Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Women’s Notes: Full Slate of Conference Championships

Selection Show Sunday

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 standings before the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, March 8 at 11:30 at EST on ESPNU. To follow along on Sunday, see here. Every conference regular season champion is in the running to hold their title and secure an auto qualifier to the tournament.

AHA:

Regular Season Champion: Penn State (fourth in a row)

Conference Championship: TBD

The Penn State Nittany Lions and Mercyhurst Lakers will meet in the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. EST, with Penn State hosting as the higher seed. The top two seeds each swept their opponents 2-0 in the best-of-three semifinal series to advance. It marks the fourth consecutive AHA matchup between the two programs, with Penn State winning the previous three.

See HERE to view the AHA Postseason bracket.

ECAC Hockey:

Regular Season Champion: Yale & Princeton (co-champions)

Conference Championship: TBD

The top four seeds of Yale, Princeton, Quinnipiac and Cornell are in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the ECAC Hockey Tournament. On Friday, No. 1 Yale faces No. 4 Cornell, followed by No. 2 Princeton against No. 3 Quinnipiac. The winners will advance to the championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. EST. The tournament will be streamed on ESPN+ and on Stretch for international fans.

See HERE to view the ECAC Hockey Championship bracket.

Hockey East:

Regular Season Champion: Northeastern

Conference Championship: TBD

Saturday held a full slate of Hockey East quarterfinal games with Vermont, Holy Cross, UConn, and Northeastern advancing. Tuesday night’s semifinal games saw both top seeds Northeastern and Uconn secure their spot in the championship matchup. Tune into the finals on ESPNEWS or Stretch for international fans.

See HERE to view the Hockey East Championship bracket.

NEWHA:

Regular Season Champion: Franklin Pierce

Conference Championship: TBD

The NEWHA semifinals are set for today, Wednesday, with No. 4 Stonehill at No. 1 Franklin Pierce and No. 3 Saint Anselm at No. 2 Assumption. The winners will advance to Saturday’s championship game hosted by the higher remaining seed. Visit the tournament central link below for ways to watch the semifinal games.

See HERE to view the NEWHA Championship bracket.

WCHA:

Regular Season Champion: Wisconsin (second in a row)

Conference Championship: TBD

The field is set for the WCHA Final Faceoff with Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota and Minnesota State advancing. On Thursday, No. 1 Wisconsin will face Minnesota State, followed by No. 2 Ohio State against No. 3 Minnesota in a rematch of last year’s semifinal. The winners will advance to Saturday’s championship game at 2 p.m. CST, which can be streamed on B1G+.

See HERE to view the WCHA Championship bracket.

Daily Scoreboard | National Schedule | Scoring Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Must Read:

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ECAC: ECAC Hockey Announces 2025-26 Women’s All-Rookie Team

ECAC: ECAC Hockey Announces 2025-26 Women’s All-ECAC First Team

Hockey East: Hockey East Names 2025-26 Women’s All-Star Teams

Hockey East: Hockey East Names 2025-26 Pro Ambitions All-Rookie Team

NCAA: 2026 NC women’s ice hockey championship: Selection show info, bracket, schedule

NEWHA: Finalists for 2025-26 NEWHA Major Awards Announced

NHL: Weiss keeps focus on job as Colorado AHL assistant, not historic promotion

The Hockey News: Lake Placid Waiting For ECAC Women’s Hockey Championship Weekend

The Hockey News: Nation’s Leading Goal Scorer Lamarche Talks Defensive Development

The Hockey News: WCHA Final Faceoff Set As Top Seeds Survive And Minnesota State Earns Upset Entry

The Hockey News: Former NCAA Goaltender Of The Year Pasiechnyk Aims To Make Her Mark On PWHL

The Hockey News: Murphy Breaks University of Minnesota’s All-Time Goal Scoring Record

The Hockey News: After A Year Of Training, Mariano Is Back In The Game To Fulfill Her PWHL Hopes

The Hockey New: Zablocki Named Hockey East Rookie & Player Of The Year

The IX Sports: With no upsets in quarterfinals, NEWHA heads to the semis

The IX Sports: WCHA Final Faceoff preview

The IX Sports: Inside Megan Keller’s whirlwind ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance

WCHA: WCHA Announces Finalists for Postseason Awards

USA Today: NCAA women’s hockey power rankings: US star Laila Edwards strikes

USCHO: The Division I NCAA women’s hockey tournament selection show

USCHO: How the top 15 NCAA women’s hockey teams fared, Feb 23-Mar 1.

USCHO: Women’s 2026 DI conference tournament central

Must Hear & See:

Beyond Our Ice: Cold In Here

Breaking the Glass: Episode #32: The NCAA Playoffs!

Our Kids Play Hockey: Olympic Gold: Scamurra and Team USA’s Historic Run | 2026 Women’s Ice Hockey

USCHO: Previewing the 5 days of NCAA women’s hockey conference championship week

A Moment of Silence:

It is with a heavy heart that we stick tap the Hinton, Alberta community and local hockey program following the loss of two young players, Kayla Peacock and Danica Hills.

Beloved members of the community and the Jasper U18 Bearcats, the two were best friends on and off the ice. Before playing three seasons of hockey together, they spent 11 years as teammates in ringette, sharing more than a decade on the ice.

A National Junior Hockey League game is scheduled Friday in Jasper, Alberta. Organizers said the game will include a moment of silence for Peacock and Hills and a 50/50 raffle, with proceeds going to their families.

Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends, the hockey community and all those affected by the tragic loss.

It’s (Almost) Tourney Time:

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 8, at 11:30 a.m. EST and will be livestreamed on ESPNU.

2026 NC women’s hockey championship schedule:

Selection show — ESPNU

11:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 8

Regional semifinals

Thursday, March 12
Friday, March 13

Regional finals

Saturday, March 14
Sunday, March 15

Women’s Frozen Four

Friday, March 20
Sunday, March 22

NCAA DIII Postseason:

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls won back-to-back national titles at home, including an undefeated 2023-24 season, and enter the new season atop the national rankings with a 26-1-0 record. They will face UW-Eau Claire on Saturday in the WIAC Championship. UW-Eau Claire handed Wisconsin-River Falls its only loss of the season with a 3-0 win in November.

Check out the links below to catch the final conference action leading to the selection show on Sunday, March 8, at 8:30 p.m. ET, which will be live streamed on NCAA.com.

(Don’t) Make Assumptions:

The Assumption Greyhounds have reached the NEWHA Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history. The Greyhounds rank third in the conference in scoring offense at 2.81 goals per game and second in scoring defense at 2.15. Nationally, they are third with 35 power-play goals and 12th on the penalty kill at 85%. Kayla McGaffigan is second in the country with nine power-play goals, while Caroline Lilley is fifth with two short-handed goals, and 12 skaters have recorded at least 10 points. McGaffigan, Justina Valentini, Natalie Joiner and coach Joe Grossman were named finalists for the conference’s major awards.

Return of the Mavs:

Junior forward Ava Guillemette (Prior Lake, Minn.) scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period to lift the Minnesota State Mavericks to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women’s hockey in the decisive game of their WCHA Playoffs opening-round series.

The victory secured Minnesota State’s first trip to the Final Faceoff since 2009 and set a program record with 17 wins this season. Senior D Kianna Roeske (Paynesville, Minn.) opened the scoring in the first period, and junior goaltender Hailey Hansen (Blaine, Minn.) made 41 saves to preserve the upset.

The Mavericks came in at No. 13 in the most recent USCHO and USA Hockey polls.

PWHL Note:

A sold-out crowd of 17,335 at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday set a U.S. arena record for a professional women’s hockey game as the Toronto Sceptres faced Seattle. It marked the first of three weekend sellouts across the Professional Women’s Hockey League, with 8,572 fans at TD Place for the Boston Fleet game and 10,172 at Place Bell as Montréal hosted Minnesota. On Sunday, 13,264 fans attended at Pacific Coliseum, pushing the league’s three-day attendance at primary home venues to a record 49,343. The previous mark of 36,633 was set during the season’s opening weekend, and league attendance through 66 games in 2025-26 stands at 580,494, an average of 8,795 per game.

Toronto Sceptres forward Sara Hjalmarsson (Providence ’23) carried over her Olympic performance with Sweden, where she recorded two goals and three assists, by scoring her first two career PWHL goals in her first two games after the break. Montréal third-round pick Skylar Irving (Northeastern ’25) scored her first career league goal Thursday, and Sceptres rookie Lauren Messier (Dartmouth ’25) added her first goal Sunday.

A total of 107 players have scored at least one goal this season, including 24 rookies.

Notebook Quotebook:

“We’re just so happy for her, she’s a legend. She has been a huge part of our program for a number of years. It was fun to see her score a couple after having a few chances last night but finishing here today.”

— Minnesota head coach Brad Frost (Bethel ’96) comments on graduate F Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill.) breaking the program’s all-time goal record. Murphy tallied her 140th and 141st career goals in a must-win game against St. Cloud State on Sunday to advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff (source: The Hockey News).

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Minnesota senior F Josefin Bouveng (Vassunda, Sweden) saw her 25-game point streak end in Friday’s playoff game against St. Cloud State Huskies. Bouveng recorded 13 goals and 26 assists during the streak, which spanned from Sept. 26, 2025, through Jan. 24, 2026, before departing to compete in the 2026 Olympics in Milan Cortina … Vermont successfully killed off all six power plays against Northeastern on Tuesday, including a five-on-three advantage. The Catamounts finished the season a perfect 30 for 30 on the penalty kill over their final eight games …Stonehill senior goaltender Eve Stone (North Billerica, Mass.) backstopped an overtime win against LIU to secure a semifinal berth. The victory was Stone’s ninth of the season as she made 35 saves … Mercyhurst freshman F Berlin Lolacher (Regina, Saskatchewan) scored the game-winner in double overtime, netting the second and biggest goal of her college career to send the Lakers to the AHA final … Quinnipiac junior F Kahlen Lamarch (Sudbury, Ontario) is on a six-game goal streak with nine goals during that span … Wisconsin graduate F Lacey Eden (Annapolis, Md.) led the NCAA in February with 17 points … Franklin Pierce senior goaltender Jill Hertl (Highland Park, Ill.) led all goaltenders in February with a .971 save percentage.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

7 games, Wisconsin (began Feb 8, 2026)
6 games, Cornell (began Feb. 6, 2026)
6 games, Ohio State (began Feb. 13, 2026)

Longest Active Goalie Winning Streaks:

7 games, Ava McNaughton, Wisconsin (began Jan. 10, 2026)
6 games, Hailey MacLeod, Ohio State (began Feb. 13, 2026)
6 games, Jill Hertl, Franklin Pierce (began Feb. 6, 2026)
6 games, Annalies Bergman, Cornell (began Feb. 6, 2026)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

19 games, Carina DiAntonio, Yale
- 16G, 15A (began Nov. 29, 2025)
14 games, Hilda Svensson, Ohio State
- 8G, 16A (began Nov. 28, 2025)
10 games, Tessa Janecke, Penn State
- 12G, 5A (began Jan. 3, 2026)
9 games, Caleigh Murphy, Franklin Pierce (began Jan. 31, 2026)

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

6 games, Kahlen Lamarch, Quinnipiac (began Feb. 7, 2026)
6 games, Morgan Giannone, Robert Morris (began Feb. 6, 2026)

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