Friendship Four Information || Travel Package Information
BOSTON – The No. 20 Wisconsin men's hockey team is set to participate in the 2027 Friendship Four tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The news was announced today at the Massachusetts State House.
"We're really excited about having an opportunity as a university to provide our athletes with a forever experience," Head Coach Mike Hastings said. "One of the reasons they came to this university is to experience unique things, and this is very unique, so we're excited to have an opportunity to be a part of it."
The Badgers will join former WCHA conference-rival North Dakota, as well as Quinnipiac and Northeastern at the 2027 edition of the four-game tournament where teams compete for the coveted Belpot Trophy. Games will be held at SSE Arena, home of the Belfast Giants, on the Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend on Nov. 26-27, 2027.
The tournament marks the first time Wisconsin men's hockey will play regular-season games outside of the United States in the modern era of the program, which began in 1963. UW did skate against Michigan on March 5, 7 and 8, 1927, in Windsor, Ontario, which marked the first American intercollegiate hockey games played outside the U.S.
Founded by The Odyssey Trust and held in Belfast since 2015, the Friendship Four and Friendship Series are the first and only NCAA Division I men's and women's ice hockey tournaments to take place outside of North America.
The high-profile tournaments are designed to promote education, social welfare, and community interaction, building on the Sister Cities agreement between Belfast and Boston, signed a decade ago. The agreement aims to foster stronger economic development, trade and investment, tourism, youth, cultural, faith-based exchanges, and educational linkages between the two cities, as well as to increase awareness of Belfast and Boston being growth cities in the connected health and life sciences, creative industries, tourism, financial services, and knowledge economy sectors.
Wisconsin football will make a similar trip overseas in 2027 when it plays in the Air Lingus College Football Classic on Aug. 28, 2027, against Pittsburgh in Dublin, Ireland.
