Game 15: Cornell at Yale
Face Off: Friday, January 7 • 7 p.m.
Site: Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Conn.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 13-1-0, 8-0-0 ECAC Hockey
    Yale - 4-9-2, 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 44-13-1
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 1-0, on Feb. 13, 2010, in New Haven, Conn.
Media Information
Live Video: www.yalebulldogs.com
Live Stats: livestats.prestosports.com/yale/

Game 16: Cornell at Brown
Face Off: Saturday, January 8 • 4 p.m.
Site: Meehan Auditorium • Providence, R.I.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 13-1-0, 8-0-0 ECAC Hockey
    Brown - 2-9-2, 1-5-2 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Series tied, 34-34-8
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 4-0, on Feb. 12, 2010, in Providence, R.I.
Media Information
Live Video: www.b2livetv.com
Live Stats: livestats.prestosports.com/brown/

Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's hockey team returns to action this weekend after a five-week hiatus for exams and holidays, traveling to Yale and Brown for a pair of ECAC Hockey contests. The Big Red will also face the challenge of taking on the two league rivals without five players who will be representing Canada at the MLP Cup this week in Switzerland.

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 71-82-15 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 four seasons and set a program record for wins in a season with 21 in 2009-10. 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
Cornell closed out the fall semester wtih a 13-1 overall record and a perfect 8-0 mark in ECAC Hockey action, skating to a 3-1 win against St. Lawrence and a 3-0 victory against Clarkson on Dec. 3-4 at Lynah Rink before taking a five-week break for exams and holidays. The top-ranked team in the nation, Cornell has used a potent offensive attack and a suffocating defense to post the nation's third-best scoring offense and top scoring defense. For the year, six different players are averaging at least one point per game, led by junior Rebecca Johnston and freshman Brianne Jenner, who both have 20 points through 12 games this season. Jenner has a team-best 11 goals this year, including a pair of game-winners, while Johnston leads the team with 12 assists. Also averaging better than a point per game are juniors Chelsea Karpenko and Catherine White, freshman Jessica Campbell and sophomore Laura Fortino. In goal, junior Amanda Mazzotta has been outstanding, recording a 13-1 record with a 0.91 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage and four shutouts. Cornell has also excelled on special teams, ranking tied for first in the nation in power play percentage (25.9 percent, converting on 15-of-58 chances) and first in penalty killing percentage (95.8 percent, 46-of-48 chances).

ABOUT YALE
Yale returned from its holiday break on Monday with a 3-1 loss to Boston College, and enters the weekend series with a 4-9-2 overall record and a 3-4-1 mark in league play. The Bulldogs split their last league weekend series on Dec. 3-4, defeating Princeton on the road before losing at Quinnipiac. The Bulldogs have struggled offensively, averaging just 1.73 goals per game this season and having scored more than one goal just five times in their first 15 games. Senior Bray Ketchum leads the Bulldogs offensively with 11 points on five goals and six assists in 14 games, and is the only Yale player with double-digit points this season. Freshman Jackie Raines has a team-best six goals through 15 games. In goal, Genny Ladiges and Jackee Snikeris have split time in net, with Ladiges, a junior, posting a 2.39 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage. Snikeris, a senior, has a .941 save percentage and a 2.14 goals-against average on the year. Yale has struggled on special teams, converting on just six of 54 power play chances (11.1 percent, 24th nationally), while the penalty killing unit has successfully ended 46-of-57 opponents' power plays (80.7 percent, 29th nationally).

THE SERIES WITH YALE
Cornell holds a decisive 44-13-1 lead in the all-time series against Yale, with the vast majority of Cornell's wins coming in the pre-NCAA era. Cornell won 40 of the first 41 meetings between the two programs through the 2001-02 season. Since then, however, Yale has gone 12-3-1 against the Big Red. Cornell went 1-0-1 against Yale last season, skating to a 2-2 draw on Dec. 4, 2009, in Ithaca, before the Big Red claimed a 1-0 victory on Feb. 13, 2010, in New Haven.

ABOUT BROWN
The Bears have struggled offensively this season, scoring just 19 goals through the first 13 games of the year to rank 30th in the nation in scoring offense. Brown enters the weekend on a six-game losing streak, including dropping each of the last three games by identical 4-0 scores. The Bears have not scored in 182:03 of game time, last tallying an extra-attacker goal on Nov. 28 against Northeastern. Brown's offense is led by sophomore Laurie Jolin, who has seven points in 13 games on five goals and two assists. A trio of other players are two points back of Jolin with five points each this year. In goal, sophomore Katie Jamieson has played the majority of time in net, posting a 2.75 goals-against average and a .921 save percentagewith one shutout. Brown's power play has converted on just 3-of-33 chances this season (9.1 percent, tied for 30th nationally) while the penalty killing unit has allowed 10 goals in 46 opponents' chances (78.3 successful kill rate, 32nd nationally).

THE SERIES WITH BROWN
Cornell and Brown are tied in the all-time series, 34-34-8, with Cornell having claimed the victory in each of the last five meetings between the two programs. The Big Red swept last season's series, winning by a 5-0 margin on Dec. 5 in Ithaca before scoring a 4-0 victory in the return game on Feb. 12 in Providence. Cornell has not given up a goal to the Bears in each of the last three meetings. Brown's last win in the series came on Jan. 30, 2007, in Providence, R.I., a 3-0 victory.

DUTY CALLS
The Big Red will be shorthanded for this weekend's series at Yale and Brown, as five players have been called into the Canadian U22 National Team camp for this week's MLP Cup in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Juniors Catherine White and Chelsea Karpenko, sophomores Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau and freshman Jessica Campbell have each been selected to the roster and will participate for Canada. Junior goaltender Amanda Mazzotta was also named to the roster, but will not participate due to injury. Another pair – junior Rebecca Johnston and freshman Brianne Jenner – were given the option to play for Canada after being centralized with the Canadian Olympic Team last season, but both players – along with all of the other centralized players who were eligible for the U22 team – declined the invitation and will instead play for the Big Red.

READY THE UNDERSTUDY
With Amanda Mazzotta withdrawing from Canada's roster for this week's MLP Cup due to injury, her availability for the weekend's series at Yale and Brown is also up in the air. Her backup, freshman Lauren Slebodnick, will likely get the call if Mazzotta can not play, and would make her first career starts near her hometown of Manchester, N.H. Slebodnick has two appearances on the year, coming on in relief of Mazzotta in the two games against Niagara. For the season, she has appeared in two games for a total of 48:20, and has stopped all of the 18 shots she has faced.

ROAD WARRIORS
After playing 11 of the first 14 games of the season at home, the Big Red will play six of its next seven contests away from Lynah Rink, beginning with this weekend's series at Yale and Brown. Cornell will also travel to Rensselaer and Union next weekend before a non-league contest at Mercyhurst and a home-and-home series against Colgate to wrap up the stretch.

PACKING THEM IN
Cornell's win over Clarkson on Dec. 4 came in front of the largest crowd to ever see the Big Red women's hockey team play at Lynah Rink. That contest was played in front of 2,326 fans, easily surpassing the old mark of 1,528, set on March 7, 2010, when Cornell defeated Clarkson, 4-3, in overtime of the ECAC Hockey championship game. Cornell is averaging 560 fans per game this season at home, the eighth-highest average attendance in the nation.

900 AND COUNTING
Cornell's 3-1 victory on Dec. 3 against St. Lawrence marked the 900th game all-time in the history of the Cornell women's hockey program. The Big Red has a 406-445-50 all-time record, game against St. Lawrence on Friday will mark the 900th game all-time in the history of the Cornell women's hockey program. Cornell has a 404-445-50 all-time record for a .477 winning percentage.

AT THE CENTURY MARK
Junior Catherine White became just the 13th player in program history – and the first since Erin Schmaltz in 1998 – to score her 100th career point when she reached that barrier on Nov. 26 against Niagara. White reached that mark in just 74 games on 37 goals and 63 assists. Rebecca Johnston will likely become the next Cornell player to reach the 100-point plateau, as she enters this weekend's games at Yale and Brown just three points shy of that mark.

NUMBER ONE
With Cornell's sweep over Niagara on Nov. 27-28 and Wisconsin splitting its series with Minnesota-Duluth that same weekend, the Big Red moved up to first in the nation both the USA Today/USA Hockey and USCHO.com polls. This marked the first time in program history that the Big Red has been ranked as the top team in the nation in either of the two polls.

DRAWING A BLANK
While Cornell's offense provides the headlines, it the Big Red's defense that is suffocating opponents and turning into victories. The Big Red has allowed just 12 goals in 14 games and has surrendered just four goals in eight league games. Cornell has allowed more than two goals just once this season, giving up four goals in a 4-3 loss to Mercyhurst on Nov. 2, the only blemish of the season on Cornell's record. The Big Red allowed just six goals during the entire month of November.

MS. CONSISTENCY
Rebecca Johnston has posted the incredible feat of having scored at least one point in each of the 12 games she has appeared in this season for the Big Red. Johnston has 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists. She has four multi-point games on the year, including a high of five against Niagara on Nov. 27.

GOING STREAKING
Junior goaltender Amanda Mazzotta saw the second-longest shutout streak of her career snapped on Nov. 30 at Syracuse. Mazzotta's streak, which spanned parts of six games, lasted 218:51 before Syracuse's Kelly Dimmen got the Orange on the scoreboard. As impressive as that mark is, it's still more than a full game shy of Mazzotta's personal best mark of 286:54, set in Feb. 2010, a mark that stands as the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history.

GET IN THE GAME
Freshman Lauren Slebodnick saw her first career action on Nov. 26-27 against Niagara, coming on in relief of starter Amanda Mazzotta both nights. Slebodnick stopped all 18 shots she faced in the two games.

REACHING A MILESTONE
Cornell's win on Nov. 19 against Princeton was the 400th victory in the history of the Cornell women's hockey program. Cornell now has 406 victories, the ninth-highest total among NCAA Division I programs. New Hampshire leads all programs with 696 victories.

COUNTING TO 100
Cornell's win on Nov. 26 against Niagara marked the 100th victory for the Big Red since the NCAA officially recognized women's hockey as a championship sport prior to the 2000-01 season. Cornell is now 103-182-25 since women's hockey gained official status.

ON THE BREAK
Cornell's players had a rare week off on Nov. 12-13 due to a quirk in the league schedule. Rather than play a non-conference series that weekend, the Big Red elected to take the weekend off to evaluate the team's progress in the early part of the season. Cornell has not had a similar break in the schedule since taking off the weekend of Nov. 23-24, 2007.

WHILE YOU WERE GONE...
Two Cornell players weren't entirely off during the team's break on Nov. 12-13, as Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner took part in the 4 Nations Cup in St. John's, Newfoundland. Competing with the Canadian National Team, the pair came home with the tournament's gold medal, defeating the United States in the championship game, 3-2, in overtime. Johnston was especially strong in that championship game, scoring a pair of goals including the overtime game-winner. Johnston finished with seven points on four goals and three assists, ranking her tied for third among all scorers in the tournament. The pair missed Cornell's weekend series against Harvard and Dartmouth on Nov. 5-6 as well, but the Big Red still posted a pair of victories in their absence.

WHAT A WEEKEND
With Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner on international duty with the Canadian National Team at the 4 Nations Cup on Nov. 5-6, senior Hayley Hughes stepped up with the best weekend of her career. Hughes potted a pair of goals and assisted on the third in Cornell's 3-0 victory against Harvard on Friday night, then tallied three assists in the 6-1 win against Dartmouth the following day. Hughes' six-point weekend equaled one-quarter of her career point total entering the 2010-11 season and earned her ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.

FIRING BLANKS
Amanda Mazzotta became Cornell's all-time career leader in shutouts when she blanked Harvard, 3-0, on Nov. 5. With four shutouts this season, Mazzotta now has 16 shutouts in her Cornell career, surpassing the mark of 12 set by Kathryn LoPresti from 1985 through 1989. Mazzotta's 16 shutouts rank her tied for 13th all-time in NCAA history.

ONE BANNER YEAR
Cornell officially put the cap on the historic 2009-10 season on Nov. 6 against Dartmouth when the Big Red added three banners to the Lynah Rink rafters. Last year's four seniors – Laura Danforth, Melanie Jue, Kelly McGinty and Liz Zorn – were on hand for the unveiling of banners commemorating the program's ECAC Hockey championship, the Ivy League championship and national runner-up finish.

FOUR SQUARE
Cornell's wins on Oct. 29-30 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.

100 AND COUNTING
Senior Karlee Overguard's appeared in her 100th career game on Nov. 5 against Harvard, the most games of any player on the roster.  Overguard is on pace to become the school's career leader in games played, a mark that is currently held by 2010 graduate Laura Danforth. Danforth appeared in 124 games during her four-year career spanning 2006 through 2010. Two of Danforth's classmates, Liz Zorn (121) and Kelly McGinty (116), stand second and tied for third, respectively, in games played at Cornell. Overguard stands at 108 career games played, while fellow senior Hayley Hughes is nine games away from the 100-games played mark herself.

LEAGUE OPENERS
Cornell won its ECAC Hockey opener for the second straight season with a 5-1 win at Quinnipiac on Oct. 29, and opened up 2-0 in league play for the second time in a row when it downed Princeton the following day by the same score. 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 has spent 73.3 percent of the total minutes of games this season with a lead, while trailing for just a total of 6:37, or 0.8 percent of the time. Cornell has been tied for 217:47 through 14 games, or 25.9 percent of the total minutes played.

TEAMMATES, ENEMIES
The Nov. 2 game against Mercyhurst featured a number of players who are teammates on the Canadian National Team that won the gold medal at the 4 Nations Cup from Nov. 9-13 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Cornell players Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner skated against Mercyhurst's Meghan Agosta and Vicki Bendus at Lynah Rink 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.

EVERYONE IS CLUTCH
Cornell has shown a tremendous balance on the scoresheet this season, illustrated by the fact that only Laura Fortino, Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston and Amber Overguard have recorded more than one game-winning goal this season, with each of those scoring just two game-winners. With 13 victories this year, eight different players have scored a game-winning goal.

HAT TRICK PLUS ONE
Freshman Jessica Campbell scored four goals for the Big Red in a 9-1 victory against Robert Morris on Oct. 23, just her second career game. Campbell scored once in both the first and second periods and finished off her four-goal performance with a pair of markers 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. Of the 15 skaters to dress for that contest, 14 of them recorded at least one point, with only freshman defenseman Alyssa Gagliardi finding her way onto the scoresheet. 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 is tied with Quinnipiac for the fewest penalty minutes per game, averaging just seven minutes in the box per contest. Cornell has been called for just 49 penalties in the 14 games this season.

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.

FROM THE START
The five skaters in Cornell's six-player freshman class each made their collegiate debut against Robert Morris on Oct. 22-23, 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.

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, and eight of those players were 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. 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 finished tied for third on the team in scoring and tied for 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
Cornell's five-game road trip continues with a weekend series in New York's Capital District, taking on Rensselaer on Friday, Jan. 14, before facing Union the following afternoon.