👟 Nuttycombe Invitational info, results
Women's Ice Breaker tournament
🏐 Biggest tests for the last 2 unbeatens
📊 WBB preseason AP Poll
Union will host No. 1 Wisconsin, Vermont and Saint Anselm for the 2025 Women’s Ice Breaker tournament at M&T Bank Center in Schenectady, New York from Oct. 17-18.
Here is the full schedule and how to watch each game from the 2025 Women’s Ice Breaker. All times ET:
Friday, Oct. 17
Saturday, Oct. 18
The Badgers keep rolling, making it five unanswered goals late in the second period. Cassie Hall gets her second of the game and seventh of the season to extend the lead.
🚨#Badgers Goal! 🚨
Cassie gets her second of the period!
WIS 5 | VER 0
3:26 2nd Period pic.twitter.com/CrMQyuP9u4
The Badgers’ leading scorer Cassie Hall gets a lucky break after a cross-crease pass bounces off a Vermont defender’s skate and right back to her stick with a wide-open net. Wisconsin now leads 4-0 halfway through the second period.
Cassie scores her team-best 6th goal of the season!
Assist: Maggie Scannell, Grace Bickett https://t.co/L3VMrK2w1g pic.twitter.com/kr7OZRhgqL
Vermont came out hot to start the second, but Maisey Bojarski went to the box for crosschecking, killing the Catamounts’ momentum. Caroline Harvey capitalized on the Badgers’ third powerplay of the day, giving Wisconsin a 3-0 lead in the second.
On the 💸
Assists: Lacey Eden and Laney Potter https://t.co/AGscEX5Uwh pic.twitter.com/1Zez4dlCYe
Wisconsin dominated the first period, outshooting Vermont, 16-5. The Badgers got an early powerplay opportunity after Vermont’s Makena Lloyd-Howe went to the box for hooking. Caroline Harvey circled the zone, walking the line and taking a shot from the point that was tipped in front by Lacey Eden to open the scoring.
That’s the Badger’s 6th PP goal in the last three games!
Assist: Caroline Harvey https://t.co/G7AssNrBaf pic.twitter.com/hPSwicipfg
The Badgers added another goal a couple minutes later as Laney Potter jumped on a loose puck in the low slot and hammered it home to give Wisconsin a 2-0 lead. Potter, a defenseman, now has four goals this season, tying her single-season best from 2023-24, when she scored four goals in 41 games.
Laney ties her season-high in goals with 4 on the year!
Assist: Kirsten Simms https://t.co/j4zJuAdp2u pic.twitter.com/1lRrOi853X
Wisconsin is 1/2 on the powerplay after Vermont killed off another penalty later in the period. Despite being heavily outshot, the Catamounts had some good chances in the first period, and they will begin the second with around a minute of powerplay time after Wisconsin’s Emma Venusio took a late roughing penalty.
Laney Potter pounces on a loose puck in front of the net to add another for Wisconsin, making it a two-goal lead in the first period.
Laney ties her season-high in goals with 4 on the year!
Assist: Kirsten Simms https://t.co/j4zJuAdp2u pic.twitter.com/1lRrOi853X
Lacey Eden gets the Badgers on the board first with a deflection on the powerplay for her fourth of the season.
That’s the Badger’s 6th PP goal in the last three games!
Assist: Caroline Harvey https://t.co/G7AssNrBaf pic.twitter.com/hPSwicipfg
The 2025 Women’s Ice Breaker is here, and we’re kicking things off with No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Vermont at 12:07 p.m. Watch the game on ESPN+ and follow along here on NCAA.com for live updates, scores and highlights throughout the game.
Wisconsin comes into the Ice Breaker on a heater, winning six-straight to start the season and outscoring its opponents 32-5. The Badgers are coming off of a top-5 sweep over No. 4 Minnesota Duluth last weekend in which Wisconsin mounted a last-second comeback with two powerplay goals in the final 20 seconds of Game 1. The Badgers then shutout the Bulldogs, 4-0, in Game 2 of the series. Wisconsin has been ranked No. 1 in the USCHO rankings since preseason, and it has only missed out on one first-place vote in the poll this season.
Vermont comes into the tournament with a 1-2-1 record after dropping a home series to No. 6 Penn State to open the season. The Catamounts then went on the road to play No. 12 St. Lawrence, scoring with 4.6 seconds left in regulation to tie Game 1, and stealing a 2-1 overtime win in Game 2 of the series.
Wisconsin is 4-0 all-time against Vermont, but the two teams have not played each other since Oct. 16, 2005. Wisconsin has never allowed a goal to Vermont, outscoring the Catamounts 19-0 across their four meetings. The last time Vermont beat a No. 1 team was in 2022, when the Catamounts took down No. 1 Northeastern, 2-1, snapping the Huskies’ 20-game unbeaten streak.
The Women’s Ice Breaker began in 2019 with Mercyhurst hosting Colgate, UConn and Minnesota Duluth, with UMD winning the first tournament. The tournament was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19, but resumed at a neutral site in 2022, when it was played at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.
Ohio State won the 2024 tournament, defeating Cornell in the championship game. Here is a complete history of the Women’s Ice Breaker:
The Ice Breaker was created by the Hockey Commissioners Association to celebrate the start of the hockey season each year. The annual tournament features four of the nation’s top teams, typically all from different NC women’s hockey conferences.
The Women’s Ice Breaker began in 2019, but missed two years in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. The tournament resumed in 2022, and 2025 will be the fifth edition. The Ice Breaker follows a similar format to the Beanpot, where the winners of Games 1 and 2 face off in the championship on the second day, while the losers of the first two games play for third place.
This year, Union will host the tournament at its new rink, the M&T Bank Center in Schenectady, New York. No. 1 Wisconsin, Vermont and Saint Anselm will join Union for the tournament, with games scheduled for Oct. 17-18.