ECAC Hockey Women's Championship
Rensselaer at Cornell
Face Off: Saturday, March 7 • 4 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
2009-10 Records:
    Cornell: 18-8-6, 14-2-6 ECAC Hockey
    Clarkson: 23-10-5, 14-5-3 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 15-9-1
Season Series: Series tied, 1-1-0
    Cornell won, 2-0, on Nov. 13, in Ithaca, N.Y.
    Clarkson won, 2-1, on Jan. 30, in Potsdam, N.Y.

Media Information
Live Video: cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: sidearmsports.com/cornell/whockey

Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's hockey team has already made history multiple times over this season, and the Big Red will look to add one more accomplishment to their lengthy list of achievements when it faces second-seeded Clarkson in the ECAC Hockey Championship at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. The two teams split the first two meetings this season, and the winner of the rubber match will win the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Admission is free, while live streaming video of the championship contest is available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
In his fifth season behind the Big Red bench, Doug Derraugh has done something no other coach in Cornell history has done - win an ECAC Hockey regular-season championship and take the Big Red to the league title game. Derraugh, a 1991 alumnus of Cornell, has turned the Big Red women's hockey program into one of college hockey's top young programs. He has led Cornell to its first Ivy League championship since 1996 and has the Big Red on the cusp of making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. With a career coaching record of 55-80-15, Derraugh has guided the Big Red to double-digit win totals in each of the last three seasons, the first time that has happened since Cornell won six straight from 1995-96 through 2000-01. He has also led Cornell to its third straight berth in the league playoffs for the first time since Cornell reached the post-season from 2002 through 2004. Derraugh was named the program's head coach prior to the 2005-06 season after concluding a 13-year playing career in Europe. He is assisted by Danielle Bilodeau, a 2001 Cornell graduate and former Big Red player, in her fourth season, and Edith Zimmering, in her first year with the Big Red.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell jumped out to a 5-1 lead against Rensselaer after two periods in the semifinals of the ECAC Hockey tournament and held on to claim a 5-4 victory and earn a spot in Sunday's championship game. Senior Liz Zorn had a pair of goals, including the game-winner, with freshman Lauriane Rougeau picking up a trio of assists. Sophomore Catherine White and senior Laura Danforth both had a goal and an assist on the night, while sophomore goaltender Amanda Mazzotta stopped 10 shots in earning the victory. On the year, White leads all scorers with 38 points on 10 goals and 28 assists, with freshman defenseman Laura Fortino has 29 points in 29 games on 10 goals and 19 assists. Cornell has benefitted from a balanced attack with five players scoring 10 or more goals, led by sophomore Chelsea Karpenko's 15, while six players have 10 or more assists, with eight players in double figures in points. Mazzotta has played all but one game in net for the Big Red, posting a 1.47 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage with 11 shutouts. Cornell rankes third in the country in the power play, converting of 28-of-128 chances on the season (21.9 percent), while leading the nation in penalty-killing percentage, allowing just five goals in 110 chances for the opposition, a 95.5 percent success rate.

ABOUT CLARKSON
The second seed in the leauge tournament, Clarkson earned its spot in the championship game with a 3-2 victory against third-seeded Harvard on Friday night in Potsdam, N.Y. Gabrielle Kosziwka scored the game-winning goal on a tipped shot from Katelyn Ptolmey with just 2:07 to play in the contest. Dominique Thibault leads the Golden Knights in scoring on the year with 39 points in 37 games, while Juana Baribeau has 35 points on 16 goals and 19 assists. Four players are in double figures in goals and six players are in double figures in assists, led by Britney Selina's 24, with eight players in double figures in points. Lauren Dahm has played all but one game in goal with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage and nine shutouts. Clarkson has scored 25 power-play goals in 167 chances (15.0 percent) while killing off 137-of-162 opponents' chances (84.6 percent).

THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
In a series that dates back to 1974-75, Cornell holds a 15-9-1 lead against Clarkson, with the two teams splitting the two meetings this season. Cornell picked up a 2-0 victory on Nov. 13 at Lynah Rink, while Clarkson scored a 2-1 win on Jan. 30 in Potsdam, N.Y. Cornell has won three of the last four meetings against the Golden Knights.

A SEASON OF FIRSTS
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game, the Big Red has already had one of the best seasons in school history. Cornell has won 18 games, the most in a single season, and claimed its first ECAC Hockey regular season championship. The Big Red also won its first playoff game, first playoff series and advanced to the championship game for the first time in program history. A win on Sunday would clinch Cornell's first ECAC Hockey tournament title and its first NCAA tournament appearance.

THE LEAGUE'S BEST
Catherine White was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year on Saturday, becoming the first player in Cornell history to earn the honor. White led the league with 24 assists in 22 conference games, the only player to average more than one assist per game. She finished third in the league scoring race with 31 points on seven goals and 24 assists, also leading the league with 11 points on the power play in the form of a pair of goals and nine assists. White was the 2009 ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the first team this season.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Cornell will be making its first appearance in the ECAC Hockey championship on Sunday. Cornell won its first-ever postseason game on Feb. 26 when it won a 2-1 contest against Colgate, then claimed its first-ever series victory when it swept the Raiders with a 5-0 win the following afternoon. Cornell claimed a win in its first appearance in the ECAC Hockey semifinals, scoring a 5-4 victory over Rensselaer on March 5 to earn its first berth in the league championship game.

UNBEATEN AT HOME
Cornell can officially say that it has never lost a home playoff game, as the Big Red improved to 3-0 in league postseason action at Lynah Rink. The Big Red swept Colgate, two games to none on Feb. 26-27 in the quarterfinal round, and claimed a 5-4 victory over Rensselaer on March 5 in the semifinals. Cornell had played each of the first 14 postseason contests in program history away from Lynah Rink.

WE'RE NOT DONE YET
Cornell's four seniors have been a big part of the program's resurgence, and they weren't about to let the season end in the semifinals on Friday. Seniors Liz Zorn and Laura Danforth both had a multi-point game in the semifinal win over Rensselaer, with Zorn potting a pair of goals, including the game-winner, and Danforth collecting a goal and an assist.

18 AND OVER ONLY
Cornell won its 18th game of the season on March 5 against Rensselaer, setting a program record for the most wins in a single season. Cornell had previously won 17 games in 1979-80, 1977-78 and 1976-77.

GOING STREAKING
Cornell enters Sunday's ECAC Hockey championship game with the nation's longest unbeaten streak, going the last nine games without a loss. Cornell is 8-0-1 over that span.

WAIT, WAIT, DON'T GO SO SOON!
Forgive Cornell's players if they don't want to flip their calendars to the month of March, as February was exceptionally kind to the Big Red. Cornell went 7-0-1 during the month, finishing with seven straight victories to claim the league's regular-season crown. Cornell also allowed only three goals during the entire month, posting five shutouts over that span.

SHUT DOWN DEFENSE
Until the ECAC Hockey semifinal contest against Rensselaer, Cornell's defense had been outstanding in the run up to the playoffs. Cornell went a span of eight games in which it allowed two goals or fewer, including five shutouts. Cornell allowed four goals in the the win over Rensselaer on March 5, the most since it gave up two goals to Clarkson on Jan. 30.

POST-SEASON HISTORY
The 2010 season marks the 10th time that the Big Red has qualified for the ECAC Hockey playoffs, and Cornell is playing at home for the first time. Prior to the 2001-02 season, the tournament was a single-elimination tournament for each round, with the best-of-three format being adopted for the quarterfinals from that point forward. Cornell qualified for the post-season four times under the old format (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) and fell to Providence twice and Brown and Harvard once each. Under the new format, the Big Red has been swept each of the first five times, including each of the last four as the eighth seed, and each time playing at Harvard. Following the Big Red's win over Rensselaer in the semifinals, Cornell is now 3-14 all-time in post-season play.

BREAK OUT THE HARDWARE
The ECAC Hockey regular-season trophy isn't the only hardware captured by the Big Red women this season. Cornell also claimed the Ivy League trophy for the first time since 1996 with an 8-0-2 record against the other five Ivy League schools. Cornell was presented with both trophies after the regular-season finale against Union on Feb. 20 at Lynah Rink.

A CROWN OF IVY
Cornell's 4-0 win over Brown on Feb. 12 gave Cornell the Ivy League title outright, the Big Red's first since the 1996 season. Cornell has now won the league championship 10 times, winning the title outright nine times.

OUT IN FRONT EARLY
Cornell has been extremely difficult to beat this season when it scores the first goal of the game, as the Big Red has an 18-2-2 record when scoring first. On the other hand, the Big Red has yet to win a game this season when the opposition scores first, going 0-6-3 when forced to come from behind.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
Perhaps the most disappointed person that the championship game is not being played on Saturday is freshman Lauriane Rougeau, based on recent results. Until the semifinal contest against Rensselaer, Rougeau had been held scoreless in each of the last five Friday contests, though Cornell has gone 4-0-1 over that span. By contrast, Rougeau has collected eight points over the last five Saturday games, including four last weekend against Colgate. Rougeau broke out of that pattern with three assists against the Engineers.

MISS CONSISTENCY
Sophomore Catherine White has been one of the most consistent scorers for the Big Red this season, as she has scored at least one point in 27 of the 29 games she appeared in this season. White also has 10 multi-point games this season and has scored in all but two games since the calendar turned to 2010.

OH, CANADA!
When Canada won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, that made more than two-thirds of the Cornell women's hockey team happy, as 13 of the 18 players on the Cornell roster are originally from Canada. The province of Ontario boasts six players, with four players calling Alberta home. Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia each are home to one player on the Cornell roster.

MORE OLYMPIC CONNECTIONS
Cornell had a pair of connections to the Canadian Olympic team that won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Rebecca Johnston '12 played the last two seasons for the Big Red before taking a leave of absence to train with the Canadian program. That Canadian program was coached by Melody Davidson, who was coach of the Cornell program prior to Doug Derraugh.

TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS
As the end of the season awards start being announced, Cornell has had a large number of honors go towards its players. Catherine White, Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau were each named to the All-ECAC Hockey First Team, with Amanda Mazzotta earning third-team honors. In the Ivy League, White was named the league's player of the year and Rougeau was named the top rookie by the league's coaches. White, Rougeau, Fortino and Mazzotta each were named to the first team, with Chelsea Karpenko earning second-team All-Ivy honors. Additional ECAC Hockey honors will be announced over the coming days.

ONE LONG BLANK
Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta posted four straight shutouts from Feb. 5 through Feb. 13, in the process setting the fourth-longest shutout streak in NCAA history. Stretching from the third period against Clarkson on Jan. 30 to the second period against Rensselaer on Feb. 19, Mazzotta was in net for 286:54 consecutive scoreless minutes, the longest streak in ECAC Hockey history. Wisconsin's Jessie Vetter owns two of the  three longest shutout streaks in NCAA history, including the record of 448:39.

HOW FAR WE'VE COME
The four seniors on this year's team - Laura Danforth, Melanie Jue, Kelly McGinty and Liz Zorn - have truly seen it all over the course of their Cornell careers. As freshmen in 2006-07, the Big Red went just 4-23-2 and missed the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The Big Red made the playoffs as the eighth seed in each of the next two seasons, building up to winning the first league regular-season championship in school history. They have a chance to be a part of the first Cornell women's hockey team to advance to the NCAA tournament with one more win this weekend.

DEFEND YOUR TURF
Cornell has done a good job of doing just that in league play this season, posting a stellar 9-1-2 at home this season against ECAC Hockey foes. The Big Red has allowed just 10 goals at Lynah Rink this season in league play, outscoring its opposition, 38-10. When non-league games and postseason games are factored in, Cornell holds an 12-5-2 mark at home while outscoring the opposition by a 56-28 mark.

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 at least 10 games in three straight seasons during a stretch of six years with double-digit win totals from 1995-96 through 2000-01.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!
Cornell sophomore goaltender Amanda Mazzotta has posted 11 shutouts this season, becoming the Big Red's all-time single-season leader in that category. She surpassed Kathryn LoPresti's six shutouts from 1988 when she blanked Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, then added her eighth shutout the next night against Princeton. Mazzotta's 11 shutouts are the most all-time among Cornell goaltenders, male or female. Mazzotta surpassed David McKee, who had 10 shutouts in 2004-05, with her shutout win against Colgate on Feb. 27. For her career, Mazzotta has 12 shutouts, tying LoPresti's career total of 12 shutouts from 1985-88.

DRAWING A BLANK
Cornell was held scoreless on Jan. 10 at Providence, the first time this season Cornell has failed to score at least one goal. Cornell was also held scoreless by Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, but picked up a tie in the 0-0 contest. By contrast, Big Red opponents have been shut out 11 times through the first 32 games. Cornell has also scored two or more goals 23 times through the first 32 games. When Cornell scores two or more goals, the Big Red is 16-2-5.

KAZMAIER WATCH
When the 45 nominees for the Patty Kazmaier Award were announced on Feb. 17, a trio of Cornell players were among those up for the award. Sophomore Catherine White and freshmen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau were each nominated for the award, which will be handed out on March 20. Unfortunately, none of the three were among the 10 finalists that were announced on March 2.

CATHERINE THE GREAT
Catherine White has become one of the nation's top playmakers, as evidenced by her ranking as fifth in the nation in assists per game. White has 28 assists in 29 games for an average of 0.97  assists per game.

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Cornell's two freshmen defensemen rank among the nation's elite in terms of scoring among defensemen. Laura Fortino is second in the nation in points per game among defensemen, while Lauriane Rougeau ranks seventh in the nation. The two players have combined for 20 goals and 36 assists and rank second and third on the Cornell roster, respectively. Fortino also ranks fourth in the nation in scoring among all rookies, while Rougeau is ninth in that category.

GOING STREAKING
Catherine White's not the only one who has been on a roll lately, as Laura Fortino has also scored in 13 of the 15 games since the start of the new year. Fortino has 21 points over that span, including seven goals and 14 assists. Fortino has six multi-point games in her last 14 and seven on the season.

CLUTCH IS EVERYTHING
When the Cornell women's hockey team has needed a goal in the closing minutes of a game, 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 immediately following their return from international duty. Fortino had four of those points (2-2--4), with Rougeau (1-2--3) and White (0-3--3) both tallying three.

OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
The formula for a winning hockey team is obvious - putting the puck in the net and keeping it out of yours. The Cornell women's hockey team has followed that formula to perfection, ranking third in ECAC Hockey with 67 goals scored, trailing only Harvard's 69 and Dartmouth's 70. On defense, the Big Red allowed the fewest number of goals, conceeding just 26 goals in 22 league games. Clarkson and Quinnipiac tied for second-fewest goals allowed in the conference, with both teams conceeding 28 goals in league play.

SOMETHING REALLY SPECIAL
Cornell's penalty killing unit stands atop the national rankings in penalty killing percentage and is close to setting the NCAA record for highest penalty-killing percentage in a season. The Big Red has killed off 95.5 percent of opponents' power plays this season, which is just below the NCAA record of 95.7 percent, set by Harvard in 2003. That year, Harvard allowed just five goals in 117 chances. The Big Red this season has allowed just five goals in 110 opportunites.

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.

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
The winner of Sunday's ECAC Hockey championship game will clinch an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, while the loser stands a strong chance of earning one of the five at-large bids into the field of eight teams. The tournament field will be announced on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.