2021 NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey tournament

The 2021 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament was a single-elimination tournament by eight schools to determine the national champion of women's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. The quarterfinals were played at the Erie Insurance Arena on March 15 and 16, 2021, with the Frozen Four played on March 18 and 20, 2021 at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Pennsylvania. Daryl Watts of the Wisconsin Badgers scored the tournament winning goal in a 2–1 overtime win against the Northeastern Huskies.^[1]

2021 NCAA National Collegiate women's
ice hockey tournament

Teams	8
Finals site	Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, Pennsylvania
Champions	Wisconsin Badgers (6th title)
Runner-up	Northeastern Huskies (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Ohio State Buckeyes (2nd Frozen Four) Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (9th Frozen Four)
Winning coach	Mark Johnson (6th title)
MOP	Makenna Webster (Wisconsin)
Attendance	3,016, 778 for Championship Game
← 2020  NCAA women's ice hockey tournaments 2022 →

Qualifying teams

Northeastern

Wisconsin

Ohio State

Colgate

Minnesota Duluth

Boston College

Providence

Robert Morris

2021 Qualifying Teams
WCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, CHA

In the sixth year under this qualification format, the winners of all four Division I conference tournaments received automatic berths to the NCAA tournament. The other four teams were selected at-large. The top four teams were then seeded.

Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type	Appearance	Last bid
1	Northeastern	Hockey East	20–1–1	Tournament champion	5th	2020
2	Wisconsin	WCHA	12–3–1	Tournament champion	15th	2020
3	Ohio State	WCHA	12–6	At-large bid	3rd	2020
4	Colgate	ECAC	15–6–1	Tournament champion	2nd	2018
	Minnesota Duluth	WCHA	11–6	At-large bid	12th	2019
	Boston College	Hockey East	14–5	At-large bid	12th	2019
	Providence	Hockey East	12–7–1	At-large bid	2nd	2005
	Robert Morris	CHA	16–7–1	Tournament champion	2nd	2017

Bracket

	National Quarterfinals March 15 & March 16[2] NCAA.com					National Semifinals March 18 ESPN3/ESPNU					National Championship March 20 ESPNU
	1	Northeastern	5
	8	Robert Morris	1
						1	Northeastern	3*
						5	Minnesota Duluth	2
	4	Colgate	0
	5	Minnesota Duluth	1*
											1	Northeastern	1
											2	Wisconsin	2*
	3	Ohio State	3
	6	Boston College	1
						3	Ohio State	2
						2	Wisconsin	4
	2	Wisconsin	3
	7	Providence	0

Note: each * denotes one overtime period

Results

National Quarterfinals

(1) Northeastern vs. Robert Morris

March 15 2:00

Robert Morris

1–5 (0–1, 1–2, 0–2)

Northeastern

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 378

Game reference
	Raygan Kirk	Goalies	Aerin Frankel	Referees: Sarma Ozmen Mike Kaehler Linesmen: Ron Laturi Glen Hagberg
	0–1 7:57 – Aurard (Müller) 0–2 28:18 – Fontaine (Aurard) Curlett (Harley, Templeman) – pp – 39:03 1–2 1–3 39:56 – Müller (Fontaine, Murphy) 1–4 47:11 – Cipra 1–5 54:09 – Fontaine (Knoll, Renner)
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	21	Shots	46

(2) Wisconsin vs. Providence

March 16 2:00

Providence

0–3 0–1 / 0–0 / 0–2

Wisconsin

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 217

Game reference
	Sandra Abstreiter	Goalies	Kennedy Blair	Referees: James Visconte Todd Plouffe Linesmen: Brian Kimmins Michael Bontatibus
	0–1 12:54 – Pettet (Bowlby, Curl) 0–2 43:35 – Shirley (Curl) 0–3 58:23 – pp, en – Shirley (Watts)
	8 min	Penalties	2 min
	12	Shots	44

(3) Ohio State vs. Boston College

March 16 7:00

Ohio State

3–1 (0–1, 2–0, 1–0)

Boston College

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 478

Game reference
	Andrea Brändli	Goalies	Abbey Levy	Referees: Katy Guay Derek Zuckerman Linesmen: Coby Mason Ryan Chauvin
	0–1 9:15 – Norcross (Bilka, Browne Buglioni (Schepers, Skaggs) – pp – 36:33 1–1 Bink (Levis, Bizal) – 39:23 2–1 Rosenthal (Skaggs, Maltais) – 53:30 3–1
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	13	Shots	48

(4) Colgate vs. Minnesota Duluth

March 15 7:00

Minnesota Duluth

1–0 (OT) (0–0, 0–0, 0–0, 1–0)

Colgate

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 487

Game reference
	Emma Söderberg	Goalies	Kayle Osborne	Referees: Chelsea Rapin Kelly Cooke Linesmen: Steven Saul Evan Cook
	66:39 – Bell 1–0
	2 min	Penalties
	30	Shots	30

National Semifinals

(1) Northeastern vs. Minnesota Duluth

March 18

Minnesota Duluth

2–3 (OT) (0–0, 2–0, 0–2, 0–1)

Northeastern

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 299

Game reference
	Emma Söderberg	Goalies	Aerin Frankel	Referees: Katie Guay Derek Zuckerman Linesmen: Coby Munson Ryan Chauvin
	McMahon (Skinner, Van Wieren) – 30:03 1–0 Anderson (Klein, Flaherty) – 35:30 2–0 2–1 40:42 – pp – Murphy (Fontaine, Hobson) 2–2 45:30 – Knoll (Renner, Pettey) 2–3 79:33 – Fontaine
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	28	Shots	47

(2) Wisconsin vs. (3) Ohio St.

March 18 12:00

Ohio State

2–4 (0–1, 1–2, 1–1)

Wisconsin

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 379

Game reference
	Andrea Brändli	Goalies	Kennedy Blair	Referees: Chelsea Rapin Kelly Cooke Linesmen: Steven Saul Evan Cooke
	0–1 01:19 – Webster – (O'Brien, Schneider) 0–2 01:58 – O'Brien (Schneider) 0–3 08:21 – Schneider (O'Brien, Webster) Rosenthal (Brengman, Bizal) – 14:00 1–3 Säkkinen (Levis, Bink) – 07:55 2–3 2–4 19:46.1 – en – Watts
	2 min	Penalties	6 min
	39	Shots	23

National Championship

trophy received by Wisconsin

(1) Northeastern vs. (2) Wisconsin

March 20 7:30

Wisconsin

2–1 (OT) (0–0, 0–0, 1–1, 1–0)

Northeastern

Erie Insurance Arena Attendance: 778

Game reference
	Kennedy Blair	Goalies	Aerin Frankel	Referees: Katie Guay Derek Zuckerman Linesmen: Coby Munson Ryan Chauvin
	Webster (O'Brien) – 11:00 1–0 1–1 11:39 – Aurard (Müller, Hobson) Watts (LaMantia) – 03:16 2–1
	10 min	Penalties	2 min
	37	Shots	25

Media

Television

ESPN had US television rights to the semifinals and national championship after entering into a multi-year contract to carry the event.^[3] The Quarterfinals were streamed on ncaa.com while ESPNU and ESPN3 carried the Women's Frozen Four and Championship.^[4]

Broadcast assignments

Quarterfinals

• Scott Sudikoff and Kelly Schultz

Women's Frozen Four and Championship

• Clay Matvick and A. J. Mleczko

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• G: Aerin Frankel, Northeastern
• D: Ashton Bell, Minnesota Duluth
• D: Skylar Fontaine, Northeastern
• F: Alina Müller, Northeastern
• F: Caitlin Schneider, Wisconsin
• F: Makenna Webster*, Wisconsin

* Most Outstanding Player^[5]

See also

• 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
• NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament