Sunday, four teams — New Hampshire, Brown, Northeastern and Minnesota — received invitations to the first American Women’s College Hockey Alliance tournament, which will decide an unofficial national champion for women’s NCAA Division I hockey.
Three of the four invitees are ECAC members. New Hampshire (29-5-3) and Brown (21-6-4) received bids after meeting in the final of ECAC tourney championship, won by Brown, 4-3. Northeastern (25-6-5) was the ECAC’s number-two team during the regular season. Minnesota (21-5-3), playing its first year as a varsity squad, is the lone non-ECAC team.
Fourth-seeded Minnesota will meet top seed New Hampshire in the first semifinal Friday at Harvard, with Northeastern facing Brown next. The two winners advance to the FleetCenter in Boston for the championship game Saturday.
