Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Cornell fight for 2025 NCAA women’s Frozen Four title

The NCAA Division I women’s Frozen Four kicks off on Friday as Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota and Cornell fight for the 2025 national championship.

Subscribe to TSN+ to watch NCAA Frozen Four semifinals action starting at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT with Cornell taking on Ohio State and Wisconsin facing Minnesota at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT.

No. 1 seed Wisconsin comes in as the tournament favourite after a regular season where the Badgers went 36-1-2. They clinched their spot in the Frozen Four after a 4-1 victory over Clarkson University.

The Badgers boast all three finalists for this year’s Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top women’s Division I hockey player, with forwards Laila Edwards and Casey O’Brien, as well as defender Caroline Harvey, up for the honour.

O’Brien finished the season as the NCAA’s top scorer with 85 points in 39 games as a fifth-year senior, finishing 18 points ahead of teammate Kirsten Simms (67) while Edwards had 31 goals and 66 points in 39 games this season as a third-year player.

Harvey was the top-scoring defender in the nation in 2024-25, scoring 16 goals with 58 points as a junior this season.

Goaltender Ava McNaughton parlayed a sophomore season where she recorded a .947 save percentage and 1.17 goals-against average into a NCAA women’s goalie of the year nomination and a spot on the Women’s Worlds roster for Team USA for the first time alongside Edwards and Harvey.

The Ohio State Buckeyes look to defend their national title after going 28-7-3 this season and securing their fifth consecutive Frozen Four appearance after a 6-1 victory over St. Lawrence.

Forward Joy Dunne led the team in scoring with 58 points in 38 games this season while Canadian Jocelyn Amos led the team in goals with 27 and was second in team scoring with 50. Ohio State captain Jenna Buglioni, who hails from Port Moody, B.C., had 17 goals and 40 points in 34 games.

Wisconsin and Ohio State has been the championship game matchup the past two seasons, and they have taken turns winning the title in recent years with the Badgers taking it in 2021 and 2023 and the Buckeyes winning in 2022 and 2024.

For Minnesota (29-11-1) who is doubling as tournament host, senior forward Abbey Murphy led the nation in goals with 33 in 41 games this season, including scoring twice in the 3-2 win over Colgate on Saturday.

Canadian teenage phenom Chloe Primerano turned in a strong rookie season with Minnesota and is currently riding a four-game point streak heading into the Frozen Four. The 18-year-old defender has five goals and 31 points in 34 games this season and had two assists against Colgate.

After missing the Frozen Four last year, Minnesota is looking to be in the national championship game for the first time since 2019.

Cornell goaltender Annelies Bergmann is one of the three finalists for goaltender of the year and will be critical for a Big Red squad that didn’t have one player reach 30 points on the season (Canadian forward Avi Adam came the closest with 29 in 34 games).

She backstopped Cornell to a 1-0 win over Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA regional final with a 28-save performance as the Big Red qualify for their first Frozen Four appearance since 2019. Her league-leading 10 shutouts helped Cornell to a 25-4-5 record this season.

In NCAA women’s Frozen Four history, Wisconsin leads all schools with seven national championships. Ohio State has won both their titles in the past three years while Minnesota has not won since they went back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.

Cornell is the only team in this year’s tournament without a Frozen Four title, with their lone appearance in the championship game coming back in 2010 when they lost in triple overtime to Minnesota-Duluth.

Watch the NCAA women’s Frozen Four championship game on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on TSN+.