BU Women’s Hockey Heads to Belfast for Inaugural Women’s Friendship Series
Terriers will showcase their spirit in the year’s only NCAA Division I hockey tournament held outside North America
The BU women’s hockey team preparing for the November 14 matchup against Boston College at Agganis Arena. Photo by Sheily Melgar
BU Women’s Hockey Heads to Belfast for Inaugural Women’s Friendship Series
Terriers will showcase their spirit in the year’s only NCAA Division I hockey tournament held outside North America
This year the Boston University women’s hockey team will ring in the new year abroad. The Terriers are traveling to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they’ll play in the inaugural women’s Friendship Series—the only NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey tournament being held outside North America.
The series will be played at SSE Arena, home of the Belfast Giants professional ice hockey team. The men’s version of the Friendship Four tournament began in 2015. This season marks the first time there will be a women’s tournament, with four US women’s teams competing. The other schools are Harvard, Quinnipiac University, and the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Terriers will take on Quinnipiac in their opening game on Friday, January 2, and depending on the outcome, play either Harvard or Minnesota Duluth in either the championship or the consolation game on January 3.
The Terrier men have appeared in the tournament twice, first in 2018 and again in 2024, when they won the “Belpot.”
“BU has a lot of history in the Friendship Four on the men’s side,” Terrier Neely Nicholson (Questrom’27) says, “and it’s a really great opportunity to bring that over to the women’s side and represent our school to the best of our abilities.”
The Friendship Series celebrates the official sister-city relationship between Boston and Belfast, blending elite hockey with cultural and community engagement.
“I think that it’s a great way to grow the women’s game. As much as we’ve seen it over in the States and Canada, it’s cool to be a part of growing the game worldwide,” says teammate Maeve Kelly (CAS’26).
Playing for a trophy in Belfast will provide great experience for BU heading into this year’s Dunkin’ Women’s Beanpot tournament, which begins January 13 at TD Garden. Kelly says playing in the Friendship Series leading up to their showdown against Northeastern University in the Beanpot semifinal will prove very beneficial.
BU is looking to carry its momentum from the end of the first semester into Northern Ireland. The Terriers went 2-1-2 in their final five games of the season’s first half, with both ties ending in shootout wins.
“We didn’t start the season the way we wanted to, but coming back after break and getting wins like those would be a testament to our team’s resilience,” Kelly says.
The Terriers enter the Friendship series with an overall record of 4-11-2, but Nicholson knows that BU is capable and can prove itself competitive against non–Hockey East opponents. “If we play well, we have a shot at winning and starting off 2026 on a great note,” she says.