INDIANAPOLIS — The National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Committee announced today the field of eight teams that will compete in the 20th National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship. Both quarterfinal competition and the 2021 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four will be hosted by Mercyhurst University at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Pennsylvania. Quarterfinals will be played on March 15 and 16 and the winning team from each quarterfinal will advance to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four on March 18 and 20.
Eight teams are selected for the championship. Of the eight teams, the top four teams are seeded.
Four conferences were awarded automatic bids for the 2021 tournament. The remaining four teams were selected at-large. The automatic qualifying conferences and their representatives are College Hockey America, Robert Morris University; ECAC Hockey, Colgate University; Hockey East Association, Northeastern University; and Western Collegiate Hockey Association, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Ohio State University, Boston College, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Providence College were selected as at-large teams.
2021 CHAMPS: Complete coverage for the women’s hockey championship
Northeastern enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play Robert Morris. Wisconsin, the No. 2 seed, will play Providence. Ohio State earned a No. 3 seed and will match-up against Boston College. Colgate, the No. 4 seed, will face off against Duluth. All game times will be updated and posted on NCAA.com.
Both semifinal games will take place on Thursday, March 18. The first semifinal game will broadcast LIVE on ESPN3 at 2 p.m. Eastern time and the second semifinal game with be broadcast LIVE on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The national championship game will take place at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, Saturday, March 20 and will also be broadcast LIVE on ESPNU.
The 2020 championship was not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, Wisconsin defeated Minnesota 2-0 in Hamden, Connecticut to win its fifth National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey title.
