Friendship Four

The Friendship Four is an annual mid-season college ice hockey tournament that has been held since 2015 at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland with the winner receiving the Belpot Trophy. It is currently the only college ice hockey tournament to take place outside of the United States.

Friendship Four

Tournament information
Sport	College ice hockey
Location	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Number of tournaments	7
Format	Men: Single-elimination Women: Two-game total-goals (2019–2024), Single-elimination (2025–present)
Venue	SSE Arena Belfast
Teams	4
Current champion
Men: Boston University Women: Princeton

History

The tournament began as a way to foster stronger economic development, trade and investment, tourism, cultural exchange, and educational linkages between the sister cities of Boston and Belfast.^[1] Each year four teams are selected to participate in the tournament which is typically held on the same weekend as Thanksgiving in the United States. As of 2024, all games have been played at the SSE Arena Belfast while all participating schools came from the eastern region between 2015 and 2024. While only two participating universities have come from Boston, many more have come from the same general region.

After the 2020 and 2021 series were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Friendship Four was announced on December 4, 2021.^[2] The series continued in 2024,^[3] and is set to be played as a full women's tournament in 2025 after three previous two-team women's contests in 2019–20 and 2024.^[4]

Yearly results

Men's Tournament

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth place	Ref
2015	Massachusetts–Lowell	Brown	Northeastern	Colgate	[5]
2016	Vermont	Quinnipiac	Massachusetts and St. Lawrence (tie)		[6]
2017	Clarkson	Providence	Maine	Rensselaer	[7]
2018	Union	Boston University	Yale	Connecticut	[8]
2019	Northeastern	Colgate	New Hampshire	Princeton	[9]
2022	Quinnipiac	Massachusetts	Massachusetts Lowell	Dartmouth	[10]
2024	Boston University	Notre Dame	Harvard	Merrimack	[11]

Women's Tournament

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth Place	Ref
2019	Northeastern	Clarkson	Only two women's teams contested the Friendship Series between 2019–2024.		[12]
2020	Quinnipiac	Merrimack			[13]
2024	Princeton	Providence			[14]

Upcoming tournaments

Men's Tournament

Year	Team 1	Team 2	Team 3	Team 4	Ref
2025	Miami	RIT	Sacred Heart	Union	[15]
2026	Colgate	Minnesota Duluth	Providence	UConn	[15]
2027	North Dakota	Northeastern	Quinnipiac	Wisconsin	[15]
2028	Dartmouth	Maine	Notre Dame	Omaha	[15]

Women's Tournament

Year	Team 1	Team 2	Team 3	Team 4	Ref
2025	Boston University	Harvard	Minnesota Duluth	Quinnipiac	[15]