 |  |
Cornell, Harvard Make Eight-Team National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship
INDIANAPOLIS -- Cornell and Harvard are among the eight team that will be competing for the 13th National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship, as announced by the National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Committee on Sunday evening.
Fresh off its ECAC Women's Hockey Championship win, the Big Red (27-5-1, 18-3-1 ECAC Hockey, 8-1-1 Ivy League) is seeded No. 2 in the bracket and will host Mercyhurt to open the tournament. The Crimson (24-6-3, 17-3-2 ECACH, 8-1-1 Ivy) will not have to go far for its opening quarterfinal contest, taking on No. 4 seed Boston College. Cornell and Harvard shared the Ivy League title this season and the Big Red bested the Crimson in the ECAC Women's Hockey Championship final just prior to the bracket announcement.
In other quarterfinal action, top-seeded Minnesota will host North Dakota, while third-seeded Boston University will host Clarkson. The dates and times of the quarterfinal games will be announced later tonight or on Monday.
The quarterfinals will be played Saturday, March 16 on the campuses of the participating institutions, while the 2013 Women's Frozen Four will be hosted by the Minnesota, March 22 and 24, at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. The winning team from each quarterfinal will advance to the Women's Frozen Four.
Minnesota enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will host North Dakota on Saturday at 5 pm (ET). No. 2-seeded Cornell will host Mercyhurst on Saturday at 1 pm. Boston University enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed, and will host Clarkson on Saturday at 3 pm. Boston College, the No. 4 seed, will take on Harvard on Saturday at 1 pm.
The semifinal games will be played at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, March 22. The championship game will be played live at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 24.
Minnesota will look to continue its NCAA record 46-game winning streak in next weekend's quarterfinal competition. The Golden Gophers are also the defending Women's Frozen Four champions, defeating Wisconsin 4-2 in last year's championship game.
