Gophers Receive No. 4 Seed in NCAA Women's Hockey Tournament

Originally posted on Minnesota Golden Gophers on SI
By Joe Nelson | Last updated Mar 8, 2026 12:39 PM ET

The 11-team National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship bracket has been revealed, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers received the No. 4 seed. They will face No. 5 Northeastern in the opening round this week.

The top-five seeds went to No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Minnesota, and No. 5 Northeastern, while Minnesota-Duluth, Yale, UConn, Princeton, Quinnipaic, and Franklin Pierce are in as unseeded competitors.

Regionals will be played Thursday through Sunday, followed by the Frozen Four March 20-22 at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Minnesota-Duluth will play in Columbus, Ohio, against Yale. That game starts at 5 p.m. CT on Thursday. The winner will face Ohio State at 5 p.m. CT Friday with a trip to the regional final on the line.

Minnesota will face Northeastern at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on Friday. The puck drops at 2 p.m. CT. If the Gophers win, they'll play in the regional final on Sunday against whoever comes out of the top half of the bracket between Ohio State, Minnesota-Duluth, and Yale.

At 18-9-1, the Gophers finished third in the WCHA, behind Wisconsin (23-3-2) and Ohio State (24-4-0). UMD finished fourth in the WCHA with a record of 15-10-3.

Minnesota's Abbey Murphy, who won a gold medal with Team USA at the Milano Cortina Olympics, is second in the nation with 38 goals. Only Quinnipiac's Kahlen Lamarche has more with 42, though Lamarche played 39 games compared to 30 for Murphy.

The only tournament teams the Gophers have played this season are Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota-Duluth. They went 2-2 against the Badgers; 2-0-2 against UMD; and 1-4 versus the Buckeyes, including a 4-0 loss in the WCHA tournament semifinals.

Ohio State then defeated Wisconsin 2-1 to win the WCHA tournament.

This article first appeared on Minnesota Golden Gophers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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