The 2026 NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey tournament was a single-elimination tournament by eleven schools to help determine the national champion of women's NCAA Division I college ice hockey for the 2025–26 season. This was the fifth year the tournament features an expanded field of 11 teams. The first round and quarterfinals were played on the campuses of the top 4 seeded teams on March 12 and March 14, 2026, while the Frozen Four is set to be played on March 20 and 22, 2026 at Pegula Ice Arena in College Township, Pennsylvania with a University Park mailing address. Franklin Pierce made their first tournament appearance in school history while Penn State reached the Frozen Four for the first time ever. For the fourth consecutive year, the Wisconsin Badgers met the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championship.
During the National Semifinal between Penn State and Wisconsin, a new women's Frozen Four attendance record was set at 5,176.
Qualifying teams
In the fifth year under this qualification format, the winners of all five Division I conference tournaments will receive automatic berths to the NCAA tournament. The other six teams will be selected at-large. The top five teams are also seeded. SeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth typeAppearanceLast bid1Ohio StateWCHA34–4–0Tournament champion8th20252WisconsinWCHA32–4–2At-large bid20th20253Penn StateAHA32–5–0Tournament champion4th20254MinnesotaWCHA26–11–1At-large bid23rd20255NortheasternHockey East28–8–1At-large bid8th2023ConnecticutHockey East27–8–2Tournament champion2nd2024Franklin PierceNEWHA23–11–2Tournament champion1stNeverMinnesota DuluthWCHA20–14–3At-large bid17th2025PrincetonECAC23–10–0At-large bid5th2020QuinnipiacECAC28–8–3Tournament champion5th2023YaleECAC25–9–0At-large bid3rd2023
Bids by state BidsStateSchool(s)3ConnecticutUConn, Yale, Quinnipiac2MinnesotaMinnesota, Minnesota Duluth1New HampshireFranklin PierceMassachusettsNortheastern New Jersey PrincetonOhioOhio State Pennsylvania Penn State Wisconsin Wisconsin
Bracket Note: * denotes one overtime period
Results First Round Franklin Pierce vs. Quinnipiac
Princeton vs. UConn
Minnesota Duluth vs. Yale
Quarterfinals Yale at (1) Ohio State
(5) Northeastern at (4) Minnesota
UConn at (3) Penn State
Quinnipiac at (2) Wisconsin
Semifinals (5) Northeastern vs. (1) Ohio State
(3) Penn State vs. (2) Wisconsin
Championship (2) Wisconsin vs. (1) Ohio State
Tournament awards All-Tournament Team G: Ava McNaughton*, Wisconsin D: Caroline Harvey, Wisconsin D: Emma Peschel, Ohio State F: Laila Edwards, Wisconsin F: Tessa Janecke: Penn State F: Kirsten Simms, Wisconsin * Most Outstanding Player
References
Game references