Semifinal pregame events – Friday, March 21
Fan Gathering at Stub & Herb's – Join Gopher Athletics at Stub & Herb's in Stadium Village (NE corner of Washington Ave. and Oak Street) on Friday for the official fan gathering before the Gophers' semifinal game! Festivities start at 4 p.m.!
Red Carpet Arrival – Cheer on the Gophers as they arrive at Ridder Arena before their matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers! The exact timing is still to be announced, but we will shared it when it becomes available. Regardless, we are inviting the Maroon & Gold fanbase to join us, the Pep Band and Goldy along the carpets to welcome the team into the arena!
More details about all the events can be found on the Postseason Central page on GopherSports.com.
2025 NCAA Frozen Four – Ridder Arena
Semifinals – Friday, March 21
#2 Ohio State (28-7-3) vs. #3 Cornell (25-4-5) – 4:00 pm CDT
#1 Wisconsin (36-1-2) vs. #4 Minnesota (29-11-1) – 7:30 pm CDT
Championship – Sunday, March 23 at 3:00 pm CDT
The NCAA Frozen Four is back at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis for the first time since 2018, and the Gopher Women's Hockey team is back in the semifinals after missing the event last year. Minnesota will square off against top-seeded Wisconsin in their sixth head-to-head meeting of the season, playing in the second semifinal on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. That game will follow the first semifinal between second-seeded Ohio State and #3 Cornell at 4:00 p.m. The winners will advance to Sunday's title game, March 23 at 3:00 p.m.
SOLD OUT – Again, the U. of M. Ticket Office reported this past Thursday that the Frozen Four is sold out. Single-session tickets may be available on the secondary markets, such as SeatGeek, but at a premium.
Video streaming of both semifinal games will be on ESPN+:
The National Championship Game will be broadcast live on ESPNU and also streamed on ESPN+. The trophy presentation will be streamed here.
Audio coverage with play-by-play man Dan Hamann for the Gophers' semifinal against the Badgers can be found on GopherSports.com.
How they got here...
Minnesota holds off Colgate for quarterfinal victory at Ridder
Abbey Murphy netted a pair of power-play goals and a shot from Sydney Morrow hit the pipe and the goaltender on its way into the net to extend Minnesota's lead to 3-0 over Colgate after two periods. The Raiders battled back with two 3rd-period goals to cut their deficit to one with 9 minutes to play, but they were unable to find the equalizer as Hannah Clark posted a 24-save performance for the 3-2 victory. Colgate netminder Hannah Murphy stopped 41 shots.
Wisconsin earned the top seed for the NCAA Tournament. Hosting First Round winner Clarkson in the quarterfinals, the Badgers trailed 1-0 after a power-play goal by the Golden Knights' Nicole Gosling. But Wisconsin responded with two goals in the second period and two more in the third for a 4-1 victory to advance. Kelly Gorbatenko netted the game-winning goal, Lacey Eden tallied a short-handed, empty-net goal after an earlier assist, and Ava McNaughton made 19 saves for the win.
Ohio State was seeded #2 for the tournament. Hosting St. Lawrence, who knocked off Penn State in the First Round, the Buckeyes also found themselves trailing 1-0 when Aly McLeod scored on a power play for the Saints. But the Buckeyes responded with six unanswered goals for a 6-1 win; Sloane Matthews and Joy Dunne put them ahead before the first intermission, and they netted four more in the third period including Dunne's second of the game. Amanda Thiele needed only 13 saves for the victory.
Cornell entered the NCAA Tournament as both the regular-season and conference tournament champions from the ECAC, earning the #3-seed. They faced Minnesota Duluth in the quarterfinals after the Bulldogs defeated Sacred Heart 6-1 in the First Round. The game between the Big Red and Bulldogs remained scoreless through the first 40 minutes, but Cornell's Alyssa Regalado scored 3:24 into the third and that was all goaltender Annelies Bergmann needed, posting a 28-save shutout for a 1-0 victory. Ève Gascon made 20 saves for UMD.
Frozen Four Semifinal Matchups
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin – The Gophers are winless against the Badgers this season (0-5), and are looking to break that streak in the most important meeting of the year. During the regular season, Wisconsin posted 5-0 & 4-3 wins at Ridder in October, 8-2 & 6-1 victories in Madison. Meeting again in the WCHA Championship Game two weekends ago in Duluth, the teams exchanged leads before Sarah Wozniewicz lit the lamp for the Badgers with 25 seconds remaining for a 4-3 win.
Sydney Morrow is the only Gopher with multiple goals against Wisconsin this year, netting 3 while adding two assists for 5 points. Chloe Primerano has four helpers across the five previous games, while Ella Huber has a goal & two helpers and Natalie Mlynkova has a goal and an assist. Notably, the Badgers have held Abbey Murphy to only two assists this year. In net for Minnesota, Hannah Clark has a 5.20 goals-against average and an .853 save percentage in the Border Battle. Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien has posted a whopping 6 goals and 9 assists, Caroline Harvey has 9 helpers, Kirsten Simms has a goal & 7 assists, and Laila Edwards has lit the lamp 4 times with 3 assists. Ava McNaughton has a 1.81 GAA and a .929 SV% against the Gophers.
Ohio State vs. Cornell – While the Buckeyes are in the Frozen Four for the 5th-consecutive year, the Big Red are making their first appearance at the event since 2019. The two teams have never previously met in the postseason; they have a 3-3-0 head-to-head all-time record, though OSU earned a road sweep in Ithica in their last two meetings in December 2022.
The biggest storyline of this semifinal will be Cornell's NCAA second-best scoring defense, allowing only 1.38 goals per game, facing Ohio State's second-best scoring offense, netting 3.89 GPG. For the Buckeyes, sophomore Joy Dunne was the youngest of this year's Patty Kazmaier Award Top-10 Finalists, recording 58 points on 26 goals and 32 assists, while classmate Jocelyne Amos has also reached the 50-point mark with 27 goals and 23 assists. The Big Red have very distributed scoring with 8 players each having 20+ points, led by junior Avi Adam's 29 points (10g, 19a) and freshman Lindzi Avar's 15 goals. At the other end, though, Cornell sophomore netminder Annelies Bergmann is 25-4-5 with 10 shutouts, a .945 save percentage, and a 1.28 goals-against average, and has been named a top-3 finalist for National Goaltender of the Year by the Hockey Commissioners Association.
Frost named finalist for Division I Coach of the Year
We send our congratulations to Gopher Women's Hockey head coach Brad Frost, who was named a finalist for the 2024-2025 Division I Women's Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association yesterday. Frost is a two-time Coach of the Year honoree, having won in 2013 and 2014, and qualified as a finalist this year by reaching the NCAA semifinals. As noted in the press release, the award will be presented on May 5 at the AHCA Convention.
Wethington earns volunteerism and civic engagement honor while setting new Gopher program record for games played
We also congratulate fifth-year forward Audrey Wethington for two items on recognition!
Wethington was named one of 20 student-athletes across collegiate winter sports selected to the Inaugural Good Works Winter Team, as announced by Allstate and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) last Wednesday, March 12. The team was chosen from a pool of nearly 200 nominees named last month.
Meanwhile, Wethington also set a new Minnesota Women's Hockey record for games played wearing the Maroon & Gold. Last Saturday's quarterfinal against Colgate was Wethington's 174th collegiate appearance, moving her ahead of her sister, Madeline, and Taylor Heise (173 games apiece). In those 174 games, Audrey has recorded 72 points on 21 goals and 51 assists.
Congratulations on the honor, Audrey, and thank you!!
Murphy continues climb up GWH all-time goal scoring list
With two more goals in last Saturday's NCAA Regional Final against Colgate, Abbey Murphy continued her ascent up Minnesota Women's Hockey's all-time career goal scoring list.
Murphy's first goal of the game was the 102nd of her career, moving her into a tie with Gopher great Natalie Darwitz for sixth place. However, Abbey took sole possession of that spot by netting goal #103 later in the contest.
Murphy now sits three goals behind Krissy Wendell (106) for fifth all-time.
Alumni news: Morgan signs with PWHL's Ottawa Charge
Finally, we send a shout-out to Gopher Women's Hockey alumna Lucy Morgan, who signed a Standard Player Agreement with the PWHL Ottawa Charge last Friday. No contract terms were disclosed, but Morgan fills the roster spot which opened when Emerance Maschmeyer was placed on long-term injured reserve by the Charge.
Ottawa is the second stop for Morgan this season. A reserve signee for the Minnesota Frost at the start of the year, she was signed to a 10-day contract by the Frost on January 2 and appeared as the starter for their game on January 4 against New York.
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