ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell returns to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year on Saturday, squaring off with Boston University in a rematch of last season's Frozen Four contest. The Terriers, who lost twice in Lynah Rink this year, will be hungry for revenge against a Big Red team looking to make it back to the Frozen Four.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #34: No. 3 Cornell vs. No. 5 Boston University
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 10, 2 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 2-1-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 7-1 on Nov. 26, 2011
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (29-4); Boston University (23-13-1)
LIVE STATS: Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO (free):  REDcast

ABOUT THE BIG RED
The Big Red have evolved over the last three years from a national afterthought to a powerhouse program on the verge of winning a national championship. On Saturday, the Big Red will attempt to take another step on the road to a national title. Cornell won the ECAC regular season and Ivy League titles for the third consecutive years and have made the NCAA Tournament for the last three years as well. One win on Saturday would have the team in its third consecutive Frozen Four.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now in his seventh season directing the Cornell women's hockey program, Doug Derraugh has quickly brought the Big Red women to their 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 NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2010 and 2011, 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 100th career win at Union on Jan. 6.

ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
The Terriers, based in Boston, come into Ithaca ranked as the nation's No. 5 team after a thrilling run through the Hockey East tournament last weekend. Needing a win to make the NCAA Tournament at all, the Terriers scored a goal with eight seconds remaining in the Hockey East title game to force overtime and then scored less than three minutes into double overtime to clinch the conference championship. Boston University has made the NCAA Tournament for the last three years, losing in the national title game last season.
Boston University is led by Jenn Wakefield, who has a balanced 28 goals and 26 assists on the year. Goaltender Kerrin Sperry has played most of the Terriers' games and has a 2.39 goals against average this season.
The Terriers are coached by Brian Durocher, a graduate of BU himself, in his seventh year of leading his alma mater.

THE SERIES WITH BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Before the season, Cornell and Boston University had met just twice, including once in last season's Frozen Four. In that game, the Terriers came away with a 4-1 victory to advance to the national championship game. But this season, Cornell hosted BU twice, beating the Terriers 3-1 and 7-1 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red chased Sperry in the second game, and six different players scored in that contest. Before 2011, the teams' first meeting was a 2-2 tie in 1982.

A WIN AGAINST BOSTON UNIVERSITY WOULD…
…clinch a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four for the third consecutive year…be Cornell's third straight victory against the Terriers…keep the Big Red perfect in games after a loss (4-0)…bring Cornell its 30th victory for second time in school history and the second consecutive year…put Cornell's out-of-conference record at 10-2…make Cornell .500 all time (451-451-50).

CORNELL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
This is the third consecutive season the Big Red has made the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red holds a 3-2 record in the tournament overall. Cornell has never lost in a first-round game, defeating Harvard 6-2 in 2010 and knocking off Dartmouth 7-1 last year. In the Frozen Four round, Cornell is 1-1, having beaten Mercyhurst in overtime in 2010 and losing to Boston University last season. In the national championship game, the Big Red is 0-1, losing to Minnesota in triple overtime 3-2 in 2010.

REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPS
With victories against Yale and Brown in early February, the Big Red clinched their third consecutive ECAC Hockey regular season championship and the No. 1 spot in the conference tournament. The team celebrated by receiving the trophy on home ice the following weekend against Clarkson.

ECAC YEARLY HONORS
Cornell had four players earn individual honors from ECAC Hockey this 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.

KAZ WATCH
Rebecca Johnston and Laura Fortino have been named Patty Kazmaier Top 10 Finalists for the second consecutive year. The Patty Kazmaier Award is the highest individual honor in women's college hockey and will be given out at the 2012 Frozen Four. Lauriane Rougeau and Brianne Jenner were also named nominees for the award earlier in the  year but did not make the cut to the final 10.

IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
When the Big Red defeated Union 5-1 on Feb. 4, the team got some help away from Ithaca when Harvard knocked off Princeton 10-1. The Tigers were the only team that could catch Cornell in the Ivy League standings before they lost that game to Harvard, clinching the Ivy League championship for Cornell. The championship is the 10th in program history and third in a row.

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.

SENIOR NIGHT
The game on Feb. 18 was the final regular-season contest for seniors Rebecca Johnston, Chelsea Karpenko, Amanda Mazzotta, Kendice Ogilvie, Catherine White and Amanda Young. They will leave Cornell as the winningest and most successful senior class ever, racking up at least 92 wins in their careers before this weekend's games, winning three Ivy League championships and three ECAC Hockey regular season titles. This group of seniors has made the NCAA Tournament three times and has made the Frozen Four each of the last two years.

NO SHUTOUTS
The Big Red is the only team country that has not been shut out this season. Cornell has scored a goal in every game this year, something only it can say. Clarkson was on that list until two weeks when they were shut out by Quinnipiac in the ECAC Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals, and Northeastern was the other remaining team that had not been shut out until Providence beat it 1-0 in the Hockey East Semifinals last weekend.

NO TIES, EITHER
With the regular season behind the team, Cornell is has become the only team in the country playing a full Division I schedule to go untied all year. Lindenwood, a Division I program, also went without a tie but played Division III opponents during the year along with its Division I schedule.

BRICK WALLS
Through 33 games this season, the Big Red has given up just 51 goals total. That number is the second-smallest among all Division I teams, just one more than Minnesota. It is also nearly three times smaller than the 152 goals allowed by Yale.

WINNING WAYS
With a win against Dartmouth on Jan. 21, Amanda Mazzotta earned her 48th career victory, putting her atop the team's all-time list. Mazzotta passed the previous record of 47 career wins, previously held by Sarah Mott, who played from 1978-81. She notched her 51st and 52nd wins last weekend against Brown, extending her own school record.

MAKING A POINT
Six current members of the Cornell roster are averaging more than a point per game over their career. Freshman Jillian Saulnier, with the smallest sample size, has a points-per-game average of 1.52. Brianne Jenner (1.63), Rebecca Johnston (1.58), Catherine White (1.34), Laura Fortino (1.14) and Chelsea Karpenko (1.05) are also on that list.

AWARD WINNERS
Since the beginning of this season, Cornell's players have been awarded with ECAC Hockey weekly honors 12 times, more than any other team in the league.

Most recently, Brianne Jenner won Player of the Week, Jillian Saulnier took home Rookie of the Week and Lauren Slebodnick was named the Goaltender of the Week on Feb. 14. Saulnier won Rookie of the Week twice earlier in the year, while freshmen Emily Fulton and Monika Leck each won that honor once. Senior Kendice Ogilvie and sophomore Jenner have earned Player of the Week honors, while Slebodnick took home Goaltender of the Week once before and Amanda Mazzotta earned it on Jan. 24.

OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 20 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 14-6 record. The win against No. 10 St. Lawrence on Feb. 18 added to that impressive record, as did a victory against No. 5 Mercyhurst three weeks ago. Cornell won two games against then-No. 5 Boston University in November and took one of two from then-No. 6 Mercyhurst in December. The Big Red also topped then-No. 10 Harvard in November, then beat No. 9 Harvard and No. 10 Dartmouth in late January.
Cornell will have a chance to add to that record against No. 5 Boston University on Saturday.

NATIONAL POLLS
Cornell remained at No. 3 in this week's USCHO.com national poll in a week that saw multiple changes below in the top 10. Wisconsin remains first with 142 points and eight first-place votes, while Minnesota is right on its heels with 141 points and seven first-place votes.

LOFTY NUMBERS
Forward Rebecca Johnston currently sits at seventh in the nation in points per game (1.81), with Brianne Jenner not far behind in 11th (1.74). Freshman Jillian Saulnier is second in points per game among rookies (1.52). Laura Fortino is No. 2 in points per game for defensemen (1.16). Goalkeeper Lauren Slebodnick's 1.35 goals against average puts her in second the country and her 14-1 record has her first in winning percentage. Amanda Mazzotta is fifth and third in those categories at 1.56 and 15-3, respectively.

As a team, Cornell has the country's best offense (4.61 goals per game) and second-best scoring margin (3.06 goals) to go along with the second-best power play (25.0 percent) and third-best scoring defense (1.55 goals).

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Red scored the last four goals in the ECAC Hockey Semifinal against Quinnipiac on March 2, earning a 5-1 victory that sent the team to the championship game. There, against a tough St. Lawrence team ranked No. 10 in the country, Cornell suffered its fourth loss of the year, dropping the contest 3-1. Cornell tied the game at 1-1 with eight minutes left, but a late Saints goal gave them a 2-1 lead. An empty-netter made it 3-1.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence:
• Amanda Young netted her 50th career point.
• Amanda Mazzotta saved her 1,500th shot.

Approaching career numbers:
• Lauriane Rougeau is one goal away from 20.
• Jessica Campbell is two points shy of her 40th.
• Laura Fortino's next goal will be her 30th.
• Rebecca Johnston needs one more assist to reach 90.
• Amanda Mazzota's next appearance will be her 80th.
• Jillian Saulnier is three points shy of 50.

UP NEXT
With a victory, the Big Red will move on to play in the 2012 Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn. Cornell would play in the tournament's first game at 5 p.m. on March 16 against the winner of Saturday's North Dakota-Minnesota contest. A loss would end Cornell's season.