Several of the state’s college hockey programs will be skating across the pond over the next couple of years.
The UConn men’s ice hockey program, as well as the Quinnipiac men’s and women’s programs, will each take part in the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The tournament, which has been held since 2015, is the only one in NCAA Division I hockey to take place outside the U.S.
The Huskies will join Providence College, Minnesota-Duluth, and Colgate in Belfast for the 2026 men’s event, while the Quinnipiac women will join Boston University, Harvard and Minnesota-Duluth in the women’s event, called the Friendship Series, in January 2026.
The Quinnipiac men will join Northeastern, North Dakota and Wisconsin in Northern Ireland in 2027. The Bobcats won the tournament in 2022, knocking off Dartmouth in the semifinals before outlasting UMass in a shootout to take home the Belpot Bell. They went on to win the program’s first-ever national championship that spring.
The Sacred Heart men are taking part in the series this November, facing Rochester Institute of Technology, Miami University (OH), and Union College. This year’s tournament is set for Nov. 28-29.
The schedule for the 2026 and ’27 tournaments will be announced at a later date.
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