GAME NOTES (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. – After picking up four points at home against ECAC Hockey foes RPI and Union, the No. 3 Cornell women's hockey prepares for what is perennially one of the most grueling road trips of the season; facing off against No. 6 Harvard at 7 p.m. Friday night before traveling to Hanover, N.H. to take on Dartmouth at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
    Through the course of two games last weekend – both wins for the Big Red – Cornell scored 11 goals, including four on the power play – an area of the game the team had been striving to improve in recent weeks. Ten different players found themselves on the score sheet, with three players (Hanna Bunton, Cassandra Poudrier and Anna Zorn) notching their first goals of the season. The fact that the Big Red scored six of those 11 in the first period is deceiving, as the team once again struggled to find its legs and possess the puck early on in both contests. Senior netminder Lauren Slebodnick earned the victories in each contest bringing her career win total to 58. With a 4-0 lead after one period of Saturday's game against Union, Slebodnick was relieved by freshman Paula Voorheis who put together a strong showing in her regular-season debut with 19 saves in 40 minutes.
     
    Cornell is currently in sole possession of first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with 11 points; one point ahead of the second-place Crimson and three points in front of Quinnipiac.  The Big Red is the only league team without a loss this season and is one of only two teams in Division I women's hockey that remains unbeaten at this point in the season. The other is No. 1 Minnesota.
 
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. Derraugh's record at the helm of the program is an impressive 153-95-18 through last weekend's roadtrip to Princeton and Quinnipiac; 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. 6 HARVARD
Harvard sits just one point behind Cornell in ECAC Hockey after St. Lawrence and No. 7/9 Clarkson last weekend in the North Country. The only blemish on the Crimson record thus far is a 2-1 loss at RPI on Nov. 1. Two-time Goaltender of the Week Emerance Maschmeyer has been the star early on for the Crimson, posting a .963 save percentage and 1.00 goals-against average; good for first and second among league netminders, respectively. Maschmeyer has three shutouts to her credit coming in to this weekend's series against the Big Red and its ECAC Hockey travel partner, Colgate. The Crimson has not allowed more than two goals in a contest. Junior Samantha Reber leads Harvard with seven points on two goals and five assists.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE CRIMSON
    A storied rivalry between two women's hockey powerhouses, the series between the two teams began in the 1981-82 season. Harvard has built a commanding lead at 51-25-3, but Cornell has had a majority of the recent success. Since being swept in four games by the Crimson in 2008-09, the Big Red has posted an 8-1-1 record including last season's 2-1 win in the ECAC Hockey title game that gave Cornell its third league championship in four seasons. Jessica Campbell scored a power play goal with 1:40 remaining in the third period to lift Cornell to victory.
   
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
    The Big Green is coming off a rough weekend in the North Country during which it was outscored 7-1 and dropped both contests. Now 1-6 overall on the season (1-5 ECAC Hockey), Dartmouth's lone win came against RPI in Troy two weeks ago. Karlee Odland scored a power-play goal late in the second to break a 1-1 tie and Laura Stacey netted a short-handed insurance tally midway through the third to help Dartmouth to a 3-1 win. Stacey (1g, 3a) and Eleni Tebano (4a) lead the Big Green with four points thus far this season. Each of Dartmouth's three netminders has seen time in goal already this season, with Lindsay Holdcroft (1-3-1) serving as the primary option.    
 
THE SERIES WITH THE BIG GREEN
    Cornell's series with Dartmouth started in the 1978-79 season and the Big Green has earned a 41-27-7 lead since. One of the more troubling teams for the Big Red during the Doug Derraugh era, Dartmouth is 9-7-2 against Cornell since he took over the program in 2005-06. Both of the team's game last season went to overtime, with Cornell prevailing 2-1 in the first matchup thanks to a Jillian Saulnier power-play goal 3:38 into the extra session. In the second game of the season, neither team found the net, as the game ended 0-0.
 
#IVYDIGITAL
    With two Ivy League opponents on the slate this weekend for the Big Red, both games will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network 
 
    Every women's hockey home game for 2013-14 will be available on the network as well. 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.
 
1000^th GAME
Saturday's game against Dartmouth will be the 1000^th game in program history for the Big Red. The program's all-time record currently sits at 488-458-52.
 
ECAC HOCKEY WEEKLY HONORS
    Two of the three weekly given by ECAC Hockey each week went to members of the Big Red on Tuesday, as junior Jillian Saulnier and freshman Hanna Bunton were named player and rookie of the week, respectively. Saulnier racked up six points (4g, 2a) in two game last weekend – including four points in the team's 8-1 win over Union. She was also 70 percent in the faceoff circle as the center on Cornell's top line.
 
    Bunton picked up two points – both against RPI – as she assisted on a goal by Saulnier and then redirected a shot by Alyssa Gagliardi past the Engineers' Kelly O'Brien for her first collegiate goal.
 
TAKING ADVANTAGE
    The Big Red is currently leading ECAC Hockey in power play percentage against conference opponents at 34.8 percent, thanks to four goals with the man-advantage last weekend.
    Saturday's three power-play goals against Union marked the third time this season the Big Red had scored that many goals with the man advantage, having also notched three special teams goals against Northeastern and St. Lawrence. Hayleigh Cudmore, Emily Fulton, Cassandra Poudrier and Saulnier each have two power-play goals to their credit this season. Fulton is the team-leader in power-play scoring with six points (2g, 4a).
 
55 & COUNTING...
    After earning two wins in Cornell's ECAC Hockey opening weekend, senior Lauren Slebodnick is now the winningest goaltender in Cornell history. She passed former teammate Amanda Mazzotta's previous record of 53 wins with a 6-3 victory over No. 5 Clarkson. The win against St. Lawrence the following afternoon was number 55. Heading into this weekend's road series Slebodnick has a career record of 58-8-3.
 
100-POINT CLUB
    Junior forward Jillian Saulnier reached the 100-point mark with two goals and one assist against Clarkson on Oct. 25. She is the only player on the Big Red roster this season with more than 100 points (41-68--109).
 
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
    Emily Fulton was named ECAC Hockey's Player of the Month for October after finishing the month leading all Division I women's hockey players in points per game (3.00) and assists per game (2.00). She has amassed 12 points through the Big Red's first four games thanks, in large part, to a combined nine-point performance against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The five-assist showing against the Golden Knights was a career high for Fulton, and tied her with former teammate Laura Fortino at eighth on the all-time list for most assists in a game.
 
NATIONAL NUMBERS
·         Emily Fulton is second in points per game (2.38), while Jessica Campbell (1.88) and Jillian Saulnier (1.75) are fifth and sixth, respectively.
·         Saulnier is also second in goals per game (1.12). Fulton is tied for fourth (1.00).
·         Campbell (1.50) and Fulton (1.38) are one-two in the nation in assists per game.
·         Hayleigh Cudmore is second among Division I defenseman in points per game scoring (1.25) behind Princeton's Rose Alleva (1.50).
·         Cornell has the second-ranked scoring offense averaging 4.75 goals per game.
·         Overall, the Big Red's 30.6 conversion percentage on the power play ranks third nationally, while combined special teams in fourth (60.0).
   
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.
 
CORNELL IN THE POLLS
    The Big Red maintained its third-place ranking in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll this week. The team has been consistently ranked in both polls since the preseason when it started at number four and six, respectively. Cornell is the
highest-ranked ECAC Hockey team in the polls this week, ahead of Harvard (6), Clarkson (7/9) and Quinnipiac (7/9). The Minnesota Golden Gophers have been the number one pick for 33 weeks running.
 
SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES
    Seniors Jessica Campbell 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 her classmate 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 also the program leader in wins (58). Backing up Slebodnick this season will be sophomore Stefannie Moak and freshman Paula Voorheis.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
·         Emily Fulton and Hayleigh Cudmore both need just one point to reach 60 for their careers.
·         Jessica Campbell's next point will be her 80^th, while Saulnier is one away from 110.
  
CORNELL IN THE OLYMPICS
    The Big Red is 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
    Cornell will take a week off before returning to Lynah Rink following the Thanksgiving holiday for a two-game series against Boston College. Game times are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30.