(WIAA) – The 56th Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Hockey State Tournament and the 25th Girls Hockey State Tournament will take place Thursday-Saturday, March 5-7 at Bob Suter’s LEGACY20 Arena in Middleton, Wis.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND PAIRINGS: The single elimination boys tournament features four teams in two divisions. The girls tournament also features four teams. There were 85 boys teams at the beginning of the Tournament Series this year, including 53 in Division 1 and 32 in Division 2. There were 25 teams in the girls Tournament Series.
BOYS SCHEDULE:
Division 1
Semifinals – Friday, March 6
Game-1: #1 Stevens Point (23-3) vs. #4 De Pere/West De Pere (21-4-1) – 10 a.m.
Game-2: #3 Edgewood (25-2) vs. #4 University School of Milwaukee (19-8) – 2 p.m.
Championship Game – Saturday, March 7
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 7 p.m.
Division 2
Semifinals – Thursday, March 5
Game-1: #1 Waunakee (19-7-1) vs. #4 Amery Co-op (19-8) – 9:30 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Northland Pines (20-6) vs. #3 Somerset/St. Croix Falls (17-10) – 1:30 p.m.
Championship Game – Saturday, March 7
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 11 a.m.
GIRLS SCHEDULE:
Semifinals – Thursday, March 5
Game-1: #1 De Pere Co-op (24-2) vs. #4 Sun Prairie West Co-op (18-6-1) – 4:30 p.m.
Game-2: #2 River Falls Co-op (23-4) vs. #3 Superior/Northwestern (11-13) – 7:30 p.m.
Championship Game – Saturday, March 7
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 – 3 p.m.
FINALS ON STATEWIDE TV NETWORK: The finals of the boys and girls State Tournaments will be televised live on WKOW 27.2 in Madison, WAOW 9.2 in Wausau, WXOW 19.2 in La Crosse and WQOW 18.2 in Eau Claire, WCWF (CW14) in Green Bay/Fox Valley and WVTV in Milwaukee. The finals will also be streamed live on the State Television Network’s websites and on Fox11online.com.
SEMIFINALS STREAMED ON NFHS NETWORK: The boys and girls semifinals will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network. To purchase a subscription to the live programming for only $12.99 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the subscription button located on the page header. Archived streams of the sessions will be available On Demand on NFHS Network 72 hours after the tournament.
ABOUT THE VENUE: Built in 1999, Bob Suter’s LEGACY20 Ice Arena, changed its name in 2024 from Capitol Ice. Located at 2616 North Pleasant View Road in Middleton. The facility received a multi-million dollar renovation in 2018 that added significant amenities and upgrades. The venue is equipped with two full sheets of ice with seating for 2,611 spectators, a state-of-the-art sound system, scoreboard and a high-definition video board. The arena also has a media broadcasting booth, eight public locker rooms, six public bathrooms, and one family restroom. It is the current home for the USHL Madison Capitols and Madison Capitols AAA hockey.
LAST YEAR: Edgewood won the Division 1 championship with a 5-2 victory over Notre Dame in the title game. Tomahawk defeated Amery/Clayton/Clear Lake/Unity co-op 5-3 to claim the Division 2 crown. In the girls final, De Pere/Ashwaubenon/Bay Port/Green Bay East/Green Bay Preble/Green Bay Southwest/Green Bay West/Notre Dame/Pulaski/Seymour/West De Pere co-op captured the championship with an 8-0 victory over the D.C. Everest/Marathon/Merrill/Mosinee/Wausau East/Wausau West co-op in the championship game.
TOURNAMENT TEAM HISTORY: The first WIAA State boys hockey championship game was held in 1971. The tournament expanded to two divisions for the first time in 2020. The two-division format features four teams qualifying for the State Tournament in each division. Superior won the first championship and has won 12 more to give the Spartans a membership-leading 13 State titles. Madison Memorial has won eight titles; Hudson has won six; and Madison East has earned four. The first girls tournament was held in 2002. The Mosinee and D.C. Everest co-op program that included Wausau East and West has three championships. After the Mosinee Co-op won the 2008 championship, their co-op’s championships in 2012 and 2017 were won by the same group of schools but was identified with D.C. Everest as the host school of the co-op. In addition, a different configuration of the co-op to include Marathon and Merrill won the title in 2022 and in 2024.
THE BOYS DIVISION 1 FIELD: Stevens Point Area Senior High received the top seed in the bracket. The Panthers qualify for the first time since 2009 and for the 18th time overall. They won the title in 2002 and had a string of eight appearances from 1993-2000 that produced three runner-up finishes, including 1996, 1998 and 1999. The Panthers were the champions of the Wisconsin Valley Conference this year. They went into overtime to defeat Wausau West, 4-3, in the Chippewa Falls Sectional final. Defending champion Edgewood is the #2 seed. The Crusaders are back in the field for the fourth time in the last five seasons and for the ninth time overall. Prior to last year’s championship, the most notable experiences were runner-up finishes in 2008–when there was only one division of boys hockey–and in 2022. The Crusaders were the champions of the Badger Conference during the regular season, and they advanced to the State semifinals through the Verona Sectional following a 7-4 victory over Monona Grove. University School of Milwaukee is the third seed. The Wildcats return to State for the 17th time overall and for the first time since a five-year span of appearances concluded in 2023. They have won three State titles. The program’s first championship came in 2006, and then the Wildcats added their second title in 2010. Their most recent championship came in 2019. This season, they qualify after skating to a 7-3 win over the Muskego co-op in the sectional final held at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The Wildcats played an independent schedule during the regular season. De Pere/West De Pere, the fourth seed, will experience the State Tournament for the first time in program history. The co-op celebrates advancing to the State semifinals following a 4-2 win over the Neenah co-op in the final of the sectional played in Ashwaubenon. The Voyageurs were champions of the Fox River Classic Conference this season.
THE BOYS DIVISION 2 FIELD: Waunakee earns the top seed in what will be the program’s first State Tournament experience. The Warriors advanced with a win by the slightest of margins, 1-0, over McFarland in the sectional final played in Madison. During the regular-season, they finished runner-up in the Big Eight Conference. Second-seeded Northland Pines makes its 20th appearance as a stand-alone program and the first since 2020 when the Eagles were runner-up in Division 2. The Eagles also qualified in a co-op arrangement in 2004. They have won three State championships with the first coming in 1984 and the second in 1986, followed by another in 1989. This season, the Eagles earned their berth in the tourney with a 4-3 win over Mosinee in the sectional final played at Mosinee. During the regular season, they finished second in the Great Northern Conference. Third-seeded Somerset/St. Croix Falls makes its second appearance at State with this co-op configuration after qualifying for the first time last season, which resulted in a loss in the semifinals. In a prior three-school co-op that included Valley Christian (Osceola), the co-op made two straight appearances in 2020 and 2021. Both those experiences resulted in semifinal losses. They qualify for State this season after a 5-2 triumph over River Falls co-op in the sectional final held in River Falls. The Spartans finished atop the standings in the Middle Border Conference this year. Amery/Clayton/Clear Lake/Unity co-op, last season’s runner-up, is the #4 seed. After making the co-op program’s first appearance in the State Tournament last season, the Warriors earned another chance at a title this year following a 4-3 overtime victory over Hayward/Lac Courte Oreilles in the Hayward Sectional final. They were the runner-up in the Middle Border Conference this season.
THE GIRLS FIELD: Last year’s champion De Pere/Ashwaubenon/Bay Port/Green Bay East/Green Bay Preble/Green Bay Southwest/Green Bay West/Notre Dame/Pulaski/Seymour/West De Pere co-op is the top seed in the bracket. The Bay City Ice Bears will make their fourth straight appearance, which also accounts for the overall total in this co-op configuration. They have advanced to the championship game in each of those experiences, winning the gold trophy in 2023 and finishing runner-up in 2024. This rendition of the co-op makes its sixth overall appearance, albeit with a different host school. In addition to the Bay Area Ice Bears’ State titles 2023 and 2025, they won the championship in 2014 and finished runner-up in 2017. Another configuration of the co-op, without Pulaski, also placed runner-up in 2010. The co-op returns seeking a fourth straight appearance in the championship game following a 3-1 win over the Cedarburg Co-op in the sectional final played at the UW-Milwauk ee Panther Arena. The Ice Bears were the champions of the Eastern Shore Conference this season. The River Falls/Baldwin-Woodville/St. Croix Central co-op is seeded second. The co-op will make its first appearance with this configuration of the program. Two different configurations of the River Falls co-op program won three straight titles from 2009-2011, and four other variations of the River Falls co-op have qualified five times. This season, the St. Croix Valley Fusion was the champion of the Big Rivers Conference. They reach the State semifinals by doubling up on the Somerset co-op, 4-2, in the Somerset Sectional final. Third-seeded Superior/Northwestern makes its second appearance overall and the first since finishing runner-up in 2023. Superior, as a stand-alone program, had four previous experiences. The most notable of those were a State championship in 2005 and a runner-up finish in 2004. The Spartans advance to the State semifinals this winter following a 7-0 blanking of the Northland Pines co-op in the Hayward Sectional final. Fourth-seeded Sun Prairie West/DeForest/Madison East/Madison La Follette/Sun Prairie East/Waunakee co-op qualifies for the third straight year, and essentially, for the seventh time with the only difference being the split of Sun Prairie into two schools. The Cap City Cougars’ most notable experience in the former co-op arrangement was a runner-up finish in 2018. After placing second in the Badger Conference this season, they make their return to State by virtue of a 2-0 shutout over the Beaver Dam co-op in the sectional final hosted at Beaver Dam.
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