MANKATO, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's hockey team will participate in the 2026 Ice Breaker hosted by Boston University, Oct. 23-24.

The two-day, four team event will consist of the Mavericks, host Boston University, Yale and Robert Morris.  Minnesota State opens the event against Robert Morris at 3 p.m. (CST), Friday, Oct. 23.  Saturday, the Mavericks will play either Boston University or Yale.

"We are excited to play in this year's Ice Breaker," said Minnesota State head coach Shari Dickerman. "This is a great event that will allow us to play two teams that we usually don't get on our schedule."

The Ice Breaker was created by the Hockey Commissioners Association and began in 2019. In the five years of the event – it was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to CoVID – a member of the WCHA has won the event four times.  This marks the first year that Minnesota State has played in the event.

Minnesota State won a school record 17 games last year, finishing 17-19-2 and advancing to the Frozen Face-off for just the second time in program history.

The Mavericks will announce their complete 2026-27 schedule later in May.
 

Ice Breaker History
Year	Host	Site	Participants (Champion in Bold)
2019	Mercyhurst	Buffalo Harbor Center (Buffalo, N.Y.)	Colgate, UCONN, Mercyhurst, Minnesota Duluth
2020	Not held because of CoVID-19
2021	Not held because of CoVID-19
2022	Neutral Site	1980 Herb Brooks Arena (Lake Placid, N.Y.)	Clarkson, Holy Cross, St. Lawrence, Syracuse
2023	Sacred Heart	Martire Family Arena (Fairfield, Conn.)	Lindenwood, Northeastern, Sacred Heart, St. Cloud State
2024	Ohio State	OhioHealth Ice Haus (Columbus, Ohio)	Cornell, Ohio State, Penn State, Stonehill
2025	Union	M&T Bank Center (Schenectady, N.Y.)	St. Anslem, Union, Vermont, Wisconsin