GAME INFORMATION
GAME #24: Quinnipiac at Cornell
DATE: Friday, February 5, 2010
TIME: 7 pm
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Lynah Rink
2009-10 RECORDS: Cornell - 10-8-5, 9-2-5 ECAC Hockey; Quinnipiac - 14-8-6, 7-4-5 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 4-3-4
LAST MEETING: Tied, 3-3, on Nov. 21, 2009, in Hamden, Conn.
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/whockey

GAME #25: Princeton at Cornell
DATE: Saturday, February 6, 2010
TIME: 4 p.m.
SITE: Ithaca, N.Y. - Lynah Rink
2009-10 RECORDS: Cornell - 10-8-5, 9-2-5 ECAC Hockey; Princeton - 10-9-4, 8-4-4 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 40-28-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 1-0, on Nov. 20, 2009, in Princeton, N.J.
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/whockey

With just six games remaining in the regular season, the Cornell women's hockey team will try to close in on its first top-four finish in ECAC Hockey play and clinch a home series for the quarterfinal round of the league tournament. The Big Red can take two huge strides toward that goal this weekend when it plays host to Quinnipiac and Princeton in a pair of games at Lynah Rink. Cornell enters the week in second place in the league standings, three points ahead of Princeton and four ahead of Quinnipiac.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
The Big Red had its first rough weekend of the season last weekend, picking up a tie at St. Lawrence before losing to league-leading Clarkson on Saturday. The one point gained on the weekend marked the first time this season that the Big Red failed to glean at least two points out of a two-game set. On Friday, Karlee Overguard scored with 1:14 to play in regulation to give Cornell the 2-2 tie at St. Lawrence, with Laura Fortino scoring the other goal for the Big Red. Then on Saturday in a showdown of the two top teams in league play, the Big Red fell to Clarkson, 2-1, despite a goal from Catherine White. White leads the Big Red in scoring with 24 points on seven goals and 17 assists through 20 games, while Chelsea Karpenko and Fortino are tied for second with 19 points each. Karpenko has a team-best 10 goals, while Fortino is one of the highest-scoring rookies in the country, averaging nearly a point per game. In goal, Amanda Mazzotta has played all but one game for the Big Red, posting a 1.75 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage with six shutouts. The Big Red has been outstanding on special teams this season, converting on 21-of-96 power play chances (21.9 percent) while killing off all but three (80-of-83) opponents' power plays (96.4 percent). .

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
In his fifth season behind the Big Red bench, Doug Derraugh has turned the Cornell women's hockey program into one of women's college hockey's top young programs. Derraugh has a career record of 47-80-14, but has taken the Big Red to double-digit win totals in each of the last three seasons for the first time since Cornell had six straight double-digit win totals from 1995-96 through 2000-01. He has also led Cornell to the ECAC Hockey playoffs in each of the last two years and is on pace to guide the Big Red back to the playoffs again this season. Derraugh is assisted by Danielle Biloudeau, in her fourth season, and Edith Zimmering, in her first year with the Big Red.

ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats are in the thick of the playoff chase, standing in a tie with St. Lawrence for sixth in the league. Quinnipiac has been on a roll of late, posting a 7-1 mark in their last eight games, including wins over Dartmouth, Harvard and Union in league play. The Bobcats are paced offensively by senior Janine Duffy, who has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. Freshman Heather Hughes shares the team goal-scoring lead, posting 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points. In goal, freshman Victoria Vigilanti has played most of the time, posting a .940 save percentage and a 1.46 goals-against average. The Bobcats have struggled on the man advantage, converting on 12-of-99 power play chances (12.1 percent) while killing off 76-of-85 opponents' power play chances (89.4 percent)

THE SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Cornell holds a slim 4-3-4 lead in the all-time series against Quinnipiac after the two teams skated to a 3-3 tie earlier this season in Hamden, Conn. The two teams have skated to a tie in each of the last three contests.

ABOUT PRINCETON
Princeton has recovered from a mid-season slide that saw the Tigers drop five straight games, going 3-1-3 in their last seven contests. Princeton is in a three-way tie for third place in the league standings with Harvard and Rensselaer, three points behind the Big Red. The Tigers are led offensively by Danielle DiCesare's 22 points on eight goals and a team-best 14 assists, while sophomore Heather Landry has a team-best 10 goals. In goal, the tandem of Rachel Weber and Cassie Seguin has split time, with Weber posting a 1.72 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Seguin, meanwhile, has a 2.18 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage with three shutouts. The Bobcats have scored 21 power-play goals in 111 chances (18.9 percent) while killing off 78-of-93 opponents' power play chances (83.9 percent).

THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
Princeton leads the all-time series against Cornell, 40-28-4, though Cornell gained a 1-0 victory in the first meeting of the season between the two teams on Nov. 20 in Princeton, N.J.

MAGIC NUMBERS
With six games left in the league slate, the Big Red is in prime position to garner its first ever top-four finish in ECAC Hockey and play host to the quarterfinal round for the first time in program history. Since the league went to 12 teams prior to the 2006-07 season, the fourth-place team has averaged 29.7 wins. Cornell, with 23 points, needs another three wins out of the remaining six games to clinch home ice for the first round. Over the last three seasons, 19 points has been the average total for the eighth-place playoff team, meaning Cornell, which currently has 23 points, has all but qualified for the post-season with more than a month remaining in the regular season.

DOUBLE VISION ONCE AGAIN
The Cornell women's hockey team has recorded double-digit wins this season, marking the third year in a row that Cornell has done so. The Big Red last won 10 games in three straight seasons during a stretch of six years with double-digit win totlas from 1995-96 through 2000-01.

DRAWING A BLANK
Cornell was held scoreless on Jan. 10 at Providence, the first and only time this season Cornell has failed to score at least one goal. By contrast, Big Red opponents have been shut out six times through the first 23 games. Cornell has also scored two or more goals 16 times through the first 23 games. When Cornell scores two or more goals, the Big Red is 9-2-5.

IVY COVERED WALLS
A subplot to the weekend's games is Cornell's chase for its first Ivy League title since 1999. With three games remaining among Ivy League foes, Cornell is atop the league standings with 12 points, going 5-0-2 this season against the other five Ivy League schools. Harvard stands in second with 10 points, but has played eight league games. Princeton is in third, three points back of the Big Red.

OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
The formula for a winning hockey team is obvious - scoring plenty of goals and not giving up goals. The Cornell women's hockey team has followed that formula to perfection, ranking second in ECAC Hockey with 48 goals scored, trailing only Harvard's 52. On defense, the Big Red is tied for second in fewest goals allowed, conceeding just 24 goals, eight behind league-leading Clarkson.

DRAWING A BLANK
Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta needs just one more shutout this season to become the school's all-time single-season shutout leader. She enters the weekend tied with Kathryn LoPresti's six shutouts from 1988.

GOING STREAKING
Freshman Laura Fortino has turned her play up a notch in the second half of her first season with the Big Red. The Hamilton, Ontario native has scored at least one point in all six of the games she has played in since Christmas. Fortino has 11 points over that span, scoring five goals and adding six assists. She has also earned a pair of ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors for her play at Harvard and Dartmouth and again against Colgate. Fortino is also the highest-scoring defenseman in all of college hockey, averaging .95 points per game, and the fourth-highest-scoring rookie.

WHITE OUT
Laura Fortino isn't the only player to put together an impressive point streak, as sophomore Catherine White has also picked her game up recently. White has an eight-game point streak heading into the weekend, scoring 11 points over that span. White has been the most consistent performer for the Big Red this season, going only three games without a point among her 20 games played.

CLUTCH IS EVERYTHING
When the Cornell women's hockey team has needed a goal in the closing minutes of games, Karlee Overguard has delivered. The junior has a pair of game-tying goals in the last several weeks, first knotting the score with four seconds left at Harvard on Jan. 15 for a 4-4 tie against the Crimson, then tallying the tying mark with 1:16 to play against St. Lawrence on Jan. 29.

WELCOME RETURNS
Cornell's lineup was boosted by the return of three players who missed three games due to their participation at the MLP Cup, representing Canada. Catherine White, Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau each missed the games against Syracuse and Providence for the international competition in Ravensburg, Germany, where they claimed the gold medal. The trio, comprising three of the Big Red's top four scorers, combined to score 10 of Cornell's 17 points on the weekend. Fortino had four of those points (2-2--4), with Rougeau (1-2--3) and White (0-3--3) both tallying three. With the three players gone on international duty, the Big Red went 0-3.

NON-LEAGUE NOT FRIENDLY
Cornell closed out the non-conference portion of the season with a 1-6 record after dropping three games to open the new year. The Big Red went 1-4 against College Hockey America foes at Lynah Rink while dropping a pair at Providence of Hockey East.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS
Cornell has been exceptional at avoiding spending time on the penalty kill this season, averaging 7.6 minutes per game, third-fewest in Division I. When they do get sent to the box, Cornell's players have been exceptional at killing off those penalties. The Big Red leads the nation in penalty killing percentage, successfully ending 80-of-83 penalties against for an astounding 96.4 percent success rate.

BRICK WALL
Borrowing a page from the men's hockey program, which has a history of producing outstanding goaltenders, sophomore Amanda Mazzotta has been outstanding in ECAC Hockey action this year. After allowing seven goals in the first two games of the season against Mercyhurst, Mazzotta now ranks 10th in the nation in goals-against average (1.75).

TWO-WAY PLAYERS
Cornell's women's hockey team has a pair of players who give new meaning to the term two-way player, as senior Melanie Jue and freshman Xandra Hompe are dual-sport athletes. Jue is a goalie for the field hockey team, and is ranked fourth in the nation in save percentage this season. Hompe, meanwhile, is a forward for the women's soccer team, tallying a pair of assists this fall for the Big Red.

UP NEXT
Cornell takes to the road for the final time in the 2009-10 regular season next weekend when it travels to Brown and Yale for a pair of contests. The Big Red will take on Brown on Fri., Feb. 12, at 7 p.m., before battling Yale the following afternoon at 4 p.m.