The 2026 NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament was a tournament to determine the Division III national champion in women’s ice hockey. This was the twenty-sixth (twenty-fifth completed) time a national championship tournament at the Division III level had been held and was the twenty-fourth (twenty-third completed) one sanctioned by the NCAA.
Format
Thirteen teams qualified for the single elimination tournament. This year’s tournament field expanded by one team from the previous tournament held in 2025. The conference tournament champions of the CNE, MAC, MIAC, NCHA, NESCAC, SUNYAC, and UCHC received automatic bids to the tournament. Six at-large bids were also selected. At-large bids and seeding were selected according to the NPI (NCAA Power Index), which uses different dials and formulas to calculate who participates for the national championship. The Little East Conference started sponsoring women’s hockey in the 2025-26 season, but would not be eligible for an automatic bid until the 2027-28 season.
The first round games will be held at campus sites on March 14. The quarterfinal games were held at campus sites on March 21. The semifinal and final rounds were held March 27 and 29 at Hunt Arena of University of Wisconsin-River Falls, the highest remaining seed in the tournament.
Bids
Automatic Bids
- Conference of New England champion: Endicott Gulls (5th appearance)
- Middle Atlantic Conference champion: Wilkes Colonels (2nd appearance)
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion: Saint Benedict Bennies (1st appearance)
- New England Small College Athletic Conference champion: Amherst Mammoths (11th appearance)
- Northern Collegiate Hockey Association champion: Adrian Bulldogs (9th appearance)
- State University of New York Athletic Conference champion: Plattsburgh Cardinals (21st appearance)
- United Collegiate Hockey Conference champion: Elmira Soaring Eagles (20th appearance)
At-Large Bids
- Augsburg Auggies – MIAC (2nd appearance^)
- Hamline Pipers – MIAC (3rd appearance)
- Nazareth Golden Flyers – UCHC (5th appearance)
- Norwich Cadets – LEC (13th appearance)
- Williams Ephs – NESCAC (4th appearance^)
- Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons – WIAC (17th appearance)
^ = Augsburg & Williams each appeared in 1 of 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
Misc.
- Eight of the thirteen schools who earned bids appeared in the previous NCAA tournament.
- This is the 14th of an active 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for Plattsburgh.
- This is the 7th of an active 7 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for UW-River Falls.
- This is the 5th of an active 5 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for Nazareth.
- This is the 4th of an active 4 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance streak for Amherst.
- The NESCAC earns multiple bids for the sixth straight tournament.
- The MIAC earns multiple bids for the second straight tournament, and earns three bids for the first time in history.
- Saint Benedict makes their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
- Hamline and Williams both make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019.
- Hunt Arena of UW-River Falls becomes the second rink to ever host three consecutive Frozen Fours, with the prior two held at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena of SUNY Plattsburgh, who hosted three straight from 2006-2008, and 2014-2016.
- Gustavus and Middlebury both miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
- In an unprecedented move, the NCAA committee created a fully true-to-seed bracket, with each seed playing the correct opponent.
- Despite positive changes in the past, there had never been a bracket created with true “bracket integrity,” which forced three flights in Round 1, and ultimately, two additional flights in the quarterfinals.
Seeding (Determined by NPI Rankings)
- UW-River Falls (27-1-0)
- Norwich (25-2-0)
- Nazareth (25-1-1)
- Amherst (19-2-6)
- Augsburg (21-4-1)
- Wilkes (24-1-1)
- Hamline (20-5-1)
- Williams (17-4-5)
- Plattsburgh (20-6-1)
- Endicott (21-4-2)
- Adrian (24-5-0)
- Elmira (19-5-2)
- Saint Benedict (16-7-4)
Results
First Round
Held at campus sites
-Orr Rink- Amherst, MA
-Lansing Chapman Rink- Williamstown, MA
-Toyota Sportsplex- Wilkes-Barre, PA
-TRIA Rink- St. Paul, MN
-Ed Saugestad Rink- Minneapolis, MN
Quarterfinals
Held at campus sites
-Orr Rink- Amherst, MA
-Kreitzberg Arena- Northfield, VT
-Rochester Ice Center- Rochester, NY*
-Hunt Arena- River Falls, WI
Semifinals
Hosted by UW-River Falls: Hunt Arena- River Falls, WI
Championship
Hosted by UW-River Falls: Hunt Arena- River Falls, WI
2026 NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey National Champion Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons
Bracket
Tournament Notes
- UWRF goes back-to-back-to-back for the program’s 3rd consecutive and 3rd overall national championship.
- UWRF’s repeat becomes the 3rd time a program has won at least three consecutive national titles in Division III women’s hockey.
- The Falcons become the first program to win three in a row since Plattsburgh’s four-peat from 2014-2017.
- UWRF wins all three titles on home ice, becoming the second program to win three consecutive titles, all on home ice.
- The Falcons are the first team to accomplish this since Plattsburgh did it from 2014-2016.
- After 21 consecutive champions from the East region, UWRF brings home the fourth consecutive national title for the West region, following the last two seasons’ UWRF titles, and Gustavus in 2023.
- Nazareth finishes as national runner-up for the 1st time in program history, marking a new program record.
- With Hunt Arena hosting, the championship is held in the west region in three consecutive years for the first time in history.
- Norwich reaches the program’s 8th Frozen Four, and first since their national title in 2018.
- Amherst reaches the program’s 6th Frozen Four, and third in the last four seasons, losing two national title game appearances in that stretch.
- With UWRF reaching the title game, 8 of the previous 9 national title games have featured 1 west team, after having just one western championship game appearance in the first 14 NCAA title games.
- Dating back to the dawn of Division III women’s hockey, this marked the first time that a Frozen Four did not include one of Elmira, Gustavus, Middlebury, or Plattsburgh.
Statistics
Skaters
Top Scorers |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Pos. | Yr. | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | SOG | BLK |
| Sophia Hess | UW-River Falls | F | Fr. | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | +2 | 6 | 20 | 2 |
| Meredith Boettcher | Nazareth | F | Jr. | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 0 | 10 | 7 |
| Maeve Reynolds | Amherst | F | Sr. | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | +2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| MaKenna Aure | UW-River Falls | D | Sr. | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +3 | 0 | 9 | 6 |
| Megan Goodreau | UW-River Falls | F | Sr. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +2 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| Gretchen Dann | Amherst | D | Sr. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| Bea Flynn | Amherst | F | So. | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 | 0 | 20 | 4 |
Goaltending
Top Goaltenders (minimum 110 minutes played) |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Yr. | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| Jordan O'Kane | UW-River Falls | Sr. | 3 | 3 | 0 | 90 | 1 | 0.34 | 0.989 | 2 | 179:06 |
| Kendra Nordick | Hamline | Sr. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 42 | 1 | 0.51 | 0.976 | 1 | 118:04 |
| Erin Pye | Williams | Sr. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 75 | 2 | 0.99 | 0.973 | 0 | 121:41 |
| Natalie Stott | Amherst | Sr. | 3 | 2 | 1 | 93 | 4 | 1.33 | 0.957 | 1 | 181:00 |
| Audrey Milne | Wilkes | Jr. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 70 | 3 | 1.45 | 0.957 | 0 | 124:20 |
| Olivia Last | Elmira | So. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 73 | 4 | 2.10 | 0.945 | 0 | 114:26 |
| Madison Brunet | Norwich | Sr. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 63 | 5 | 2.50 | 0.926 | 1 | 120:13 |
| Mia Gonsalves | Nazareth | Fr. | 3 | 2 | 1 | 104 | 8 | 2.61 | 0.923 | 0 | 184:09 |
All-Tournament Team
- F: Meredith Boettcher- Nazareth
- F: Megan Goodreau- UW-River Falls
- F: Sophia Hess- UW-River Falls
- D: MaKenna Aure- UW-River Falls (MVP)
- D: Allie Zack- Nazareth
- G: Jordan O’Kane- UW-River Falls
