After a thrilling round of regionals, the field for the 2023 Women’s Frozen Four is officially set.
Minnesota, Northeastern, Ohio State and Wisconsin each punched their ticket to Duluth, Minn., with wins in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The defending national champion Buckeyes, the top seed, came back for a 5-2 victory over Quinnipiac, who defeated Penn State, 3-2, in a marathon triple-overtime contest in the opening round. Against the Bobcats, OSU fell behind 1-0 at the end of the first period, but a big end to the second got them back on track, thanks to Gabby Rosenthal and Lauren Bernard. Sophie Jaques added a pair in the third as the Bucks were in cruise control.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Northeastern flew to a 4-1 win over No. 4 Yale. The top line of Chloé Aurard (1g, 1a), Alina Müller (1g, 1a) and Maureen Murphy (1g, 1a) showed out, doing all their damage in the third period. Gwyneth Philips stood tall in goal, making 38 saves.
In Hamilton, Wisconsin knocked off No. 3 Colgate, 4-2, after winning big in the opening round against LIU, 9-1. Casey O’Brien led the way with a goal and an assist, and third-period goals from Vivian Jungels and Laila Edwards provided critical insurance.
As for the No. 2 Gophers, they rolled to a 3-0 victory over cross-state rival Minnesota Duluth, this year’s Frozen Four hosts. It took until midway through the second period for someone to break the stalemate when Madeline Wethington (1g, 1a) opened the scoring. Abbey Murphy and Catie Skaja added more cushion in the third. Skylar Vetter kept a clean sheet with 30 saves.
The Frozen Four will be held at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth. Both national semifinal games will be broadcast Friday, March 17. The first semifinal game will air on ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time with the second semifinal game also being broadcast on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The national championship game will take place at 4 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, March 19 on ESPNU.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧 🏒 🏆#WFrozenFour pic.twitter.com/QfouIX667X
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 12, 2023
