The Friendship Four is an annual mid-season

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

tournament that has been held since 2015 at SSE Arena Belfast in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

with the winner receiving the Belpot Trophy. It is currently the only college ice hockey tournament to take place outside of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

The tournament began as a way to foster stronger economic development, trade and investment, tourism, cultural exchange, and educational linkages between the sister cities of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

. Each year four teams are selected to participate in the tournament which is typically held on the same weekend as

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in the

. As of 2019, all games have been played at the SSE Arena Belfast while all participating schools have come from the eastern region. While only two participating universities have come from Boston, many more have come from the same general region. After the 2020 and 2021 series were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the 2022 Friendship Four was announced on December 4, 2021. The series continued in 2024, and is set to be played as a women's tournament in 2025.

Yearly results

Upcoming tournaments

The 2025 Friendship Four will be contested between

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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RIT RIT is a common abbreviated name for Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, USA. RIT or rit may also refer to: Business * Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques, the former name of what is now GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in Bel ...

, and Union. In 2026, the tournament will be played by women's teams for the first time, with

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Quinnipiac The Quinnipiac were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They lived in present-day New Haven County, Connecticut, along the Quinnipiac River. Their primary village, also called Quinnipiac, was where New Haven, Connect ...

, and Minnesota Duluth participating.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://friendshipfour.com/ Annual sporting events in the United Kingdom Recurring sporting events established in 2015 2015 establishments in Northern Ireland Ice hockey competitions in the United Kingdom College ice hockey tournaments Ice hockey in Northern Ireland