Thursday, March 6, 2025
Women’s Notes: Conference Championship Weekend
All Five Conference Championships Up for Grabs on Saturday
All five conferences will crown a champion on Saturday, March 8, sending those five teams to the NCAA Tournament. Here is a league-by-league look at the final stand before the NCAA selection show on Sunday, March 9.
AHA
Regular Season Champion: Penn State (third in a row)
Penn State is seeking another conference championship and auto bid to the NCAA tournament when the No.1 seeded Nittany Lions will face the two seed Mercyhurst on Sunday. Penn State swept RIT in their best-of-three series. Mercyhurst dropped game one to Syracuse but bounced back to take games two and three and secure a spot in the AHA championship. Catch the AHA championship on FloHockey.
ECAC Hockey
Regular Season Champion: Cornell
The four top seeded teams all move on from the quarterfinals to the single-elimination semifinal at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, New York. One seed Cornell will face four seed Clarkson while two seed Colgate squares off against three seed St. Lawrence – winners will move to the ECAC championship on Saturday. The Games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Hockey East
Regular Season Champion: UConn (second in a row)
Wednesday evening Hockey East semifinals saw five seed Northeastern upset the regular season champion UConn to advance to the finals. The Terries will face Boston University after they defeated Boston College in double OT. Boston University and Northeastern will face off on Saturday and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
NEWHA
Regular Season Champion: Long Island (third in a row)
Long Island University defeated Post on Wednesday and as the high seed will vie for an auto bid on home ice. The Sharks face Sacred Heart after they defeated Saint Anselm . The NEWHA championship will be streaming on ESPN+.
WCHA
Regular Season Champion: Wisconsin
The top four seeded teams solidified their spot in the 2025 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff at Amsoil Arena in Duluth … No. 1 seed Wisconsin will face No. 4 Minnesota Duluth and No. 2 Ohio State will take on No. 3 Minnesota. The winners will advance to Saturday’s championship game. Games will be streamed on B1G+.
Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Composite Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders
Must Read:
The Athletic: PWHL awards watch: Our picks for Billie Jean King MVP, Rookie of the Year, more
FloHockey: AHA Women’s Championship Game Preview
FloHockey: Women’s Ice Hockey Rankings: Is It The Year Of The Badger?
The Hockey News: Casey O’Brien Passes Knight To Become Wisconsin’s All-Time Leading Scorer
The Ice Garden: 2025 WCHA First Round Playoffs Roundup
NCAA: 2025 NC women’s ice hockey: How to watch the selection show, bracket, schedule
NCAA: 2025 NCAA DIII women’s ice hockey: How to watch the selection show, bracket, schedule
NE Hockey Journal: MIAA D1 girls hockey playoffs 2025: Full schedule, bracket and results
NE Hockey Journal: MIAA D2 girls hockey playoffs 2025: Full schedule, bracket and results
NE Hockey Journal: NEPSAC girls Elite 8 tournament 2025: Full schedule, bracket and results
NHL: NHL Foundation Empowerment Grant for Girls in Columbus
NHL: Celebrating Women’s History Month
PWHL: Weekly Notebook, March 4, 2025
USCHO: Weekend Wrap February 24, 2025
USCHO: Cornell’s Bergmann, recipient of 2024-25 ECAC women’s goaltender of the year award
USCHO: Women’s Division I College Hockey: Weekend Wrap March 3, 2025
Must Watch & Hear:
Ice Garden: Ten Minutes for Driving Episode 16
Jocks in Jills: Laura Stacey Fires up the Bell Centre + Brianne Jenner Joins the Pod
The PodKaz: Ep. 40 – OT drama in Hockey East leads into conference championship weekend
The Ride to the Rink: Feel Good, Play Good: Mastering Your Hockey Equipment
Our Girls Play Hockey: Breaking Barriers in Hockey Coaching with the NHLCA’s Lindsay Pennal
Our Kids Play Hockey: 2025 USA Hockey Rule Changes: What Parents and Coaches Need to Know
Selection Show Sunday:
Following the conference championships on Saturday, tune in to the NCAA Selection Show to see the full field of teams competing in the NCAA Tournament. The selection begins Sunday, March 9, at 11:30 a.m. EST and will be livestreamed on ESPN+.
To see more, visit here.
NCAA DIII Postseason:
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls had an unprecedented 2023-24 season, finishing a perfect 31-0 and capping it off with a Frozen Four on home ice. The Falcons will once again host the 2024-25 NCAA Women’s Division III Frozen Four at Hunt Arena on Sunday, March 30, 2025.
See below for all the end of season action leading up to the selection show on Sunday, March 9, at 8:30 p.m. ET, which will be live streamed on NCAA.com.
- DIII Championship History
- DIII Regional Rankings
- DIII NPI Ranking (games through 03/05/2025)
- DIII Selection Show
Patty Kaz Finalists Announced:
The 2025 Patty Kaz Top 10 finalists were announced this morning. Last year, Minnesota native Izzy Daniel (Cornell ’24) took home the prestigious award. To see more on the announcement, see here.
| Joy Dunne | Forward | Sophomore | Ohio State | O’Fallon, Mo. |
| Laila Edwards | Forward | Junior | Wisconsin | Cleveland Heights, Ohio |
| Caroline Harvey | Defender | Junior | Wisconsin | Salem, N.H. |
| Tessa Janecke | Forward | Junior | Penn State | Warren, Ill. |
| Kristýna Kaltounková | Forward | Fifth Year | Colgate | Vlasim, Czechia |
| Abbey Murphy | Forward | Senior | Minnesota | Evergreen Park, Ill. |
| Casey O’Brien | Forward | Fifth Year | Wisconsin | Milton, Mass. |
| Kirsten Simms | Forward | Junior | Wisconsin | Plymouth, Mich. |
| Haley Winn | Defender | Senior | Clarkson | Rochester, N.Y. |
| Issy Wunder | Forward | Junior | Princeton | Toronto, Ont. |
Post it in the Record Book
The Post Eagles were eliminated by Long Island University in the NEWHA semifinals on Wednesday. However, to get through the quarterfinals the seventh seed Eagles defeated second seed Franklin Pierce in the best-of-three series. The win marked the first time in program history the Eagles have advanced to the semifinals. They became the first sixth seed or lower to advance in the NEWHA tournament.
Netminder Hannah Saunders (Jr., Ottawa, Ontario) recorded three straight shutouts before Wednesday – their final regular season game and both quarterfinal playoff wins – to earn her program-record 11th win of the season. She is the first goalie in Post history to record a shutout in three consecutive games.
O’Brien Breaks the Record:
The Wisconsin Badgers defeated Bemidji State in two games to advance to the WCHA finals. Casey O’Brien (Milton, Mass.) had a record-breaking night on Saturday. With six points, O’Brien now has 265 career points to become the school’s all-time points leader. The record was previously held by Hilary Knight (Wisconsin, ’12) who notched 262 points in four years with the Badgers.
Fit To Print:
“She [Callie Shanahan] gave us a chance to win tonight, absolutely remarkable – the timely ones, the big ones and all the above – she’s been the backbone of this team, and she really kept us in it today.“
— Boston University head coach Tara Watchorn (Boston University ’14) on her netminder’s performance in sending the Terriers to the Hockey East finals; Callie Shanahan (Sr., Commerce, Mich.) made 38 saves on the night, including 18 in the third period and overtime.
PWHL Note of the Week:
The PWHL Takeover Tour continues with 30 games left in the regular season. Next stop, Raleigh, the Minnesota Frost and Ottawa Charge will face off in the Tar Heel State on Friday. The tour, now in its seventh stop of nine, has drawn a total of 89,953 fans through its first six games, bringing PWHL action to new markets beyond the league’s home cities.
To see the full PWHL schedule, visit here.
Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:
Mankato netminder Hayley Hansen (So., Blaine, Minn.) made 66 saves on Sunday in the Mavericks’ loss to the Gophers. The 66 saves marked a new single-game school record, the second most in NCAA this season and second-most in WCHA history … Wisconsin Badger Kirsten Simms (Plymouth, Mich.) recorded her second hat trick in three games in their win over Bemidji on Saturday … Team USA announced its 25-player roster for the 2025 IIHF Women’s Worlds. The team is comprised entirely of NCAA alumnae including nine active NCAA Players … Northeastern goalie Lisa Jönsson (Fr., Stockholm, Sweden) made 36 saves to lead the Huskies past No. 11/12 UConn … Sacred Heart goalie Carly Greene (Minnetonka, Minn) posted her sixth shutout of the season and 11th of her career in the Pioneers win over St. Anselm on Wednesday.
The Standings:
NCAA most recent Pairwise polls (games through 3/6). For the full list of teams and metrics, see here.
| Rank | School | Record | Conference | Pairwise | NPI |
| 1 | Wisconsin | 33-1-2 | WCHA | 43-0 | 68.67 |
| 2 | Ohio St. | 27-6-3 | WCHA | 42-1 | 61.96 |
| 3 | Minnesota | 27-10-1 | WCHA | 41-2 | 60.18 |
| 4 | Cornell | 22-4-5 | ECAC | 40-3 | 60.10 |
| 5 | Colgate | 29-7-0 | ECAC | 39-4 | 59.79 |
| 6 | Minn. Duluth | 21-13-2 | WCHA | 38-5 | 58.21 |
| 7 | Penn St. | 30-5-1 | AHA | 37-6 | 57.46 |
| 8 | Clarkson | 24-11-2 | ECAC | 36-7 | 56.04 |
| 9 | St. Lawrence | 21-10-5 | ECAC | 35-8 | 57.28 |
| 10 | Quinnipiac | 22-12-4 | ECAC | 34-9 | 55.72 |
| 11 | Boston U. | 23-11-2 | Hockey East | 32-11 | 55.16 |
| 12 | Northeastern | 22-13-1 | Hockey East | 32-11 | 54.86 |
| 13 | UConn | 22-12-2 | Hockey East | 31-12 | 54.77 |
| 14 | St. Cloud St. | 15-15-6 | WCHA | 30-13 | 54.72 |
| 15 | Boston College | 21-13-2 | Hockey East | 29-14 | 54.65 |
CONFERENCE WEBSITES
CHA | ECAC | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA
Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!