Thursday, January 8, 2026

Women’s Notes: Boston Battle in Belfast

Boston University Takes Home the Friendship Series Belpot

Women’s Notes: Boston Battle in Belfast
The Terriers celebrate their win in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The Boston University Terriers rang in the New Year by winning the inaugural Friendship Series women’s tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While numerous women’s teams have played series matchups at SSE Arena, home of the Belfast Giants, Boston University, Harvard, Minnesota Duluth and Quinnipiac were the first four to face off in the tournament format.

The four teams explored Belfast and Northern Ireland during their stay visiting several of the region’s most iconic landmarks, including the Giants Causeway and the Titanic Museum, and attended the Belfast Giants’ Elite League game against the Glasgow Clan.

Friday’s games delivered true college hockey excitement with both an overtime winner and a shootout. In the first game, Harvard defeated No. 5 Minnesota Duluth 3-2. Crimson sophomore netminder Ainsley Tuffy (Duxbury, Mass.) made 55 saves, the most ever by a goalie in a program win. Senior defenseman Kate Kasica (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored her first career goal on a short-handed breakaway to score the tournament’s first goal.

Game two went to a shootout, with Boston University defeating No. 8 Quinnipiac to advance. Senior forward Sydney Healey (Arthur, Ontario) scored both goals for the Terriers, and senior forward Lilli Welcke (Heidelberg, Germany) scored the lone shootout goal. Junior goalie Mari Pietersen (Goodwood, Ontario) made 36 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts.

On Saturday, Quinnipiac defeated Minnesota Duluth in the third-place game before the two Boston-based teams met for the Belpot Trophy. The Terriers struck first and traded goals until junior forward Neely Nicholson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored the go-ahead goal with seven minutes remaining. Boston University went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and blocked 10 shots in front of Pietersen, who held the net for the championship game.

Daily Scoreboard | National Schedule | Scoring Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Must Read:

Belfast Giants: Boston University Secure 2026 Friendship Series Title at The SSE Arena, Belfast

The Hockey News: Friendship Series Bringing NCAA Women’s To Northern Ireland

The Hockey News: USA Today: NCAA Women’s Hockey Power Rankings

The Ice Garden: “Unique” Ross Makes Anticipated Debut on Sirens’ Blueline

NCAA: Everything you need to know about the Women’s Beanpot hockey tournament

NCAA: Where the USA women’s hockey team for the 2026 Olympics played in college  

NE Hockey Journal: Top girls prep performers from the first month of the 2025-26 season

NHL: Color of Hockey: Taylor touted as being next great women’s player

PWHL: Weekly Notebook – Jan 5, 2026

Sports Illustrated: College Hockey Back With a Full Weekend Schedule; Ain’t It Cool? Puck Drop

USCHO: Weekend Wrap – January 5, 2025

Must Hear & See:

Breaking the Glass: Episode#25: The 47th Women’s Beanpot

Decision Makers: Season 2 Episode 12 | Karly Heffernan

Our Girls Play Hockey: The Guilt of Missing Hockey: What Players and Parents Need to Hear

Ride to the Rink: A Day in the Life of a Pro (Part 2)- Inside Hayley Scamurra’s Olympic Grind

Rinkside Rundown: How Kylie Hollingsworth Went from OWHL “C” to Boston University Hockey

The PodKaz: College hockey’s future gets ready to go on display and its present returns from the break

Leading the Charge:

The duo of sophomore forward Jessica Mackinnon (Clarks Harbour, Nova Scotia) and junior goalie Maggie Hatch (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) helped Robert Morris go undefeated in December.

Mackinnon had seven points in four games, while Hatch led all goalies with a .985 save percentage, including three shutouts.

Bulldogs Bite:

The No. 13 Yale Bulldogs upset No. 5 ranked Northeastern Huskies on Tuesday night at Ingalls Rink to extend their winning streak to a season-high four games and snap a six-game losing streak to the Huskies.

Sophomore F Emma McGowan (Burlington, Conn.) tallied a goal and an assist for her first multi-point game of her career. Freshman goalie Samson Frey (Northport, N.Y.) recorded her second shutout of the season, stopping all 22 shots.

No Wunder:

Princeton forward Issy Wunder (Toronto, Ontario) notched a nine-point weekend against Stonehill. The senior scored four goals on Saturday, the most in a game by a Princeton player since she scored five in in a win against St. Anslem back in November.

Wunder ended the weekend with five goals and four assists.

New Year, Same Team:

No. 6 UConn extended its strong start to 2026 with a weekend sweep of Providence, closing with a 5-0 shutout on Saturday at home. The Huskies opened the game with three first-period goals and never looked back, improving to 15-3-2 overall and 8-1-1 in Hockey East play.

Graduate goaltender Tia Chan (Hamilton, Ontario) earned her third shutout of the season with 31 saves in the victory, which marks her 10th game this season posting 30+ saves.

Poll Position:

The latest USA Hockey weekly rankings are out as we kick off the second half of the season.

  1. Wisconsin (18-1-1)
  2. Ohio State (17-3-0)
  3. Minnesota (16-4-0)
  4. Penn State (18-3-0)
  5. UConn (15-3-2)
  6. Northeastern (15-5-0)
  7. Quinnipiac (15-5-2)
  8. Minnesota Duluth (12-8-0)
  9. Princeton (13-4-0)
  10. Cornell (10-6-1)
  11. Clarkson (13-6-2)
  12. Minnesota State (11-8-1)
  13. Yale (12-7-0)
  14. St. Cloud State (7-12-1)
  15. Brown (10-10-1)

Top-15 Matchups:

Friday, January 9 – No. 6 Northeastern at No. 13 Yale, No. 11 Clarkson at No. 10 Cornell, No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth, No. 2 Ohio State at No. 14 St. Cloud State, No. 3 Minnesota at No. 12 Minnesota State.

Saturday, January 10 – No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth, No. 2 Ohio State at No. 14 St. Cloud State, No. 11 Clarkson at No. 15 Colgate, No. 12 Minnesota State at No. 3 Minnesota.

Notebook Quotebook:

“Really proud of our team for stringing together two really good games this weekend and coming out with the sweep. Again, the Dartmouth goalie was excellent, and we found a way to solve her twice and Zoe Cliche and our team defense took care of the rest. Credit to our penalty kill for not allowing a goal in four attempts. I’m excited for our team to get some confidence to take back into Hockey East play next weekend.”

— Vermont head coach Jim Plumer (Colby College ’83) on the Catamounts weekend sweep (source: Vermont Athletics)

PWHL Note of the Week:

Only seven points separate the top from the bottom in the PWHL standings. Here are three hits as we kick off 2026:

  • Frost rookie Kendall Cooper (Quinnipiac ’25) set a PWHL record with assists in six straight games.
  • Daryl Watts (Wisconsin ‘22), Alex Carpenter (Boston College ‘16), and Kendall Coyne Schofield (Northeastern ‘15) have all reached the 50+ career point mark. Marie-Philip Poulin (Boston University ‘15) became the first player in PWHL history to surpass the 60-career point milestone.
  • Kristýna Kaltounková (Colgate ’25) scored twice, and Kayle Osborne (Colgate ’24) stopped all 31 shots she faced as the New York Sirens extended their win streak to a team-record four games.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Minnesota graduate forward Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill.) and Wisconsin senior defenseman Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H.) lead the nation in scoring, the only two players averaging more than two points per game this season … Princeton sophomore forward Mackenzie Alexander (Etobicoke, Ontario) recorded 22 shots in a weekend series against Stonehill, posting a hat trick Saturday and finishing the weekend with eight points … Union junior forward Maddie Leaney (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) led all players with seven blocked shots over the weekend … Clarkson senior defenseman Megan McKay (Zionsville, Ind.) finished a league-high plus-10 …  Brown rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period to defeat RPI, as senior forward Jade Iginla (Lake Country, British Columbia) recorded a goal and three assists in a 4-3 overtime win …  Syracuse freshman goaltender Ava Drabyk (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) posted a 0.50 goals-against average and .967 save percentage against Delaware, recording her third shutout of the season.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

  • 9 games, Princeton (began Nov. 14, 2025)
  • 6 games, Wisconsin (began Nov. 20, 2025)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

  • 19 games, Josefin Bouveng, Minnesota
    • 11G, 18A (began Sep. 26, 2025)
  • 17 games, Caroline Harvey, Wisconsin
    • 11G, 37A (began Oct. 4, 2025)
  • 11 games, Abbey Murphy, Minnesota
    • 12G, 11A (began Oct. 25, 2025)
  • 9 games, Laila Edwards, Wisconsin
    • 2G, 17A (began Nov. 1, 2025)
  • 9 games, Issy Wunder, Princeton
    • 11G, 9A (began Nov. 14, 2025)
  • 9 games, Mackenzie Alexander, Princeton
    • 12G, 8A (Began Nov. 14, 2025)

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

  • 4 games, Carina DiAntonio, Yale (began Dec. 6, 2025)
  • 4 games, Abbey Murphy, Minnesota (began Dec. 5, 2025)
  • 4 games, Carla McSweeney, Harvard (began, Dec. 5, 2025)

Conference Websites

Atlantic Hockey America | ECAC Hockey | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA

College Hockey Inc. Resources:


Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!