2009–10 WCHA women's ice hockey season

The 2009–10 Western Collegiate Hockey Association women's ice hockey season marked the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive ice hockey among Western Collegiate Hockey Association members.

Preseason
According to a poll of league coaches, Wisconsin was the preseason pick to win the WCHA title. Defending WCHA champion Minnesota placed second in the poll; Minnesota Duluth placed third. All three of the teams qualified for the NCAA Frozen Four in the previous season.

Brooke Ammerman and Brianna Decker of Wisconsin were voted Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason Rookie of the Year, respectively.

Exhibition games against Canadian teams
Three games were played against Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams.

US Olympic exhibition games
Throughout the season, various NCAA schools played against the United States Olympic Hockey team.

WCHA All-Star Team
The head coach of the WCHA All-Stars was Jeff Giesen of St. Cloud State, with Maria Lewis of North Dakota and Heather Farrell of Bemidji State serving as assistant coaches. The Athletic Trainer was Stef Arndt of St. Cloud State.

Players of the week
Throughout the conference regular season, WCHA officials name a player of the week each Monday.

Defensive players of the week
Throughout the conference regular season, WCHA officials name a Defensive player of the week each Monday.

Rookie of the week
Throughout the conference regular season, WCHA officials name a Freshman player of the week each Monday.

Quarterfinals

 * February 27: After 3 hours and 47 minutes, Emily West scored at 1:16 of triple overtime to eliminate the MSU-Mankato Mavericks.


 * February 27: Bemidji State ends its 14 game playoff losing streak in a 2-1 victory over St. Cloud State.

Finals

 * March 7: The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 3-2 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis to win the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF playoff championship. It is the Bulldogs fifth WCHA playoff championship. This was their first postseason victory over the Golden Gophers since 2003. In addition, the Bulldogs lost three previous league playoff games against the Gophers at Ridder Arena.

NCAA tournament

 * March 8: Two teams from the WCHA will compete for the 10th NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship. The University of Minnesota will be the host school for the 2010 Frozen Four, to be held March 19 and 21 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. WCHA tournament champion University of Minnesota Duluth, and at-large selection Minnesota will be two of eight competing teams.

Minnesota Duluth (28-8-2) is seeded Number 2 and the Bulldogs will host the New Hampshire Wildcats (19-8-5) on Saturday, March 13 at 2:00 pm central standard time. The Golden Gophers (25-8-5) are the number 3 seed, and will host the Clarkson Golden Eagles (23-11-5), on March 13 at 4:00 pm central standard time. Minnesota Duluth won the Frozen Four for the first three years that the tournament was held (2001, 2002 and 2003). The Golden Gophers proceeded to win the next two Frozen Four tournaments (2004 and 2005). Neither team has won since.

Patty Kazmaier Award nominees
Of the 45 nominees for the Patty Kazmaier Award, ten were from the WCHA.

Active players
Ten active WCHA players represented their respective countries in ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Former players
The following former NCAA players will represent their respective countries in Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics.