When UConn faces off against Dartmouth on Dec. 30, it looks to you as just another out-of-conference game for both sides. However, something more will be on the line. A championship.

“What?” you say, looking at me like I have 15 heads, several of which aren’t even physically attached.

Well, I’ll explain it.

In combat sports such as wrestling, MMA, and boxing, their championships are decided through a belt. The belt-holder faces off against a challenger. If the belt-holder wins or draws, they keep the belt. If not, the challenger wins the belt.

That’s basically what we’re doing here. A traveling belt for women’s college hockey.

So first, let’s explain the starting point. And there are a few I could’ve chosen — the first varsity games, the beginning of the 1997-98 American Women’s College Hockey Alliance season (the predecessor to NCAA women’s hockey), the beginning of NCAA women’s hockey in 2000. But I decided to start with the first bona fide crowned National Champions, the 1998 New Hampshire Wildcats in the AWCHA.

I also decided that for this, shootouts do not matter. They only matter for standings points and don’t mean anything towards Pairwise or such, so I’m firing them into the sun for the purposes of the belt.

Without further ado, here is the lineage of the Women’s College Hockey Championship Belt:

Here are some observations from myself on the belt through my findings: