Game 32: Cornell vs. Quinnipiac
Face Off: Thursday, March 3 • 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 28-2-1, 20-1-1 ECAC Hockey
    Quinnipiac - 22-11-3, 12-9-1 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 6-3-5
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 4-0, on Nov. 20, 2010, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Media Information
Live Video: cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/cornell/whockey

Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's hockey team continues its quest to repeat as the ECAC Hockey tournament champion this week, facing fifth-seeded Quinnipiac in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, at Lynah Rink. The top-seeded Big Red advanced to the semifinals after dispatching eighth-seeded Rensselaer in the quarterfinals, two games to none. Live video of the contest will be available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service with Jason Weinstein calling the action. Live stats will also be available at CornellBigRed.com.

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 true contender for the national championship. Derraugh has an 86-83-16 record as the head coach of the Big Red, leading the team to back-to-back 20 win seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Last season, he led the Big Red to a 21-9-6 mark, setting a record for the most wins in a season, and led his team a berth in the national championship game. He also piloted the Big Red to its first-ever ECAC Hockey regular season and tournament championships, along with the program's first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament. In the process, he was named the AHCA Division I national coach of the year for his efforts. Derraugh's club has broken the school season win total again this season, entering the week with 28 victories, and has claimed back-to-back league regular season titles. Derraugh's efforts resulted in his capturing his first ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year award in 2011. He has also led Cornell to back-to-back Ivy League titles for the first time since the 1980-81 season. Derraugh took over the program prior to the 2005-06 season after a 13-year professional palying career in Europe. He is assisted by fifth-year assistant coach Danielle Bilodeau, a former Big Red player and 2001 Cornell graduate, Edith Zimmering, in her second season with the Big Red, and first-year volunteer assistant coach Meredith Roth.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell advanced through the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal round with a sweep over Rensselaer last weekend, but not without a little drama. The Big Red got the tying goal with 6.6 seconds left in regulation, then won the game with Karlee Overguard's game-winner 1:28 into the extra session on Friday. In game two on Saturday, the Big Red sealed the victory with three third-period goals to claim a 6-1 victory over the Engineers. Rebecca Johnston and Brianne Jenner led the squad with five points each on the weekend, with Johnston scoring four goals and one assist and Jenner picking up five assists. Lauren Slebodnick got the start in goal both nights and made 19 saves in the two games. For the season, Jenner leads the squad with 47 points in 29 games on 22 goals and 25 assists, leading six players in averaging at least a point per game. Rebecca Johnston is right behind Jenner with 46 points on 25 goals and 21 assists, while Chelsea Karpenko (18-24–42) and Catherine White (20-20–40) have also crossed the 40-point mark this season. Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau are also averaging better than a ponit per game, with Fortino collecting eight goals and 28 assists for 36 points and Rougeau tallying four goals and 27 assists for 31 points. In goal, Cornell's netminders have been stellar all season, combining for a 1.00 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage. Individually, Slebodnick has played the most of the three, recording a 1.15 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage with a 12-1-1 record and five shutouts. Amanda Mazzotta has a 0.91 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage, but has not played since Dec. 4, posting a 13-1 record on the year with four shutouts. Katie Wilson has gotten three starts and recorded a shutout in two of those, tallying a 0.67 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage with a perfect 3-0 record. The Big Red's special teams have also excelled, with the power-play unit ranking second in the nation, converting on 35-of-136 chances (25.7 percent). The penalty-killing unit leads the nation with its 94.1 percent success rate (96-of-102).

ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats advanced to the ECAC Hockey semifinals after going on the road to defeat fourth-seeded Princeton in two games, winning by 2-1 and 2-0 scores. Quinnipiac went 5-2-2 over the month of February, scoring wins over Dartmouth, Rensselaer, Union and Princeton twice, and enter Thursday's game with a 22-11-3 record on the season. The Bobcats are led by freshman Kelly Babstock, who leads all rookies nationally in scoring with 58 points on 30 goals and 28 assists in 36 games. Babstock is the only player averaging better than a point per game, with Kate Wheeler (12-17–29) and Erica Uden Johansson (10-14–24) ranking second and third on the team, respectively. In goal, Victoria Vigilanti has played the vast majority of time, recording a 1.61 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage to go along with a 21-11-3 record and nine shutouts. The Bobcats have been strong on special teams this season, ranking eighth in the nation in power-play efficiency (31-of-157, 19.7 percent) and fifth in the country in penalty-killing percentage (90.2 percent, 101-of-112).

THE SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Cornell swept the season series with the Bobcats, winning by a 5-1 score on Oct. 29 at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn., and claiming a 4-0 victory at Lynah Rink on Nov. 20. The Big Red holds a 6-3-5 lead in the all-time series against the Bobcats, a series that dates back to the 2003-04 season. Thursday's meeting will mark the first time the two programs have met in the postseason. This season's two games against the Bobcats marked the first time since Jan. 31, 2004, that a Cornell-Quinnipiac game was decided by more than one goal, with the four matchups prior to this season all ending in ties.

PLAYOFF WATCH
The other league semifinal will feature second-seeded Harvard playing host to third-seeded Dartmouth, a contest played simultaneously with the Cornell-Quinnipiac tilt. Harvard advanced to the semifinals after defeating seventh-seeded St. Lawrence in two games, 6-1 and 8-3, while Dartmouth needed three games to eliminate Clarkson, rallying after dropping game one, 4-1, to post a 4-2 win in game two and a 4-3 overtime victory in the decisive game three.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SEASON SERIES
The Big Red won the two games against Quinnipiac this season by a combined score of 9-1, holding the Bobcats' leading scorer, Kelly Babstock, to just one point with an assist in the opener. In contrast, the Big Red quartet of Jessica Campbell (3-0–3), Chelsea Karpenko (2-1–3), Rebecca Johnston (1-2–3) and Brianne Jenner (0-3–3) each picked up three points in the season series with the Bobcats. Cornell goaltender Amanda Mazzotta also stopped 42 of the 43 shots she faced in the two games (.977 save percentage), while Quinnipiac netminder Victoria Vigilanti made 72 saves on 81 shots (.889 save percentage). The Big Red also had great success with the man advantage, going 3-for-4 in the two games, while holding Quinnipiac off the scoreboard in all six of its power-play chances.

POSTSEASON HOCKEY
Cornell enters Thursday's game with a 6-14 all-time record in the ECAC Hockey tournament and an 8-15 mark all-time in post-season games. With the Big Red's sweep over Rensselaer in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals last weekend, Cornell improved to 6-0 all-time in playoff games played at Lynah Rink. The Big Red is 0-14 all-time in league tournament games played away from home.

PLAYOFF PICK TO CLICK
Four Cornell players have amassed more than 10 points in the playoffs in their careers, led by sophomore Lauriane Rougeau's 15 points in nine games. Rougeau has two goals and 13 assists to go along with a +10 rating, sharing the team-high honor in that category with Laura Fortino. Others scoring in double figures in the playoffs are Catherine White (8-4–12), Laura Fortino (4-8–12) and Chelsea Karpenko (4-6–10). Among the roster, Rougeau, White, Fortino, Brianne Jenner and Rebecca Johnston are each averaging at least a point per game.

A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC
Cornell has twice showed an ability to rally late and score goals with the extra attacker, first rebounding from a two-goal deficit at Clarkson on Feb. 4 on Catherine White's extra-attacker goal to secure a 3-3 tie and remain unbeaten in ECAC Hockey play. Then, on Feb. 25 against Rensselaer, Rebecca Johnston scored the game-tying goal with 6.6 seconds left to force overtime, where Karlee Overguard ended the game just 1:28 into the extra session. The Feb. 25 contest against Rensselaer marked the first time this season that the Big Red rallied from a deficit at the second intermission to secure a victory.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
Entering the semifinal contest on Thursday, Cornell has played 38 games at Lynah Rink over the past two seasons, and the Big Red has been victorious in 30 of those games, going 30-6-2 over that span. This year, Cornell is 17-1 at home so far, with the only blemish being a 4-3 overtime loss to Mercyhurst on Nov. 2. Only Yale on Feb. 12 and Rensselaer on Feb. 25 have held a lead against the Big Red at Lynah Rink this season.

SO CLOSE
Cornell made it through 20 of the 22 ECAC Hockey games this season without allowing a power-play goal, going a perfect 64-for-64 heading into the final weekend of the regular season with a trip to Dartmouth and Harvard. Unfortunately, the streak came to an end on that road trip, as both teams scored at least once with the man advantage on the weekend, including three power-play goals scored by Dartmouth. Despite allowing four power-play goals on 16 chances last weekend, the Big Red still leads the nation in penalty-killing percentage, boasting a 94.1 percent success rate.

PATTY KAZMAIER WATCH
When the list of nominees for the Patty Kazmaier Award were announced on Feb. 21, four Cornell players found themselves named among the 26 nominees for the award. Junior Rebecca Johnston, sophomores Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau, and freshman Brianne Jenner were selected as nominees. The Division I coaches will vote on the 10 finalists, who will be announced on March 3, with the list then being pared down to three finalists on March 10. The award will be presented during the weekend of the Frozen Four on March 19 in Erie, Pa.

INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS
Cornell's win on Jan. 29 against Rensselaer was the 22nd of the season for the Big Red, setting a new program record for the most victories in a season. The new mark snaps the old record of 21, set during last season's run to the national championship game. Cornell has stretched that mark to 28 wins so far this season.

18 TO LIFE
Cornell's season-long winning streak reached 18 games before being snapped on Feb. 4 at Clarkson with a 3-3 tie. That streak was just three wins away from tying the NCAA record for most consecutive victories. The record of 21 games is held by Harvard, set from Jan. 4 to March 15, 2008. The tie also snapped Cornell's road winning streak at 12 games, just three games shy of tying that NCAA mark as well. The NCAA record for road winning streak is held by Mercyhurst from Nov. 2, 2002, through Oct. 18, 2003.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS
Cornell leads the nation in penalty-killing percentage, having successfully ended 94.1 percent of the opposition's power play chances. The Big Red also led the nation in penalty-killing percentage last season, and over the last two seasons, the Big Red has killed off 217 of the 233 opponents' power play chances for a 93.1 percent success rate.

FRONT RUNNERS
One of the more amazing statistics with the Cornell women's hockey team this season has been the amount of time that Cornell has led in games this season. The Big Red has played with the lead for 67.7 percent of the minutes played. By contrast, Cornell has only trailed for a grand total of 126:05, or 6.8 percent of the total minutes. Cornell has only trailed in seven of the 31 games this season.

ROAD WARRIORS
After playing 11 of the first 14 games of the season at home, the Big Red spent most of January away from Lynah Rink. The road suits the Big Red just fine, however, as Cornell is 11-1-1 on the road this year, including a 2-0 mark in non-league games. The Big Red picked up a 4-1 win at Syracuse on Nov. 30 and a 3-0 victory at Mercyhurst on Jan. 18.

ONE IMPRESSIVE STREAK
Dating back to last season, Cornell has won 39 of its last 43 games, going 39-3-1 over that span and with two of the three losses over that stretch coming as overtime defeats. Cornell closed out the 2009-10 season with an 11-game winning streak before falling in the national title game to Minnesota-Duluth in triple overtime, then began the 2010-11 season with wins in its first four games before losing in overtime to Mercyhurst, 4-3, at Lynah Rink on Nov. 2.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
Cornell's defense has allowed just 31 goals this season, and has allowed more than one goal just eight times in 31 games. Minnesota-Duluth has allowed the second-fewest goals in the nation, conceeding 49 goals for an average of 1.53 per game, well above Cornell's 1.00 goals allowed per contest.

NO SHOTS=NO GOALS
Cornell has taken nearly twice as many shots on goal as its opposition this season, taking 1134 shots through 31 games compared to 580 shots for its opponents. Cornell has held its opposition to 10 shots or fewer five times (Oct. 23 vs. Robert Morris, Jan. 28 vs. Union, Jan. 29 vs. Rensselaer, Feb. 11 vs. Brown, and Feb. 26 vs. Rensselaer), while holding the opposition to 20 shots or fewer in 20 games. By contrast, the Big Red has a season low of 23 shots, set against Dartmouth on Nov. 6 in a 6-1 Cornell victory.

THE STREAK ENDS...
Freshman goaltender Lauren Slebodnick went the first 197:32 of her career without allowing a goal, spanning the first five appearances. Her streak came to a close with a goal at the 8:49 mark of the second period on Jan. 14 at Rensselaer. Slebodnick's streak is the seventh-longest such streak in ECAC Hockey history.

COUNTING TO 100
Junior Rebecca Johnston has joined teammate Catherine White in reaching the 100-point mark for their careers this season. White became the 13th player in Cornell history to score 100 points when she reached that mark on Nov. 26 against Niagara, while Johnston became the 14th player to reach that mark  with a hat trick on Jan. 7 at Yale. White took 74 games to reach 100 career points, while Johnston did so in her 65th career contest. White currently ranks ninth all-time at Cornell with 126 career points, while Johnston is 10th with 123 points. The duo trail Kim Ratushny in eighth place with 133 career points. Next up in the chase to the 100-point mark is junior Chelsea Karpenko, who enters this weekend six points shy of 100 for her career.

SHORT-HANDED? NO PROBLEM
Cornell was without five players for the weekend series at Yale and Brown on Jan. 7 and 8 due to their participation with the Canadian U22 National Team at the MLP Cup, but the Big Red didn't miss a beat. Cornell still blanked Yale, 5-0, and Brown, 3-0, to stretch its winning streak to 11 games. Complicating matters, starting goaltender Amanda Mazzotta was out of action due to injury, and senior captain Amber Overguard missed the Jan. 8 contest against Brown after suffering an injury the previous night at Yale.

HELPING HANDS
Cornell got contributions from a number of players on Jan. 7 and 8 at Yale and Brown, as the Big Red remained unbeaten in league play. At Yale, six of the 12 skaters recorded at least one point, with four players having a multi-point game. Against Brown, six of the 11 skaters scored at least one point, led by junior Karlee Overguard's two-assist night. For the weekend, nine of the 12 skaters to dress for at least one game picked up at least one point.

WELCOME HOME
Sophomore Xandra Hompe had a welcome homecoming of sorts on Jan. 7 at Yale. Hompe, a native of New Canaan, Conn., located about an hour west of New Haven, Conn., took the opportunity of playing near her hometown to score her first career points, picking up two assists in the 5-0 win at Yale. Hompe then capped her weekend by scoring her first career goal the following night in a 3-0 win at Brown.

READY THE UNDERSTUDY
With starting goaltender Amanda Mazzotta sidelined due to injury on Jan. 7 and 8 at Yale and Brown, freshman Lauren Slebodnick stepped into the crease for her first career starts and picked up where Mazzotta left off, posting 23 saves in a shutout at Yale and another 15 stops the following night at Brown in a 3-0 win.

A CAREER YEAR
Senior Hayley Hughes is enjoying her final season with the Big Red, as the Toronto, Ontario, native has posted a career best for points this season. Hughes has 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points, easily surpassing the 12 points she scored as a freshman for her previous career best.

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 680 fans per game this season at home, the sixth-highest average attendance in the nation and second-highest total in ECAC Hockey.

PASSING MILESTONES
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 421-446-51 all-time record for a .485 winning percentage. Additionally, 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 421 victories, the ninth-highest total among NCAA Division I programs. Cornell is just three wins behind Princeton for eighth place all-time.

OVER THE CENTURY MARK
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 118-183-26 since women's hockey gained official NCAA status.

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. Cornell slipped down to second in both polls after Wisconsin defeated Mercyhurst on Jan. 2 in St. Cloud, Minn., and has remained at that spot ever since.

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. The mark is also the second-longest in ECAC Hockey history, bested this season by Princeton's Rachel Weber, whose streak ended at 289:43.

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.

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 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 122 career games played, while fellow senior Hayley Hughes reached the 100 career game mark on Jan. 29 against Rensselaer and has appeared in 107 contests.

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.

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 the second-to-least penalized team in the nation, averaging just 6.6 minutes in the penalty box per contest. Cornell has been called for just 103 penalties in 31 games this season. Only Quinnipiac, Cornell's opponent in the ECAC Hockey semifinal, has been whistled for fewer penalties per game, averaging 6.4 minutes in the box per contest.

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.

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, at the time, 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.

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.

UP NEXT
Thursday's winner will advance to the ECAC Hockey championship game, which will be played at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the site of the highest seed. The championship game will be televised live on the NHL Network.