NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

The annual NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament—officially known as the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship—is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the top women's team in the NCAA. The 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
==Origins==
The NCAA Championship of Women's Ice Hockey began in 2001, although several universities had had women's teams established since the early 1970s.
In 1965, the first collegiate women's ice hockey team in the United States was created at Brown University. In February 1966, the team, named the "Pembroke Pandas", played its first match. Their opponents were the Walpole Brooms, a non-collegiate team. The women's ice hockey program of Cornell University began in 1971. The Big Red team competed in its first match in 1972, which it won 4–3, against Scarborough. In 1972, they played eight matches and lost half, including two defeats against the Pembroke Pandas. Yale University made its debut in women's hockey on December 9, 1975. The University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of New Hampshire, and the rest Ivy League have similar histories.Michael McKinley, Hockey A People's History, McClelland & Stewart ltd 2006, pp 237–238. 
In 1976, Brown University would host the first ever Ivy League women's ice hockey tournament. Competitors in the tournament included Princeton, Yale, and Cornell, which won the tournament. Women's ice hockey continued growth and acceptance continued through the early 1980s. In 1984, the Providence Friars won the inaugural ECAC women's ice hockey championship.
In the 1997–98 season, the American Women's College Hockey Alliance (AWCHA) made its debut. It was financed by the United States Olympic Committee.About Girls/Womens' (sic) Hockey This allowed for the first national women's ice hockey championship to occur, which was won by New Hampshire. The 1997–98 season also saw the creation of the Patty Kazmaier Award, designed to recognize the most remarkable women's collegiate ice hockey player every season. The AWCHA also conducted championships in 1999 and 2000, which were won by Harvard and Minnesota respectively.
During the 1999–2000 season, WCHA joined the ECAC in an attempt to make women's ice hockey an NCAA sanctioned sport. In August 2000, the NCAA announced that it would set up a national division of women's ice hockey with a national championship at the end of every season, starting with the 2000–01 season. The Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs won the inaugural tournament and, by extension, championship 4–2 against the St. Lawrence Skating Saints.
==NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey==
In all, 41 schools in the United States, ranging from the Midwest to the East Coast, sponsor varsity women's hockey at the National Collegiate (Divisions I and II) level. Five National Collegiate conferences are currently recognized by the NCAA—College Hockey America, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, New England Women's Hockey Alliance, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
With a 30+ game schedule, competing for conference and national championships, NCAA Division I women's hockey has a demanding and challenging season.
==Format==
Under NCAA rules, Division II schools are allowed to compete as Division I members in sports in which a D-II championship is not contested. As there is no Division II championship for women's ice hockey, this rule applies to the tournament. The official name of the "Division I" tournament is the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship, which reflects the NCAA's formal terminology for championship events that are open to schools from multiple divisions.
This tournament is a single elimination competition of eight teams. The semi-finals and finals are called the "Women's Frozen Four." This moniker is similar to the name used by the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship. The term is derived from the term "Final four."
The Patty Kazmaier Award ceremony takes place annually during Women's Frozen Four weekend.
==History==
Although many schools from many conferences have been competitive, the first 13 championships were won by only three different schools all originating from the WCHA: Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In 2014, the WCHA's hold on the championship was finally broken when Clarkson defeated Minnesota. The ECAC, from which Clarkson originated, has easily been the second most competitive conference, with eleven appearances in ten national title games, including the first five games. Hockey East has had four title game appearances, twice by Boston University and once each by Boston College and Northeastern, and CHA has had one title appearance, by Mercyhurst in 2009. The 2020 championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.https://www.theicegarden.com/2020/3/12/21177404/ncaa-womens-hockey-national-tournament-canceled-covid-19-coronavirushttps://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/hockey/after-season-ends-in-ncaa-cancellation-badgers-women-s-hockey/article_28d1649b-cc2f-5e0b-a8ab-a146d1037900.htmlhttps://cornellsun.com/2020/03/12/ncaa-cancels-hockey-tournaments-ending-top-ranked-cornell-hockey-teams-seasons/
Year	Champion 	Score 	Runner-up 	City 	Arena
2001	Minnesota–Duluth 	4–2 	St. Lawrence 	Minneapolis, MN 	Mariucci Arena
2002	Minnesota–Duluth (2) 	3–2 	Brown 	Durham, NH 	Whittemore Center
2003	Minnesota–Duluth (3) 	4–3 (2OT) 	Harvard 	Duluth, MN 	DECC Arena
2004	Minnesota 	6–2 	Harvard 	Providence, RI 	Dunkin' Donuts Center
2005	Minnesota (2) 	4–3 	Harvard 	Durham, NH 	Whittemore Center
2006	Wisconsin 	3–0 	Minnesota 	Minneapolis, MN 	Mariucci Arena
2007	Wisconsin (2) 	4–1 	Minnesota–Duluth 	Lake Placid, NY 	Herb Brooks Arena
2008	Minnesota–Duluth (4) 	4–0 	Wisconsin 	Duluth, MN 	DECC Arena
2009	Wisconsin (3) 	5–0 	Mercyhurst 	Boston, MA 	Agganis Arena
2010	Minnesota–Duluth (5) 	3–2 (3OT) 	Cornell 	Minneapolis, MN 	Ridder Arena
2011	Wisconsin (4) 	4–1 	Boston University 	Erie, PA 	Erie Insurance Arena
2012	Minnesota (3) 	4–2 	Wisconsin 	Duluth, MN 	AMSOIL Arena
2013	Minnesota (4) 	6–3 	Boston University 	Minneapolis, MN 	Ridder Arena
2014	Clarkson 	5–4 	Minnesota 	Hamden, CT 	People's United Center
2015	Minnesota (5) 	4–1 	Harvard 	Minneapolis, MN 	Ridder Arena
2016	Minnesota (6) 	3–1 	Boston College 	Durham, NH 	Whittemore Center
2017	Clarkson (2) 	3–0 	Wisconsin 	St. Charles, MO 	Family Arena
2018	Clarkson (3) 	2–1 (OT) 	Colgate 	Minneapolis, MN 	Ridder Arena
2019	Wisconsin (5) 	2–0 	Minnesota 	Hamden, CT 	People's United Center
2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Boston, MA 	Agganis Arena
2021	Wisconsin (6) 	2–1 (OT) 	Northeastern 	Erie, PA 	Erie Insurance Arena
2022	TBD 	TBD 	TBD 	State College, PA	Pegula Ice Arena
2023	TBD 	TBD 	TBD 	Duluth, MN 	AMSOIL Arena
2024	TBD 	TBD 	TBD 	Durham, NH 	Whittemore Center
2025	TBD 	TBD 	TBD 	Minneapolis, MN 	Ridder Arena
2026	TBD 	TBD 	TBD 	State College, PA	Pegula Ice Arena
==Team titles==
Team 	Number	Years won
Minnesota 	6 	2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
Wisconsin 	6 	2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2021
Minnesota–Duluth	5 	2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010
Clarkson 	3 	2014, 2017, 2018
==Result by school and year==
24 teams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in at least one year starting with 2001 (the initial year that the post-season tournament was under the auspices of the NCAA). The results for all years are shown in this table below.
The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament:
* Quarterfinals (did not exist until 2005)
* Frozen Four
* National Runner-up
* National Champion
 	APP	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19 	20†	21
School 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Minnesota 	18 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#ACACAC"	 	
Wisconsin 	15 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#FFA500"	 	
Mercyhurst 	13 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Boston College 	12 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#C4EBEB"	 	
Minnesota–Duluth 	12 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Harvard 	11 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Clarkson 	9 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#F0E68C"	 	
St. Lawrence 	9 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Dartmouth 	8 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Cornell 	8 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#F0E68C"	 	
Boston University	6 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
New Hampshire 	5 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Northeastern 	5 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#C4EBEB"	 	
Princeton 	4 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#C4EBEB"	 	
Ohio State 	3 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Colgate 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
North Dakota 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Providence 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Quinnipiac 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Robert Morris 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Brown 	1 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Niagara 	1 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
RIT 	1 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Syracuse 	1 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	style="background:#C4EBEB"	 	
†: The field of 8 was announced but tournament not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
== Broadcasting ==
In February 2017, the NCAA announced that it had reached a four-year deal with Big Ten Network to televise the Women's national championship game beginning in 2017, and the Frozen Four semi-finals beginning in 2018.
In 2021, ESPN announced that it had acquired the rights under a multi-year deal, with ESPNU to air one semi-final and the national championship annually. The other semi-final will be carried via streaming.
Year	Network 	Play-by-play 	Analyst 	Sideline
2021	ESPNU 	Clay Matvick 	A. J. Mleczko	
2019	BTN 	Chris Vosters 	Sonny Watrous	Margaux Farrell
2018	BTN 	Dan Kelly 	Sonny Watrous	Allison Hayes
2017	BTN (Championship)NCAA.com (Frozen Four)	Dan KellyScott Sudikoff	Sonny Watrous	Sara Dayley
2016	NCAA.com 	Scott Sudikoff 	 	
2015	NCAA.com 	Leah Secondo 	 	
2014	NCAA.com 	Leah Secondo 	A. J. Mleczko	
2013	NCAA.com 	Will Flemming 	A. J. Mleczko	
==Records and statistics==
*NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Tournament all-time individual records
*NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Tournament all-time team records
*NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Tournament appearances by school
==See also==
*Patty Kazmaier Award
*Laura Hurd Award
*NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey
*Title IX
*NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship
*Pre-NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Champions
==References==
==Articles related to the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament==
 
Category:College women's ice hockey in the United States
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