BOSTON, Mass. – September 24, 2024 – Atlantic Hockey America will have two men’s programs compete in the 2025 Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
 
Officially announced at the Massachusetts State House on Tuesday afternoon, The Odyssey Trust unveiled plans to continue the Friendship Four and Friendship Series college hockey tournaments through 2026.
 
The RIT Tigers and Sacred Heart Pioneers will join Miami (OH) and Union in the 2025 Friendship Four, with the games set to take place at The SSE Arena, Belfast in November 2025. The 2025 Friendship Four will be the tournament’s 10^th anniversary, with the winner claiming the coveted Belpot Trophy.
 
Michelle Morgan, Atlantic Hockey America Commissioner, said: “It’s incredibly exciting to have two Atlantic Hockey America programs participate in the Friendship Four and represent our league on an international stage. This opportunity will be an enriching experience for the student-athletes and coaches at RIT and Sacred Heart as they experience another culture and country through a sport they love.”
 
About the Friendship Four and Friendship Series
Founded by The Odyssey Trust, the Friendship Four is a Division I men’s ice hockey tournament held in Belfast since 2015. The Friendship Series is a Division I women’s ice hockey tournament which is also held by The Odyssey Trust in Belfast. The tournaments are the first and only NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey tournaments to take place outside of North America.
 
The tournaments are designed to promote education, social welfare, and community interaction, building on the Sister Cities agreement between Belfast and Boston. The agreement aims to foster stronger economic development, trade and investment, tourism, youth, cultural, faith-based exchanges, and educational linkages between the two cities. The agreement, signed a decade ago, also aims 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.
 
Martin McDowell, Chair of The Odyssey Trust, said: “I am very proud to announce the return of both the Friendship Four and Friendship Series in 2025 and 2026, and I look forward to welcoming both new and returning teams to The SSE Arena. For nearly a decade, the tournaments have provided unique opportunities for North American student-athletes to have a cross-Atlantic experience in Belfast, using ice hockey as a tool to educate and create a spirit of mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity, and fair play.”
 
Friendship Four Series History
RIT and Sacred Heart are the first Atlantic Hockey teams to compete in the Friendship Four.
 

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Third Place	Fourth Place
2015	Massachusetts-Lowell	Brown	Northeastern	Colgate
2016	Vermont	Quinnipiac	Massachusetts and St. Lawrence (tie)
2017	Clarkson	Providence	Maine	Rensselaer
2018	Union	Boston University	Yale	Connecticut
2019	Northeastern	Colgate	New Hampshire	Princeton
2022	Quinnipiac	Massachusetts	Massachusetts-Lowell	Dartmouth

The 2020 and 2021 Friendship Four Tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The 2024 Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast includes the University of Notre Dame, Harvard University, Boston University, and Merrimack College. It will take place Nov. 29-30.
 
About Atlantic Hockey America
Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) embarks on its first season in 2024-25 after the merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields 11 men’s teams (American International College, Bentley University, Canisius College, The College of Holy Cross, Mercyhurst University, Niagara University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, Sacred Heart University, the United States Air Force Academy, and the United States Military Academy), and six women’s teams (Lindenwood University, Mercyhurst University, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, and Syracuse University). In 2025-26, Delaware University will join the women’s league. For more information, visit atlantichockeyamerica.com.