Do It For Daron Website
ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 5 Big Red women's hockey team welcomes Union and Rensselaer to Ithaca this weekend for the
Do It For Daron Series. Fans are encouraged to wear purple to the games on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. to show support for the charity that aims to encourage conversation about youth mental health.
DO IT FOR DARON SERIES
Cornell's games this weekend against Rensselaer and Union will be played as the
“Do It For Daron Series.” Do It For Daron is a charity founded by friends and family of Daron Richardson to raise awareness and inspire conversations about youth mental health. To show support for the Big Red and freshman
Morgan Richardson – the sister of Daron Richardson – the team asks that fans wear purple to the Do It For Daron Series games.
MINDS MATTER
Cornell Minds Matter is happy to be working with the Cornell women's hockey team to bring awareness to the Cornell community about mental health. CMM works to decrease the stigma against asking for help. Everyone has mental health, just like everyone has physical health, and it's easy to forget to take care of our minds while struggling to maintain the balance between school, work, and play. That's why Cornell Minds Matter offers free yoga, Zumba, and self-defense classes, relaxation and meditation workshops, massages at events such as Procrastinate at the Straight and Big Red Chill, and brings guest speakers to address specific mental health issues. CMM also coordinates social events to help students get off campus and enjoy all that Ithaca has to offer. In addition, we work as a liaison between students and faculty to meet the mental health needs of our community. For more information, check out CMM's table at the games, grab some give-aways, and join their listserv of over 2,000 to hear about upcoming events.
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #22: No. 5 Cornell vs. Union
GAME TIME: Friday, February 1, 7 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 17-1-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 5-1 on Feb. 4, 2012
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell (17-4, 12-2 ECAC Hockey | t-2nd); Union (7-16-3, 0-11-3 | 12th)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
Redcast
GAME #23: No. 5 Cornell vs. Rensselaer
GAME TIME: Saturday, February 2, 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 11-4-0
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 3-0 on Feb. 2, 2012
2012-13 RECORDS | LEAGUE STANDINGS: Cornell (17-4, 12-2 ECAC Hockey | t-2nd); Rensselaer (8-15-3, 7-6-1 ECAC Hockey, 7th)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
Redcast
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell completed its final midweek game of the season on Tuesday night, knocking off Mercyhurst by a 4-0 margin to earn its head coach an important milestone.
Doug Derraugh became the winningest coach in Cornell women's hockey history with the victory against the Lakers, passing Bill Duthie with his 136th win. The Big Red got a first period goal from
Hayleigh Cudmore and two from
Brianne Jenner, and
Jessica Campbell capped the evening at Lynah Rink with a breakaway tally in the third period.
Lauren Slebodnick made 18 saves for the shutout. In the ECAC Hockey standings, Cornell remains tied for second with Clarkson and is just one game behind Harvard for first. The Big Red also clinched a berth in the ECAC Hockey Tournament with the victories last weekend over Yale and Brown.
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 and is the winningest coach in program history. Taking a team 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 136th career win against Mercyhurst on Tuesday, breaking the previous school record for victories as a women's hockey coach (Bill Duthie, 135).
ABOUT UNION
The Dutchwomen, based in Schenectady, come into the weekend with a 7-16-3 overall and a 0-11-3 mark in conference play. Though the team is in last place in the league standings, Union has played tight games against quality teams. The Dutchwomen tied Quinnipiac 2-2 earlier in the season and then fell just 1-0 to Harvard back in January. Union is on a five-game losing streak and is coming off a weekend sweep at the hands of Rensselaer. At 1.27 goals per game, Union has the worst scoring offense in the nation. The Dutchwomen have three offensive leaders with 11 points each: Courtney Turner, Jessica Kaminsky and Christine Valentine. Kaminsky and Valentine each have five goals. In net, Shenae Lundberg has a 2.70 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.
Union is coached by Claudia Asano Barcomb, now in her sixth year with the Dutchwomen.
THE SERIES WITH UNION
The Big Red and Dutchwomen began playing each other in 2004, and Cornell has had a commanding lead in the lifetime series since then. Union has only defeated Cornell one time in 18 meetings, and that one time came on Feb. 28, 2004. Cornell has since won 16 consecutive games with the Dutchwomen. Last season saw the Big Red come away with victories of 9-1 and 5-1. In the second contest, on Feb. 4, Cornell got two goals from then-freshman
Monika Leck and outshot the Dutchwomen 46-5.
A WIN AGAINST UNION WOULD…
…give Cornell a 18-4 record overall this season…be Cornell's 17th consecutive against the Dutchwomen…be Cornell's 104th consecutive game with a goal…give Cornell an 11-0 record at Lynah Rink…keep the team at least tied for second in the ECAC Hockey standings…make Cornell 8-1 against opponents from New York state this season.
ABOUT RENSSELAER
The Engineers, based in Troy, are currently on a two-game winning streak and have not lost since Jan. 18 at Harvard. Rensselaer is seventh in the league standings right now after missing the ECAC Hockey Tournament last season. The Engineers picked up four valuable points over the weekend, knocking off Union by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 in a home-and-away series. Alexa Gruschow is the team's leading scorer with 20 total points, though Taylor Horton is the team's leading goal scorer with 11. Kelly O'Brien is the leader in net, holding a 2.42 goals against average and a .902 save percentage to go with her 7-13-2 record.
John Burke is the Engineers' head coach, and he is in his 10th year with the team.
THE SERIES WITH RENNSELAER
Like its series with Union, Cornell holds a large advantage in the lifetime series with RPI. The Big Red and Engineers have squared off 15 times in their history, and Cornell has come away with wins in 11 of those contests. Cornell has claimed the last nine meetings with RPI, and the Engineers' last victory over the Big Red was on Feb. 20, 2009. Last season, Cornell earned victories by 3-0 both times. The Feb. 3 meeting saw
Brianne Jenner,
Catherine White and
Chelsea Karpenko all score for the Big Red.
A WIN AGAINST RENSSELAER WOULD…
be Cornell's 10th consecutive against the Engineers…be Cornell's third consecutive win on a Saturday.
NON-CONFERENCE SEASON COMPLETE
With the victory against Mercyhurst on Tuesday night, the Big Red concluded its non-conference schedule for 2012-13 with a 4-2 record. The Big Red split a season-opening series with Boston University, defeated Northeastern, Syracuse and Mercyhurst while also losing to Boston College. The Big Red has not had a losing out-of-conference record since the 2008-09 campaign.
MOVING UP THE WINS LIST
Goalie
Lauren Slebodnick continues to claim victories for the Big Red in net, and she earned her 41st career win on Tuesday night. She has now tied Alanna Hayes for third all-time in team history and will take sole possession of that number with her next win. Slebodnick is only 12 wins away from tying
Amanda Mazzotta '12's all-time record of 53 wins.
KEEPING THE SCORE
Brianne Jenner is currently on a team-high nine-game scoring streak. She began the year with an eight-game scoring streak, did not score in her next two appearances – both Cornell losses – and has tallied a point in every game since. She has multiple points in her last six games.
Jillian Saulnier is also on a six-game point streak.
TUESDAY SUCCESS
The Big Red continues to excel on Tuesday nights. With the win over Mercyhurst, the Big Red has now won its last 10 contests on Tuesdays. Cornell's last loss Tuesday night came on Nov. 2, 2010 against Mercyhurst, 4-3 in overtime.
PENALTY KILLERS
The Big Red has the nation's second-best penalty killing percentage at 91.7 percent. The Big Red is currently on a streak of killing off its last eight penalties taken and 27 of its last 28. Considering Cornell has the fourth-most penalty minutes per game (11.4) of any team in the country, the team's shorthanded efforts are especially important.
TOURNAMENT CLINCHED
Thanks to its two victories last weekend, the Big Red clinched a berth in this year's ECAC Hockey Tournament. With 24 points in league play, the Big Red is tied for second. As the standings are now, Cornell would need 33 points to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round, which goes to the top four seeds. Cornell can currently finish no worse than eighth in the league.
IVY LEAGUE UPDATE
The Big Red's wins over Yale and Brown also moved it into a tie for first place in the Ivy League standings, equaling Harvard's 12 points. The Crimson does have a game in hand over the Big Red, though Cornell can even things up by defeating Harvard in Lynah Rink next month.
CENTURY MARK
The Big Red's streak of scoring at least one goal in a game is now 103 games long, dating back all the way to a 0-0 tie against Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, 2010. Cornell scored a goal in every game last year, something only it can say. This season, only six teams in the country have not been shut out in a game: Boston College, Clarkson, Cornell, Harvard, Minnesota and North Dakota.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Brianne Jenner was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Jan. 21 for the second time this year as she earned 11 points in three games the week before. Also earning recognition from the conference was
Lauren Slebodnick, named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week after picking up three victories and a shutout. Jenner previously won Player of the Week on Nov. 20, while this is Cornell's first Goaltender of the Week Award this season.
Taylor Woods (Nov. 20) and
Cassandra Poudrier (Nov. 6) have each earned an ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honor this season.
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
The Big Red, in its 10 home games this season, is averaging nearly four points per game as a team more than it is averaging on the road. Offensive leader
Brianne Jenner is earning 2.4 points per game in Lynah Rink as opposed to 1.63 points per game away from home. The Big Red has scored 130 points in its 10 home contests but just 104 in 11 games away from Lynah. In home games, all but one player on the roster is at least a +1, and Jenner leads that category with +21. On the road, though, three Big Red players have minus ratings and the team high is
Lauriane Rougeau's +10.
NATIONAL POLLS
Cornell dropped in the USCHO.com and USA Today national poll this week, sliding only slightly to No. 5 after spending the last few weeks at No. 4. Cornell was passed by Boston University, though the Terriers are only one point ahead of Cornell in the voting on the USCHO.com side. Harvard also fell from No. 2 to No. 3, and Minnesota remains No. 1 after sweeping another weekend series to move to 26-0 on the season. The only other ECAC Hockey rival in the picture is No. 6 Clarkson.
MECO CUP
Seven Big Red players won the Gold with the Canada Under-22 roster for the Meco Cup earlier this month.
Laura Fortino,
Lauriane Rougeau,
Hayleigh Cudmore,
Cassandra Poudrier,
Jillian Saulnier,
Brianne Jenner and
Jessica Campbell all traveled Germany to compete for their country and came away with Canada's ninth gold in 11 years.
USA CAMP
Cornell junior alternate captain
Alyssa Gagliardi spent some of her winter break participating in the 2012 U.S. Women's National Team Winter Camp in Blaine, Minn. Thirty-six total players were selected for the Winter Camp, and they were divided into two teams of 18 for three intrasquad scrimmages. Gagliardi was on the camp's White Team with three other current ECAC Hockey rivals.
MARKERS FOR MADISON
Brianne Jenner is participating in a goal drive this year for a young girl with brain cancer, Madison Primeau. For every goal Jenner scores, Jenner's sponsors will donate money to a charity to help pay Madison's medical bills. Jenner, now with 21 goals on the season, has raised more than $1,000 for Primeau plus more than $250 in extra donations. To sponsor Jenner's charity, e-mail her at
bj72@cornell.edu.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
Cornell has multiple players near the top of the country in many categories.
Brianne Jenner has the nation's third-best points per game total with 2.21, while
Jillian Saulnier sits tied for 11th with her 1.67 points per game. Jenner's 1.11 goals per game put her second in the country in that category. Saulnier is fourth and Jenner is sixth in the nation with 1.29 and 1.11 assists per game, respectively.
Lauriane Rougeau is 11th in points per game by defenseman (0.81).
Lauren Slebodnick has the country's sixth-best goals against average (1.56), its ninth-highest save percentage (.927) and its eighth-best winning percentage (.778).
As a team, the Big Red's 4.14 goals per game ranks it fourth in the country, and its 1.57 goals allowed per game is an even higher third-best. Cornell has the nation's second-best penalty kill (91.7 percent).
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Mercyhurst:
Approaching career numbers:
REPRESENTING HER COUNTRY
Brianne Jenner missed the Princeton and Quinnipiac games in November as she competed with the Canadian National Women's Team at the 4 Nations Cup in Finland. Jenner and
Rebecca Johnston '12 each had an assist in Canada's four games as the Canadians wound up losing 3-0 to the United States in the gold medal game. Jenner returns to Ithaca with a silver medal from one of the top women's hockey competitions in the world.
OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 30 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 19-11 record. Cornell was a very impressive 9-3 against ranked opponents in 2011-12.
UP NEXT
With the team's three-game homestand concluded, Cornell hits the road for ECAC Hockey games against Princeton and Quinnipiac on Feb. 8 and 9.
