio State began the NCAA tournament as the number 1 seed and hosted regionals where they went on to beat Quinnipiac in the NCAA quarterfinal game. The Buckeyes will be playing Northeastern University in the Frozen Four semi-finals.
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Northeastern University is entering the NCAA Frozen Four as the Hockey East Champions with an overall record of 34-2-1. This will be the third straight Frozen Four appearance for Northeastern. The Huskies were able to capture the Hockey East title for the sixth straight season prior to entering NCAA tournament play. The Huskies were able to defeat the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA quarterfinal to be able to punch their ticket to the Frozen Four. Northeastern is now set to face the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Frozen Four semifinals.
For the first time since 2019, the Minnesota Gophers are returning to the Frozen Four. The 2023 WCHA Champions are entering the Frozen Four after defeating the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Gophers are entering the Frozen Four with an overall 30-5-3 record this season and are set to face the Wisconsin Badgers in their Frozen Four semifinal matchup.
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The Wisconsin Badgers have captured the chance to participate in the Frozen Four after defeating the LIU Sharks in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before defeating Colgate University in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Badgers are entering the Frozen Four with an overall record of 27-10-2 and will be facing the Minnesota Gophers in their NCAA semifinal game. The Badgers are used to the big stage having won the National Championship in back to back seasons in 2019 and 2021 (2020 was canceled due to Covid) as they look to capture another championship.
The stage is set for this upcoming Frozen Four, and is loaded with teams who have talent and know how to win on the big stage. The national champion will be crowned on Sunday March 19th, 2023.
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* Originally published on March 17, 2023, by Marissa Massaro