Ohio State captured a second consecutive No. 1 seed for the 2024 NCAA women's college hockey tournament, where the Buckeyes will seek revenge after last year's championship game loss.
The Buckeyes (32-4-0) took first place in Sunday's selection show despite losing to No. 2 seed Wisconsin (33-5-0) in Friday's WCHA final. That loss had to spark memories at Ohio State of falling to the Badgers 1-0 in the 2023 tournament final. That secured a record seventh championship for Wisconsin, and the Badgers could be on another collision course with Ohio State.
Colgate (33-5-0) is the No. 3 seed, followed by Clarkson (32-4-2) at No. 4 and Minnesota (27-9-2) at No. 5.
In the single-elimination format, the top four finishers will host regional action Thursday through Sunday.
The first round, all Thursday, will feature Minnesota-Duluth (20-13-4) against UConn (25-7-5), Cornell (24-7-1) against Stonehill (21-15-2) and St. Lawrence (27-10-0) will face Penn State (22-12-3). Those winners will advance to face Ohio State, Wisconsin and Colgate, respectively, in second-round matchups, when Clarkson and Minnesota will also meet.
The Frozen Four and championship game will take place March 22-24 at the Whittemore Center in Durham, New Hampshire.
This is the third season with an expanded 11-team format for women. Five teams receive automatic bids upon winning their conference tournaments, and the other six are decided by a selection committee.
Ohio State and Wisconsin will once again be the favorites to reach the finals after impressive regular seasons. The Badgers lead the country in scoring this season thanks in large part to sophomore Kirsten Simms, who led all WCHA skaters in points and was named the league's player of the year. This is the fourth time in six years a Badger has earned that honor.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes were WCHA regular season champions for the second straight year and might even be deeper now than when they won the program's first national title in 2022. The Buckeyes feature excellent goaltending from Raygan Kirk, who was named finalist for women's hockey goalie of the year.
Colgate's strength projects to be its special teams prowess. The Raiders lead all teams with 43 power play goals on the season and are fifth overall in penalty kills.
Clarkson features a top-notch defense and excellent goaltending from Michelle Pasiechnyk (another goalie of the year finalist). Minnesota is back in the tournament despite losing 11 graduating players and has the highest power play percentage in the country (37.1%). Both UConn and Stonehill are making their first NCAA tournament appearances.
