ITHACA, N.Y. – Conference play begins this weekend for the No. 2 women's hockey team as it plays host to ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rivals Brown and Yale in Lynah Rink. Back above .500 after a midweek win against St. Lawrence, the Big Red will be playing its fourth and fifth games in eight days.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #4: No. 2 Cornell vs. Brown
GAME TIME: Friday, October 26, 3 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 40-34-8
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 6-0 on Feb. 25, 2012 in ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey); Brown (0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey)
LIVE STATS: Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO: RedCast

GAME #5: No. 2 Cornell vs. Yale
GAME TIME: Saturday, October 27, 3 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 48-13-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 6-1 on Feb. 11, 2012
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey); Yale (0-2, 0-0 ECAC Hockey)*
LIVE STATS: Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO: RedCast
*Records before games on Oct. 26

ABOUT THE BIG RED
The Big Red, which has been to the Frozen Four for the last three seasons, started its 2012-13 campaign in Boston last weekend with a win and a loss against the No. 3 Boston University Terriers. But after splitting that series, Cornell dominated St. Lawrence on Tuesday for a 5-1 victory. Emily Fulton had two goals and an assist in the game, and she now leads the Big Red with four points (3 goals – 1 assist — 4 points), tied with Alyssa Gagliardi (1-3—4). Besides Fulton's two goals in that game, Anna Zorn, Brianne Jenner and Gagliardi scored while Lauren Slebodnick made 16 saves. The Big Red scored its first three goals in 59-second span in the first period.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now in his eighth season directing the Cornell women's hockey program, Doug Derraugh has quickly brought the Big Red women to their current place among the nation's elite. Taking a program that won just four games in the season prior to his arrival, Derraugh guided the Big Red to the national title game in his fifth season and back-to-back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012, completely turning around the culture of the women's hockey program at Cornell. Derraugh, a 1991 graduate of Cornell, was the last Big Red men's hockey player to score 30 goals in a season. He earned his 120th career win at Boston University on Oct. 20 and has the second-most wins of any Cornell women's hockey coach (Bill Duthie, 135).

ABOUT BROWN
The Bears, based in Providence, R.I., have not played a game yet this season and finished the 2011-12 campaign with a 6-10-5 record. Brown was picked to finish ninth in the league in the preseason coaches' poll. The Bears' two exhibition contests finished with a with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Junior Aeros and a 4-2 loss at Princeton. Last year's leading scorer, Katelyn Landry, graduated. Starting goalie Aubree Moore, only a sophomore last year, returns for her junior season after posting an impressive 2.10 goals against average.
The Bears are coached by Amy Bourbeau and is now in her second season with the team.

THE SERIES WITH BROWN
Cornell extended its lead in the lifetime series against Brown to 40-34-8 with two victories in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals in February by a combined 10-2. In those games, Cornell got 25 combined saves from Amanda Mazzotta, two goals each from Erin Barley-Maloney, Laura Fortino and Rebecca Johnston, and held the Bears to 0-8 on the power play. Cornell has not lost to Brown in 11 contests dating back to Jan. 20, 2007.

A WIN AGAINST BROWN WOULD…
…improve the Big Red's record to 3-1…be Cornell's 12th consecutive victory against the Bears…start ECAC Hockey play with a 1-0 record for the fourth consecutive season...be the Big Red's 86th consecutive game scoring a goal.

ABOUT YALE
The Bulldogs, based in New Haven, Conn., opened the season with non-conference losses at Robert Morris and RIT last weekend and sit at 0-2 on the season. Sophomore goalie Jaimie Leonoff was very good in those contests, racking up 70 saves as Yale fell by scores of 2-0 and 3-0. The Bulldogs have yet to score a goal this season, and leading scorer from last season Aleca Hughes is gone this year. The Bulldogs' top returning scorer is junior Jackie Raines.
Yale is coached by Joakim Flygh, now in his third year with the Bulldogs.

THE SERIES WITH YALE
Cornell has a large lead in the lifetime series against Yale, holding a 48-13-1 record against the Bulldogs that includes two victories last season. The Big Red played the Bulldogs in Cornell's first weekend last year and won by a 9-0 score. The teams then met later in the season with Cornell coming away with a 6-1 win. In that game, Rebecca Johnston, Brianne Jenner and Jillian Saulnier had two goals each. The Big Red has not lost to Yale since Jan. 23, 2009. Cornell's last four games wins against Yale have been by a combined 27-2.

A WIN AGAINST YALE WOULD…
…extend Cornell's winning streak against Yale to six…win its second consecutive game on a Saturday.

TUESDAY SUCCESS
With the victory against St. Lawrence, Cornell has now claimed eight consecutive contests on Tuesday nights. Cornell's last loss Tuesday night came on Nov. 2, 2010 against Mercyhurst in a 4-3 overtime defeat.

LEAGUE OPENERS
The Big Red has won its last three consecutive conference openers. The team's last loss in its first conference game came on Nov. 7, 2008 against Princeton. Cornell has not tied a conference opener since Nov. 11, 1995 at St. Lawrence.

MARKERS FOR MADISON
Junior forward Brianne Jenner is participating in a charity this year for a young girl with brain cancer, Madison Primeau. For every goal Jenner scores, Jenner's sponsors will donate $1 to a charity to help pay Madison's medical bills. Jenner has one goal on the season so far, and her 30 sponsors mean that $30 will go to Primeau.  To sponsor Jenner's charity, e-mail her at bj72@cornell.edu.

NO SHUTOUTS
Cornell scored a goal in every game last year, something only it can say. Cornell was also the only team playing a full Division I schedule to not have a tie last year.  The Big Red's streak of scoring at least one goal in a game is now 85 games long, dating back all the way to a 0-0 tie against Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, 2010.

FRESHMEN SCORERS
Two Big Red freshmen got their first career goals on Saturday night at BU. Anna Zorn tapped home a rebound of a Jillian Saulnier shot in the second period to put tie the contest at 1-1. A few minutes later, Taylor Woods ripped home a shorthanded goal to once again give the Big Red a tie at 2-2. Zorn has since added a second goal.

SHORT-HANDED OFFENSE
The Big Red scored two shorthanded goals on Saturday, marking the first time the team has tallied two short-handed goals in a game in at least nine years. Taylor Woods scored the first to tie the game at 2-2, and Emily Fulton struck about a minute later to give Cornell a 3-2 lead it would hold for a 5-2 victory.

HELPING GLOVE
Goalie Lauren Slebodnick got her first career assist on Saturday, passing the puck to Hayleigh Cudmore who found Fulton for Cornell's third goal. The assist was Cornell's first from a goalie in more than three years. Jenny Niesluchowski had the last goalie assist on Jan. 4, 2009 against Providence College.

SCHEDULE CRUNCH
The Big Red will be playing its fourth game in seven days on Friday afternoon. Cornell will then play ots fifth game in eight days on Saturday afternoon. The tight squeeze might help prepare the team for the ECAC Hockey playoffs when it could play three games in three days.

OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 23 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 16-8 record. Cornell was a very impressive 9-3 against ranked opponents in 2011-12.

REPRESENTING HER COUNTRY
Brianne Jenner won a spot on the Canadian Women's National Team and is the only Big Red player to earn that honor. She will compete at the 4 Nations Cup with Canada for the third consecutive season. The tournament, held in Finland in November, will also have Rebecca Johnston '12 suiting up for Canada.

MEET THE CAPTAINS
The Big Red's captain this season will be senior defenseman Lauriane Rougeau. Serving as alternate captains will be senior defenseman Laura Fortino and junior defenseman Alyssa Gagliardi. Cornell's four captains last season were seniors Rebecca Johnston, Catherine White, Chelsea Karpenko and Amanda Young.

NEW KIDS ON THE ICE
Cornell welcomes a talented class of eight freshmen to Ithaca this year. Goalkeeper Stefannie Moak will be joined by defensemen Kelly Murray, Cassandra Poudrier and Morgan Richardson along with forwards Jess Brown, Victoria Pittens, Taylor Woods and Anna Zorn.

TELEVISION STAR
Besides sending her team to the Frozen Four, Lauriane Rougeau got a special treat after scoring the game-winning goal against BU last year. For her efforts, the junior was put on ESPN's SportsCenter, and her goal was the show's No. 3 play in SportsCenter's Top 10 the next morning.

ECAC YEARLY HONORS
Cornell had four players earn ECAC Hockey individual honors last season. Senior forward Rebecca Johnston was named the Player of the Year, Jillian Saulnier was named the Rookie of the Year, Chelsea Karpenko was named the Best Defensive Forward and Lauriane Rougeau was named Best Defensive Defenseman. Johnston, Rougeau, Laura Fortino and Brianne Jenner were named to the league's first team, while Saulnier earned second team All-League honors.

IVY LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS
Rebecca Johnston was named the Ivy League's Player of the Year, and freshman Jillian Saulnier earned Rookie of the Year honors. The Big Red also had four players make the All-Ivy First Team: Johnston, Brianne Jenner, Lauriane Rougeau and Laura Fortino.

NATIONAL POLLS
Cornell remains the No. 2 team in the country this week according to the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today Poll after winning one and losing one against No. 3 Boston University. The Terriers also remained at No. 3, while Minnesota continues to be the top team in the nation. ECAC Hockey and Ivy League foe Harvard entered the poll at No. 9 for the first time this year, while Clarkson moved up to No. 4.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
On Tuesday:
• Lauren Slebodnick recorded her 2,000th minute.

Approaching career numbers:
• Jessica Campbell's next assist will be her 25th.
• Lauren Slebodnick is one win away from her 30th.
• Hayleigh Cudmore's next point will be her 30th.
• Emily Fulton is two points away from 25.

UP NEXT
Cornell has a full six days to rest before its next games, a weekend series at home against Princeton and Quinnipiac on Friday and Saturday at 3 p.m.