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.

2018 NCAA National Collegiate women's
ice hockey tournament

2018 Women's Frozen Four logo
Teams	8
Finals site	Ridder Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Clarkson Golden Knights (3rd title)
Runner-up	Colgate Raiders (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Ohio State Buckeyes (1st Frozen Four) Wisconsin Badgers (11th Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Matt Desrosiers (3rd title)
MOP	Shea Tiley (Clarkson)
Attendance	6,361
← 2017  NCAA women's ice hockey tournaments 2019 →

Qualifying teams

Clarkson

Wisconsin

Colgate

Boston College

Minnesota

Ohio State

Northeastern

Mercyhurst

2018 Qualifying Teams
WCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, CHA

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 2:00

Mercyhurst

1–2 (OT) (0–0, 1–0, 0–1, 0–1)

Clarkson

Cheel Arena Attendance: 1,383

Game reference
	Kennedy Blair	Goalies	Shea Tiley	Referees: Christopher Leavitt MacKenzie Williams Linesmen: John Mulroy Timothy Daley
	Hartwick (Blasen, Nuutinen) – 39:39 1–0 1–1 45:30 – pp – Pejzlová (Harmon, Gabel) 1–2 76:52 – Giguère (Pejzlova, Harmon)
	10 min	Penalties	6 min
	28	Shots	32

(4) Boston College vs. Ohio State

March 10 2:00

Ohio State

2–0 (0–0, 1–0, 1–0)

Boston College

Conte Forum Attendance: 796

Game reference
	Kassidy Sauvé	Goalies	Kaitlin Burt	Referees: Katie Guay Derek Zuckerman Linesmen: Ryan Belhumeur Ryan Chauvin
	Boyle (Iafallo, Sadek) – pp – 30:12 1–0 Field (Iafallo) – 55:43 2–0
	10 min	Penalties	10 min
	41	Shots	38

(2) Wisconsin vs. Minnesota

March 10 2:07

Minnesota

0–4 (0–1, 0–2, 0–1)

Wisconsin

LaBahn Arena Attendance: 2,423

Game reference
	Sidney Peters	Goalies	Kristen Campbell	Referees: Scott Roth Robert Ludwig Linesmen: Glendon Seal Mike Mueller
	0–1 10:08 – Norby 0–2 26:20 – Roque (Rowe, Wellhausen) 0–3 26:36 – Roque 0–4 18:09 – pp – Kepler (Roque, Cogan)
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	12	Shots	39

(3) Colgate vs. Northeastern

March 10 3:05

Northeastern

1–3 (0–0, 1–1, 0–2)

Colgate

Class of 1965 Arena Attendance: 1,373

Game reference
	Aerin Frankel	Goalies	Julia Vandyk	Referees: Chris Katyl Todd Plouffe Linesmen: Jodi Place Mike Bontatibus
	0–1 29:07 – pp – Wilson-Bennett (Zafuto, Eldridge) Renner (Kelly, Hartman) – 31:24 1–1 1–2 41:37 – Zafuto (Perry) 1–3 59:10 – Larson
	12 min	Penalties	6 min
	24	Shots	36

National Semifinals

(1) Clarkson vs. Ohio State

March 16 4:03

Ohio State

0–1 (OT) (0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Clarkson

Ridder Arena

Game reference
	Kassidy Sauvé	Goalies	Shea Tiley	Referees: Chris Katyl Todd Plouffe Linesmen: Mike Bontatibus Jodi Price
	0–1 76:12 – Gabel (Giguère, Pejzliva)
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	41	Shots	34

(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) Colgate

March 16 7:51

Colgate

4–3 (2OT) (1–0, 1–1, 1–2, 0–0, 1–0)

Wisconsin

Ridder Arena Attendance: 3,369

Game reference
	Julia Vandyk	Goalies	Kristen Campbell	Referees: Chris Leavitt MacKenzie Williams Linesmen: Timothy Daley John Mulroy
	Wilson-Bennett (Zafuto, Sullivan) – 16:43 1–0 1–1 26:22 Wellhausen (Roque) Wilson-Bennett (Sullivan, Eldridge) – pp – 39:30 2–1 2–2 46:37 – pp – Kepler (Rolfes, Cogan) Eldridge (Wilson-Bennett, Zafuto) – pp – 54:13 3–2 3–3 56:36 – Steffen (Bowlby, Norby) Wilson-Bennett (Perry, Wildfang) – pp – 96:03 4–3
	8 min	Penalties	6 min
	24	Shots	48

National Championship

(1) Clarkson vs. (3) Colgate

March 18 2:03

Colgate

1–2 (OT) (0–1, 1–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Clarkson

Ridder Arena Attendance: 2,992

Game reference
	Julia Vandyk	Goalies	Shea Tiley	Referees: Scott Roth Robert Ludwig Linesmen: Mike Mueller Glendon Seal
	0–1 16:29 – Vinkle (Mariani) Schneider (Zafuto, Wilson-Bennett) 1–1 1–2 67:55 – Giguère
	8 min	Penalties	6 min
	28	Shots	37

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

1. "Committee releases eight-team field for national championship tournament". NCAA.com. NCAA. March 5, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
2. "Women's Ice Hockey Bracket". NCAA.com. NCAA. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
3. "College hockey: Women's Frozen Four to air on Big Ten Network". NCAA.com. NCAA. February 9, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
4. "NCAA Women's Frozen Four Records Book" (PDF). NCAA.org. March 19, 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.