2018 NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey tournament

The 2018 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament involves eight schools in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of women's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. The quarterfinals will be played at the campuses of the seeded teams on Saturday, March 10, 2018. The Frozen Four will be played on March 16 and 18, 2018 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The University of Minnesota will host the tournament. This will be the fourth time that Ridder Arena will host the Frozen Four and the sixth time it has been played in Minneapolis. This will be the second year that the Big Ten Network will air the Championship Game live and the first year the semifinals will be aired live on BTN.

Qualifying teams

In the fourth year under this qualification format, the winners of all four Division I conference tournaments received automatic berths to the NCAA tournament. The other four teams were selected at-large. The top four teams were then seeded and received home ice for the quarterfinals.^[1]

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Clarkson	ECAC	33–4–1	Tournament champion	7th	2017
2	Wisconsin	WCHA	30–4–2	At-large bid	12th	2017
3	Colgate	ECAC	32–5–1	At-large bid	1st	Never
4	Boston College	Hockey East	30–4–3	At-large bid	10th	2017
	Minnesota	WCHA	24–10–3	Tournament champion	16th	2017
	Ohio State	WCHA	23–10–4	At-large bid	1st	Never
	Northeastern	Hockey East	19–16–3	Tournament champion	2nd	2016
	Mercyhurst	CHA	18–14–4	Tournament champion	12th	2016

Bracket

^[2]
Quarterfinals held at home sites of seeded teams

	National Quarterfinals March 10					National Semifinals March 16					National Championship March 18
	1	Clarkson	2*
		Mercyhurst	1
						1	Clarkson	1*
							Ohio State	0
	4	Boston College	0
		Ohio State	2
											1	Clarkson	2*
											3	Colgate	1
	2	Wisconsin	4
		Minnesota	0
						2	Wisconsin	3
						3	Colgate	4**
	3	Colgate	3
		Northeastern	1

Championship Game Officials: Referee Scott Roth, Shane Paskey Linesmen: Mike Mueller, Glendon Seal

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

National Quarterfinals

(1) Clarkson vs. Mercyhurst

March 10	Mercyhurst		1 – 2	OT	Clarkson	Cheel Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
19:39 – Brooke Hartwick – (Molly Blasen, Emma Nuutinen)		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			5:30 – Michaela Pejzlova – (Savannah Harmon, Loren Gabel)
No scoring		First overtime period			16:52 – Elizabeth Giguere – (Michaela Pejzlova, Savannah Harmon)
Kennedy Blair (30 saves / 32 shots)		Goalie stats			Shea Tiley (27 saves / 28 shots)

(4) Boston College vs. Ohio State

March 10	Ohio State		2 – 0		Boston College	Conte Forum	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
10:12 – Lauren Boyle – (Julianna Iafallo, Dani Sadek)		Second period			No scoring
15:43 – Maddy Field – (Julianna Iafallo)		Third period			No scoring
Kassidy Sauvé (38 saves / 38 shots)		Goalie stats			Katie Burt (39 saves / 41 shots)

(2) Wisconsin vs. Minnesota

March 10	Minnesota		0 – 4		Wisconsin	LaBahn Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			10:08 – Presley Norby
No scoring		Second period			6:20 – Abby Roque – (Maddie Rowe, Baylee Wellhausen) 6:39 – Abby Roque
No scoring		Third period			18:09 – Claudia Kepler – (Abby Roque, Sam Cogan)
Sidney Peters (35 saves / 39 shots)		Goalie stats			Kristen Campbell (12 saves / 12 shots)

(3) Colgate vs. Northeastern

March 10	Northeastern		1 – 3		Colgate	Class of 1965 Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
11:24 – Andrea Renner – (Lauren Kelly, Maddie Hartman)		Second period			9:07 – Breanne Wilson-Bennett– (Olivia Zafuto, Jessie Eldridge)
No scoring		Third period			1:37 – Olivia Zafuto – (Shelby Perry) 19:10 – Bailey Larson
Aerin Frankel (33 saves / 36 shots)		Goalie stats			Julia Vandyk (23 saves / 24 shots)

National Semifinals

(1) Clarkson vs. Ohio State

March 16	Ohio State		0 – 1	OT	Clarkson	Ridder Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			16:12 – Loren Gabel – (Michaela Pejzlova, Elizabeth Giguere)
Kassidy Sauvé (33 saves / 34 shots)		Goalie stats			Shea Tiley (41 saves / 41 shots)

(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) Colgate

March 16	Colgate		4 – 3	2OT	Wisconsin	Ridder Arena	Recap
16:43 – Breanne Wilson-Bennett – (Olivia Zafuto, Megan Sullivan)		First period			No scoring
19:30 – Breanne Wilson-Bennett – (Megan Sullivan, Jessie Eldridge)		Second period			6:22 – Baylee Wellhausen– (Abby Roque)
14:13 – Jessie Eldridge– (Breanne Wilson-Bennett, Olivia Zafuto)		Third period			6:37 – Claudia Kepler– (Maddie Rolfes, Sam Cogan) 16:36 – Mekenzie Steffen – (Grace Bowlby, Presley Norby)
16:03 – Breanne Wilson-Bennett – (Shelby Perry, Lauren Wildfang)		Second overtime period			No scoring
Julia Vandyk (45 saves / 48 shots)		Goalie stats			Kristen Campbell (20 saves / 24 shots)

National Championship

(1) Clarkson vs. (3) Colgate

March 18	Colgate		1 – 2	OT	Clarkson	Ridder Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			16:29 – Cassidy Vinkle – (Kelly Mariani)
2:27 – Malia Schneider – (Olivia Zafuto, Breanne Wilson-Bennett)		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			7:55 – Elizabeth Giguere
Julia Vandyk (35 saves / 37 shots)		Goalie stats			Shea Tiley (27 saves / 28 shots)

Media

Television

Big Ten Network televised the semifinals and championship during their multi-year contract to carry the event.^[3]

Broadcast assignments

Women's Frozen Four and Championship

• Dan Kelly, Sonny Watrous, and Allison Hayes (BTN)

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• G: Shea Tiley*, Clarkson
• D: Savannah Harmon, Clarkson
• D: Olivia Zafuto, Colgate
• F: Loren Gabel, Clarkson
• F: Élizabeth Giguère, Clarkson
• F: Breanne Wilson-Bennett, Colgate

* Most Outstanding Player^[4]

References