Game Notes (PDF) 

ITHACA, N.Y. – Riding a two-game sweep of Northeastern in its home-openers, the Big Red women's hockey team enters its first league weekend ready to defend its ECAC Hockey Championship against two traditionally strong teams in No. 5 Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #3: No. 3/4 Cornell vs. No. 5 Clarkson
GAME TIME: Friday, Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 19-11-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 3-1 (Jan. 19, 2013)
2013-14 RECORDS: Cornell (2-0-0); Clarkson (5-1-1)*
LIVE STATS | AUDIO |  VIDEO

GAME #4: No. 3/4 Cornell vs. St. Lawrence
GAME TIME: Saturday, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink
SERIES RECORD: St. Lawrence leads 32-29-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 4-2 (March 3, 2013)
2013-14 RECORDS*: Cornell (2-0-0); St. Lawrence (1-5-0)*
LIVE STATS | AUDIO |  VIDEO

*Records accurate before games on Oct. 25
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Last weekend the Big Red took the ice for its first regular-season games against a Northeastern team that had already played four contests and amassed a 3-1 record. The Huskies left Ithaca at 3-3 on the year after being handed two decisive losses thanks to an effective power-play and leadership from Cornell's veterans. In Saturday's 6-2 win, the Big Red tallied three power-play goals – two by senior defenseman Hayleigh Cudmore – and another by sophomore forward Taylor Woods. Juniors Emily Fulton (2) and Monika Leck also added goals to aid in the win. In Sunday's 3-0 shutout, senior goaltender Lauren Slebodnick earned her 53^rd career victory to tie former netminder Amanda Mazzotta for the most wins in program history. The junior class – Fulton, Leck and forward Jillian Saulnier – accounted for all three Cornell goals. In each of the games last weekend Cornell saw point production for eight different players.               
HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH '91
Derraugh returned to his alma mater before the 2005-06 campaign to coach a team that the season before had tallied only four victories. Now in his ninth season, Derraugh has transformed the women's hockey program at Cornell into one that continues to be ranked among the nation's elite year after year. After the team's sweep of Northeastern, Derraugh's record at the helm of the program is an impressive 148-95-17; every ECAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance Big Red women's hockey has to its credit has come during his tenure. He earned his second ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year honor after leading the team to both a regular season and tournament championship in 2012-13.

Returning as his assistants this season are Danielle Bilodeau '01 (eighth season) and Edith Racine (fifth season).
 
ABOUT NO. 5 CLARKSON
Tabbed to finish first by the league's coaches in the annual preseason poll, Clarkson comes to Lynah Rink after a tough weekend at home against perennially ranked powerhouse Mercyhurst. The Golden Knights got off to a 5-0-0 start in 2013 with wins against RIT, St. Lawrence and Syracuse, outscoring their opponents 27-5, but were shut out by the No. 8/9 Lakers on Friday and played to a 1-1 tie after giving up a lead on Saturday. Now 5-1-1, Clarkson boasts some of ECAC Hockey's best players in forward Jamie Lee Rattay, defenseman Erin Ambrose and goaltender Erica Howe. Rattay (3-5—8), Ambrose (7-5—12) and Howe (1.04 GAA, .954 Sv%) were each named to the league's preseason all-conference team. Howe is the reigning two-time ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year.
 
THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
Cornell has a 19-11-2 lead in the series with the Golden Knights since the team's first met in the 1974-75 season. Clarkson won the first of two games during the 2012-13 season in Potsdam, 2-1, thanks to a Shannon MacAulay power-play goal midway through the third period. The Big Red rebounded and picked up the win in the second game at Lynah Rink after jumping out to an early lead on goals by Jessica Campbell and Brianne Jenner. Clarkson pulled within one in the third, but Emily Fulton added an insurance tally to give Cornell the 3-1 victory.
 
ABOUT ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints started the season with a 4-2 win over the University of New Hampshire, but are on a five-game slide heading in to conference play. The team has been outscored 18-7 through those five contests, but enters the road trip rested after an off week.  Senior defensemen Dayle Wilkinson and Mel Desrochers are currently leading the Saints with two goals and three assists for five points each.
 
THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
Cornell swept all three meetings between the teams in 2012-13, including a 4-2 victory in the ECAC Hockey Tournament semifinals thanks to a Taylor Woods' hat trick. Brianne Jenner added an empty-net goal late in the third to put the game out of reach for the Saints and help the Big Red advance to its eventual ECAC Hockey Championship. Despite Cornell's recent success, the Saints still lead the series 32-29-4.
 
#IVYDIGITAL
Every women's hockey home game for 2013-14 will be broadcast live on the new Ivy League Digital Network. The link to the game feed will be accessible in the minutes leading up to the scheduled start time. To purchase an Ivy League Digital Network pass go to http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/packages and select the package of your choice.
 
OUT OF THE GATE
Cornell has swept its league-opening weekend every season since 2009-10 when the team finished 21-9-6 and earned the first ECAC Hockey Championship in program history, as well as the first NCAA Tournament appearance. Last season, the Big Red won its first seven league contests before falling to Harvard, 3-1 in Cambridge, Mass.  

CORNELL AT LYNAH
Since Doug Derraugh took over prior to the 2006-07 season, the Big Red has posted an 85-36-7 record on its home ice in Lynah Rink and has only lost four games at home in the past three seasons. The team's only loss at home last season came in its NCAA first round overtime heartbreaker when the Big Red fell, 4-3, to No. 9 Mercyhurst.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
Junior forward Jillian Saulnier was the lone Big Red player named to ECAC Hockey's preseason All-League team.  In addition to her ECAC Hockey Second Team honors last season, the Halifax, Nova Scotia native dished out a career-high 33 assists. Four of her 10 goals were game-winners, and she finished the season 14th in the country in points per game (1.43) and fifth in the nation in assists per game (1.10). She was also a Patty Kazmaier Award nominee last season.
 
ALL-LEAGUE RETURNERS
In addition to her ECAC Hockey Second Team honors, Jillian Saulnier was also named to the All-Ivy League First Team following last season. She is joined by goaltender Lauren Slebodnick (ECAC Third Team) and defenseman Cassandra Poudrier (ECAC All-Rookie Team) as Cornell's all-league returning cast for 2013-2014.
 
NATIONAL POLLS
The Big Red has been consistently ranked in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll since preseason rankings were released in mid-September. After starting the season in the No. 4/ 6 spots, last weekend's wins over Northeastern bumped Cornell up to No. 3/4. The Big Red is the highest of four ranked teams in ECAC Hockey (Clarkson, Harvard, Quinnipiac).
 
SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES
Seniors Jessica Campell and Alyssa Gagliardi – who was an alternate captain for Cornell in 2012-13 – will   serve as co-captains for the Big Red this season. Cornell's captain last season was senior Lauriane Rougeau, while senior Laura Fortino joined Gagliardi as an alternate.

The last time the Big Red had co-captains without alternates was in the 2009-10 season with Liz Zorn and Kelly McGinty both wearing the C. Liz Zorn is the older sister of current Big Red sophomore Anna Zorn.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
After serving as a primary backup to former netminder Amanda Mazzotta, senior Lauren Slebodnick found a home in the paint for the Big Red last season. She started 31 games for Cornell, posting a 24-6-1 record with 1.55 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. She enters her senior campaign as Cornell's program leader in both categories and is currently tied with Mazzotta for most wins in program history (53). Backing up Slebodnick this season will be sophomore Stefannie Moak and freshman Paula Voorheis.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
•     Lauren Slebodnick's next win will move her into sole possession of first place on the program's all-time win list with 54.
•     Jillian Saulnier is three points shy of the 100-point plateau for her career.
•     Taylor Woods needs four points to reach 30 for her career.
 
CORNELL IN THE OLYMPICS
The Big Red are notably without leading scorer Brianne Jenner this season, who has taken the year off from Cornell to compete as a member of Team Canada in hopes of joining her native country in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 winter games. Jenner, along with former Big Red teammates Laura Fortino, Lauriane Rougeau and Rebecca Johnston, was named to Canada's centralization roster in April. The final nominations for the Olympic squad are set to take place in December.
 
THE NEWCOMERS
The class of 2017 is forward heavy, as four of the six will be expected to make immediate contributions on offense for the Big Red. The remaining two, defender Sydney Smith and goaltender Paula Voorheis, will be guided by the standout seniors in their respective positions so that they can play important roles for the Big Red in the years to come. Voorheis and classmates Caroline DeBruin and Brianna Veerman all come to East Hill from the Aurora Junior Panthers.
 
THE BREAKDOWN
The Big Red roster is made up of four seniors, three juniors, eight sophomores and six freshmen. Seventeen of the 21 active players are Canadian and represent six provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The four remaining players are Americans, hailing from North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York and Ohio.
 
UP NEXT
After spending the first two weekends of the season at home, the Big Red travel to play Princeton at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 and Quinnipiac at 4 p.m. on Nov. 2.