Wisconsin Wins NCAA Women’s Hockey Championship

Sophia Shaver and Annie Pankowski each scored a goal and goalie Kristen Campbell made 27 saves as Wisconsin shutout Minnesota 2-0 on March 24th to win the NCAA Women’s Hockey Championship in Hamden, Connecticut. It was the fifth NCAA title for the Badgers, in a Frozen Four tournament that only goes back to 2001. All five championship teams have been coached by Mark Johnson, who, among other things in a long hockey career, was a member of the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice Gold Medal team that defeated the Soviet Union.

The Badgers played shut down hockey in the tournament, beating Syracuse 4-0 in a quarterfinal game, and then shutting out Clarkson 5-0 in their Frozen Four semifinal before shutting out Minnesota for the championship. Clarkson (located in Potsdam, New York) had won the previous two championships. Minnesota had beaten Cornell in the other Frozen Four matchup to advance.

 
In the 19 years the Women’s Hockey Frozen Four has been played, there have only been four schools that have won championships. Minnesota leads the way with six, Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth have five each, and Clarkson has three. There are currently 41 NCAA Division I women’s hockey teams in five conferences.