Friendship Four continues to grow, evolve
On Saturday, November 29, Miami captured the 2025 Belpot trophy as champions of the 8th Friendship Four tournament in Belfast. The Redhawks defeated Union, 3-2, in the title game, thanks to a goal by Matteo Giampa with 3:28 left in the third period.
Sacred Heart captured third place with a 3-0 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology earlier in the day.
It’s a unique experience for the four teams, playing in the only Division I college hockey tournament held outside the United States. The games are held at SSE Arena, home of the Belfast Giants, a cornerstone of the British Elite Hockey League.
The tournament, started in 2015, has evolved from its early days of four New England teams from Hockey East and the ECAC. In 2024, Notre Dame became the first team outside those conference to appear, and last weekend, NCHC (Miami) and Atlantic Hockey America (Sacred Heart and RIT) added two more conferences to the list.
Minnesota Duluth will travel to Belfast next season, with North Dakota (2027) and Omaha (2028) to follow.
Beginning in January, four women’s teams will travel to Belfast. Previously, two women’s teams had played in Belfast in 2019, 2020 and 2024.
Joe Bertagna, who spent a combined 38 years as commissioner of the ECAC and Hockey East, was instrumental in establishing the tournament. This year marked his 16th trip to Belfast.
“(Belfast Giants CEO) Robert Fitzpatrick came over to Boston in October of 2014 to pitch this idea,” said Bertagna. “And I think a lot of us thought he was crazy because he made it quite clear from the beginning, that he wanted meaningful games. He didn’t want exhibitions, and there really hadn’t been anything like this where teams will come over and play games that will count on their RPI ranking and all that.”
The first few years presented challenges, but now the Belfast Four is a desired destination for college hockey.
“We thought we would have trouble getting coaches to come over,” said Bertagna. “The size of the ice (SSE Arena has an Olympic Sheet), jet lag, food, whatever. And there were some years when we actually struggled to get that fourth team. And so for a guy like me that was there at the beginning, it’s fun now to see that there are people really lobbying to get into the field.”
Steve Thornton, a former Boston University and Belfast Giants player and coach, is Director of Hockey Operations for the Giants. He says they are creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the players, who spend time learning about Irish history and visiting schools in Belfast. Children from those schools adopt a team and attend their games during the tournament, enthusiastically cheering despite never seeing a live hockey game before.
“I played in some of those tournaments like the Beanpot, and another one, the Great Western Freezeout, when I was a Canadian kid going to Boston, going to L.A. to play,” he said. “I thought it was unbelievable. (At the Friendship Four) we bring them in for a week. They get out into the community. They get to experience a different culture. They get a stamp in their passport. They get to play in a different country, and that’s memorable.”
Thornton said hockey is a good equalizer and neutral ground for a community that was torn apart by religious and political ideologies.
“I think the sport in general lent itself very well,” he said. “The majority of sports here are connected to one side of the community or the other. So if you’re a Catholic, you’re going to play a certain sport. If you’re a Protestant, you’re going to play a certain sport. (Hockey) is brand spanking new, not tied to the past.”
Exposing children to hockey is key to the Giants and the Friendship Four.
“All four teams go into schools early in the week,” said Bertagna. “And whatever school they visit, that school comes and cheers for that team. (The players) go into the schools and the students will teach them about (the Irish sport of) hurling and Gaelic football, and then our guys will teach them a little bit about ice hockey.
“And for a lot of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever gone to a hockey game. The Giants are smart, and they’re creating hockey fans here, and they’ll want to come out.”
“The Giants from day one made an effort to be a community team,” said Thornton. “It was wonderful seeing the kids. They were very enthusiastic. So we integrated ourselves very early days into the community, knowing that that’s how we were going to build our fan base, and this tournament, in particular, we make a huge effort on that. Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., it’s not an easy ticket sale. So we hit the schools hard and we look at that as an unbelievable atmosphere.”
Miami coach Anthony Noreen, when asked to sum up his team’s experience in Belfast, said, “It was absolutely first class. The best compliment I could give (the organizers), there’s not one part of it in which they overpromised and underdelivered. In fact, I think it exceeded all of our expectations.
“The school trip for me, other than the games was the best part of the trip. The joy and excitement on those kid’s faces to have these guys come visit them, their principal shared with me just how much it meant, how much they were excited to see our guys. And I was really proud of the way our guys interacted with them, and how intentional they were, and how present they were.”
Next year’s tournament will feature Colgate, Minnesota-Duluth, Providence and Connecticut.
“We’re to the point now where teams really want to come here,” said Thornton. “It’s a destination.”