Game 5: Cornell vs. Mercyhurst
Face Off: Tuesday, November 2 • 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 4-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC Hockey
    Mercyhurst - 6-1-0, 1-0-0 CHA
Series Record: Mercyhurst leads, 11-1-1
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 3-2 (ot) on 3/18/10 at Ridder Arena (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Media Information
Live Video: www.CornellBigRed.com/showcase
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/whockey

Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two of the nation's top five programs will meet on Tuesday night in a special non-conference game as Cornell welcomes Mercyhurst to Lynah Rink for a 7 p.m. contest. Tuesday night's game is a rematch of the 2010 NCAA semifinal won by Cornell in overtime last March in Minneapolis, Minn., that sent the Big Red on to the national title contest. Fans can follow the action with live streaming video through the Cornell Redcast subscription service, while live stats will also be provided to follow on computers and mobile devices.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now in his sixth season as head coach of the Cornell women's hockey team, Doug Derraugh has turned the program into a contender for the national championship. With a 62-81-15 overall record, Derraugh guided the Big Red to a 21-9-6 record last season and a berth in the national championship game. He led Cornell to its first-ever ECAC Hockey regular season and tournament championships and first appearance in the NCAA tournament, defeating traditional powers Harvard and Mercyhurst on the way to the national title game. He has led the Big Red to double-digit win totals in each of the past three seasons and set a program record for wins in a season with 21 last year. Derraugh took over the program prior to the 2005-06 season after a 13-year professional playing career in Europe and has transformed the Big Red into one of the top young programs in the country. He is assisted by fifth-year assistant coach Danielle Bilodeau, a former Cornell player and 2001 graduate, Edith Zimering, in her second season with the Big Red, and volunteer assistant coach Meredith Roth, in her first year with Cornell.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
The Big Red, which was second in both the USA Today/USA Hockey and the USCHO.com polls last week, remained undefeated on the season with a pair of 5-1 victories on the road last weekend at Quinnipiac and Princeton to open up ECAC Hockey play. Against the Bobcats, Cornell surrendered the game's first goal, but tied the score a minute and a half later and rattled off five unanswered goals to claim the win. On Saturday, Cornell opened up with five straight goals before conceding a third-period marker. For the weekend, freshman Brianne Jenner led the way for the Big Red with two goals and four assists for six points, tallying three assists on Friday at Quinnipiac and two goals and an assist on Saturday at Princeton. Junior Chelsea Karpenko and senior Karlee Overguard both added four points, with Karpenko scoring two goals and adding a pair of assists and Overguard registering four assists. In goal, junior Amanda Mazzotta picked up 42 saves on the weekend, including a season-high of 24 on Friday at Quinnipiac. For the season, Jenner leads all Big Red players in scoring with eight points on three goals and five assists, while junior Rebecca Johnston has seven points on three goals and four assists. Freshman Jessica Campbell has a team-best six goals to account for her six points on the year. Mazzotta has played every minute in goal for the Big Red, posting a 1.25 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. Cornell holds the nation's top power-play unit, converting on 35.3 percent of its chances (6-of-17) while killing off 15-of-16 opponents' power-play chances (93.8 percent) to rank fourth in the nation in that category.

ABOUT MERCYHURST
Mercyhurst, ranked fourth in both the USA Today/USA Hockey and USCHO.com polls last week, played just one game last weekend, scoring a 7-3 win against Robert Morris on Friday night in Erie, Pa., the only game for the Lakers in the last two weeks. Mercyhurst's lone loss on the season came on Oct. 16, a 5-3 loss at Bemidji State. The Laker offense is led by Meghan Agosta, who has 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in seven games. Fellow senior Vicki Bendus has 15 points on six goals and nine assists, while junior Bailey Bram has four goals and nine assists for 13 points. In all, the Lakers have five players who have scored in double figures on the season and eight players who are averaging a point per game or better. In goal, Hillary Pattenden has played all but one game, recording a 1.81 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Mercyhurst has converted seven power-play goals in 49 chances, good for 14.3 percent to rank 21st in the nation. The Lakers have the nation's sixth-ranked penalty-killing unit, having killed off 91.3 percent (42-of-46) of their opponents' power-play chances.

THE SERIES WITH MERCYHURST
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series, 11-1-1, though Cornell's lone victory in the series came in the biggest game between the two teams, winning the NCAA semifinal at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn., last season. Mercyhurst claimed the first two meetings last season to open the year for the Big Red by idential 4-1 scores, but at the end of the year, it was Cornell with the 3-2 win in overtime. Mercyhurst won each of the first seven games between the two schools before Cornell earned a 2-2 tie on Feb. 25, 2006, in Ithaca. The Lakers then claimed the next four contests running up to last season's national semifinals. Cornell is 0-5-1 all-time against Mercyhurst at Lynah Rink.

FOUR SQUARE
Cornell's wins last weekend at Quinnipiac and Princeton gave the Big Red victories in each of its first four games in a season for the first time since the 1978-79 season. That year, Cornell began the season with five straight wins on its way to a 13-5-1 overall record.

LEAGUE OPENERS
Cornell won its ECAC Hockey opener for the second straight season, and opened up 2-0 in league play for the second time in a row. Last season, Cornell won its first five league games before falling to St. Lawrence. Prior to last season, the last time that Cornell won twice to begin the league campaign came during the 1998-98 season.

FRONTRUNNERS
Cornell is second in the nation in amount of time spent trailing this season, having played from behind for a total of 1:36 in five games, or 0.7 percent of the total minutes this season. Only Dartmouth, which has played two games, has not played from behind this year. The Big Red leads the country in the percentage of time leading this season, leading for 89.7 percent of the time.

TEAMMATES, ENEMIES
Tuesday night's game will feature a number of players who are teammates on the Canadian National Team that has been selected to play at the 4 Nations Cup from Nov. 9-13 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Cornell players Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner will face off against Mercyhurst's Meghan Agosta and Vicki Bendus on Tuesday before taking off to become teammates for Canada. Agosta and Johnston were teammates last year on the Canadian team that captured the Olympic gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics. Additionally, Bendus was a teammate of the eight Cornell players at the Canadian U22 National Team camp in mid-August.

BALANCING ACT
Through the first four games, despite the Big Red having scored 22 goals, only Rebecca Johnston has collected at least one point in every game. Johnston has seven points this season on three goals and four assists, with two multi-point games on the year. Five different players have scored in three of the four games, including Brianne Jenner, Amanda Young, Catherine White, Chelsea Karpenko and Karlee Overguard.

OFFENSE FROM DEFENSE
Despite the Big Red having a pair of All-Americans on the blue line, it's junior Amanda Young who is leading the way among Cornell's defensemen in scoring this season. Young has five points on a goal and four assists, good enough to rank her second in the nation in points per game among defensemen. She is also nearly halfway to her career best for points in a season, set as a freshman when she recorded 11 points on 11 assists. As a unit, the Big Red defense has 15 points through four games this season.

AND THE WINNER IS...
Freshman Jessica Campbell scored four goals for the Big Red in a 9-1 victory against Robert Morris on Oct. 23, enough to earn her the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week award in her first weekend. Campbell scored once in both the first and second periods and finished off her four-goal performance with a pair in the third period. Campbell's four-goal outburst was the first for a Big Red player since Colette Bredin scored five against Colby on Feb. 28, 1998, in a 9-3 Cornell victory.

EVERYONE IN THE ACT
Cornell's 9-1 victory against Robert Morris on Oct. 23 came as a total team effort. Indeed, of the 15 skaters to dress for that contest, 14 of them recorded at least one point, with only freshman defenseman Alyssa Gagliardi not picking up a point. Gagliardi didn't finish the weekend empty-handed, however, as she picked up an assist in the season opener on Oct. 22.

GOOD GIRLS
Cornell ranks third in the nation in fewest penalty minutes per game, averaging just eight minutes in the box per contest. Only Union (7.5 minutes per game) and Dartmouth (5.0 minutes per game) are spending less time in the penalty box than the Big Red.

ON THE BOARD
When junior Jenna Paulson recorded an assist on Oct. 23 against Robert Morris, it marked the first career point for the Toronto native. Paulson had played in 56 games through her first two seasons with the Big Red before collecting her first career point with an assist against the Colonials.

FROM THE START
The five skaters in Cornell's six-player freshman class each made their collegiate debut last weekend, with all five of them recording their first career points. Jessica Campbell picked up four goals on the weekend and leads the team in scoring, while Brianne Jenner tallied a goal and an assist and Hayley Cudmore picked up a pair of assists. The other two newcomers, Olivia Cook and Alyssa Gagliardi, both recorded one assist on the weekend. Through two weekends, Cornell's freshman class has contributed 20 points on nine goals and 11 assists.

GETTING THE CALL
When Cornell faces Harvard and Dartmouth on Nov. 5-6 at Lynah Rink, it will do so without junior Rebecca Johnston and freshman Brianne Jenner. Both players have been called up to the Canadian National Team for the 4 Nations Cup, taking place from Nov. 9-13 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Canada will take on teams from the United States, Finland and Sweden at the tournament that brings together the top four finishers from last winter's Vancouver Olympics. Cornell's duo are among the 11 players attending U.S. colleges to be named to Canada's roster. Boston University has three players on Canada's roster, while Cornell's fellow 2010 Frozen Four participants Minnesota-Duluth and Mercyhurst both have a pair of players who will be playing for Team Canada. Ohio State and New Hampshire have one player each on the team.

OH CANADA!
Of the 20 members of the Cornell roster in 2010-11, nine were selected to participate in the Canadian U22 National Team Selection Camp in early August, with eight of those players being named to the select team that faced the United States in a three-game series later that month. The eight included goaltender Amanda Mazzotta, defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau, and forwards Jessica Campbell, Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston, Chelsea Karpenko and Catherine White. Also invited to the camp but not named to the select team was defenseman Hayleigh Cudmore. The nine players invited to the camp far surpassed any other collegiate program, with Boston University placing four players in the initial camp and Mercyhurst placing three.

EARLY PICKS
When the ECAC Hockey preseason coaches poll was released, it was no surprise to see the Big Red standing as the favorite among league coaches to repeat as champions. Cornell received all 11 possible first-place votes with Clarkson gaining the final vote, with coaches unable to vote for their own teams.

THE FIRST SIX
Along with the preseason coaches poll, the ECAC Hockey bench bosses selected the preseason all-league team, with four Big Red players named among the six spots. The Big Red placed defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau and forwards Rebecca Johnston and Catherine White among the top six, with Quinnipiac goaltender Victoria Vigilanti and Harvard forward Kate Buesser rounding out the league's preseason selections.

EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN
Cornell returns four players who have previously earned AHCA All-America honors during their career, including the program's first First-Team selection in sophomore defenseman Laura Fortino, who was selected to the nation's top six in her freshman season. Joining in that group are 2010 second-team selections Catherine White and Lauriane Rougeau and 2009 second-team pick Rebecca Johnston.

GO FOR THE GOLD
Rebecca Johnston returns to the Big Red for her junior season after sitting out the 2009-10 campaign while centralized with the Canadian senior national team. Johnston was named to the Canadian team that captured the gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, playing in five of Canada's six games and scoring one goal with five assists and a +9 rating.

WORLD CHAMPIONS
Cornell's roster includes a pair of players who were a part of the Canadian team that won the IIHF U18 World Championship last spring. Freshmen Jessica Campbell and Hayleigh Cudmore were both members of that squad, with Campbell being named the most valuable player of the tournament for her play.

DRAWING A BLANK
Last season, opponents found it exceptionally hard to score on Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta. The junior netminder set a Cornell record – men's and women's – by posting 11 shutouts last year, surpassing the total of 10 set by men's goaltender David McKee during the 2004-05 season. The previous best by a women's goaltender was six, set by Kathryn LoPresti in the 1988-89 season.

GOING STREAKING
Last season, Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta recorded the fourth-longest shutout streak in NCAA history, recording four straight shutouts from Feb. 5 through Feb. 13. Her total time stretched for 286:54, the longest streak in ECAC Hockey history and fourth-longest all-time in NCAA history. Wisconsin alumna Jessie Vetter owns two of the three longest streaks in NCAA history, including the record of 448:39.

TREATY OF NEUTRALITY
Cornell's two games at the NCAA Frozen Four last season marked the 42nd and 43rd games the Big Red has played on neutral ice. Cornell holds a 23-17-3 record all-time when playing at a neutral venue. Prior to last season's national championship weekend, the Big Red's last neutral site game came on Jan. 21, 2001, when it lost to St. Lawrence, 4-1, at Lake Placid, N.Y. The Big Red is not scheduled to play any neutral site contests this season, but could potentially play as many as four, should Cornell advance in postseason play.

PENALTY KILLING? NO PROBLEM
Cornell was exceptional at staying out of the penalty box last season, ranking 33rd among the 35 teams in Division I in penalty minutes per game. Even when the Big Red found itself shorthanded, however, Cornell still played outstanding defense. The Big Red ranked first in the nation in penalty-killing percentage, allowing just 10 goals in 131 opponents' power plays (92.4 percent). Cornell's 2009-10 percentage ranked eighth all-time in NCAA history.

TWO-WAY PLAYER
Sophomore forward Xandra Hompe gives new meaning to that term, as the New Cannan, Conn., native is a dual-sport athlete. Hompe spends her fall season with the Cornell women's soccer team, where she is tied for third on the team in scoring and shares the team lead in assists with four.

LYNAH LOCKDOWN
Cornell went 4-0 in postseason games at Lynah Rink last season. Prior to thiat, the Big Red had never won a postseason game, and had never played a postseason game at home.

UP NEXT
The Big Red returns to league play with a pair of home games, taking on Harvard and Dartmouth at Lynah Rink. Cornell takes on Harvard on Friday at 7 p.m., the first matchup of the two teams since Cornell knocked the Crimson out of the 2010 NCAA tournament. Saturday's matchup features Cornell taking on Dartmouth in a 4 p.m. contest.