INDIANAPOLIS — The National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Committee announced today the field of 11 teams that will compete in the 23rd National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.
The top five teams are seeded into the bracket, with the top four seeds hosting the regional competition. Regional semifinals will be played March 14 with the regional finals March 16. The winning team from each regional final will advance to the 2024 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four on March 22 and 24 at Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire, with the University of New Hampshire serving as host.
Five conferences were awarded automatic bids for the 2024 tournament. The remaining six teams were selected at-large. The automatic qualifying conferences and their representatives are College Hockey America, Penn State; ECAC Hockey, Colgate; Hockey East Association, UConn; New England Women’s Hockey Alliance, Stonehill; and Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Wisconsin. Clarkson, Cornell, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Ohio State and St. Lawrence were selected as at-large teams. UConn and Stonehill are both making their first NCAA tournament appearances.
Ohio State enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will host and play the winner of the regional semifinal on Thursday in the Ohio State Ice Rink between Minnesota Duluth and UConn. Wisconsin, the No. 2 seed, will host and play the winner of the regional semifinal between St. Lawrence and Penn State which will be held Thursday at LaBahn Arena. Colgate enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will match-up against the winner of Thursday’s regional semifinal between Cornell and Stonehill. Clarkson the No. 4 seed, will host Minnesota, the No. 5 seed, on March 16 in a regional final. All game times will be updated and posted on krikya18.com.
Both national semifinal games will be broadcast Friday, March 22. The first semifinal game will air on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. Eastern time with the second semifinal game also being broadcast on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. The national championship game will take place at 4 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, March 24 on ESPNU.
The 2023 championship was played in Duluth, Minnesota with Wisconsin capturing the title by virtue of a 1-0 win over Ohio State.
For more information regarding the championship, log on to krikya18.com.
