SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - Union College announced today, in partnership with the Hockey Commissioners Association and College Hockey Inc., that the Union women's hockey team will serve as host for the 2025 Ice Breaker Tournament at the Mohawk Harbor Event Center, Union's new arena set to open later this year.
 
The University of Wisconsin, the University of Vermont and Saint Anselm College will join Union in the annual tournament, scheduled for October 17-18, 2025. On day one, Wisconsin and Vermont will face off at 12:07 p.m., followed by Union and Saint Anselm at 3:37 p.m. The consolation and championship game will take place on Saturday at the same times. 
 
"We're thrilled that Union will be hosting the 2025 Ice Breaker Tournament in its brand-new facility, said Sean Hogan, Executive Director of College Hockey Inc.. "This event provides a unique and exciting opportunity to kick off the season and celebrate women's college hockey by bringing together four conferences to compete for an Ice Breaker Championship."
 
The Women's Ice Breaker Tournament, founded in 2019 by the Hockey Commissioners Association, was created to celebrate the start of the season with teams from various NCAA Division I conferences. The Ohio State University hosted the event in 2024 and emerged with two wins, joining previous Ice Breaker champions St. Cloud State University, Clarkson University and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
 
"It is a tremendous honor for Union to be selected to host this event and a fantastic way for our program to celebrate the first season in our new home rink at Mohawk Harbor," Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin '93 said. "We are excited to provide this unique opportunity for our student-athletes and look forward to welcoming teams to Schenectady for a great weekend of hockey."
 
Union will be the fifth ECAC Hockey team to participate in the tournament and the second ECAC institution to host the event on the women's side, following Clarkson's neutral-site hosting in Lake Placid in 2022. The Union men's team has participated in the Ice Breaker event on three previous occasions.
 
"We are extremely excited to be participating in and hosting the 2025 Ice Breaker Tournament, and having the chance to showcase our new facility," said head coach Tony Maci. "It is an excellent chance for our team to play in a tournament setting against some great programs in NCAA women's hockey, and I hope that this will continue to grow the game of college hockey in the Capital Region."
 
Under Maci's leadership, the Garnet Chargers have continued their upward trajectory so far in 2024-25, breaking the school single-season wins record and earning a program-record eight wins during the very competitive ECAC Hockey schedule, including the program's first-ever win over a top-10 opponent.
 
The Ice Breaker event will be part of a busy weekend of hockey at the Mohawk Harbor Events Center, as the Union men's hockey team will also play Niagara University for two games on Friday and Saturday night as well.
 
Information regarding purchasing tickets for the event will be announced at a later date. 
 
Click HERE for Ice Breaker Tournament history, including previous locations, participants and champions.