ITHACA, N.Y. – The playoffs are here. The Big Red women's hockey team, ranked No. 2 in the nation, won its fourth consecutive ECAC Hockey regular season championship last weekend and earned the top seed in the conference tournament. Cornell welcomes eighth-seeded Colgate to Lynah Rink for a best-of-three series in the conference quarterfinals with games on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. if necessary.
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #30: No. 2 Cornell vs. Colgate
GAME TIME: Friday, March 1, 7 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 29-11-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 9-2 on Nov. 17, 2012
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell (23-5-1, 18-3-1 ECAC Hockey); Colgate (11-19-3, 6-13-3 ECAC Hockey)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
Cornell Live Video
GAME #31: No. 2 Cornell vs. Colgate
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 2, 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
GAME #32: No. 2 Cornell vs. Colgate
GAME TIME: Sunday, March 3, 4 p.m.*
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
*If necessary
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell entered the final weekend of regular season play with anywhere from the top seed to the third seed in the conference tournament a possibility. Thanks to two victories against Rensselaer and Union combined with a Harvard tie to St. Lawrence and a loss to Clarkson, the Big Red clinched the ECAC Hockey regular-season crown for the fourth consecutive season. Against the Engineers, Cornell got goals from three defensemen and went on to down Rensselaer 4-1. The next afternoon at Union,
Lauren Slebodnick had her fifth shutout of the season,
Laura Fortino scored twice and Cornell claimed a 4-0 win. In the locker room after the game, league commissioner Steve Hagwell presented captain
Lauriane Rougeau with the league championship trophy. Cornell now has home ice advantage throughout the league's postseason and will host the tournament's semifinals and final next weekend with a series win over Colgate this weekend.
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 at the end of January, breaking the previous school record for victories as a women's hockey coach (Bill Duthie, 135).
ABOUT COLGATE
The Raiders, based in nearby Hamilton, finished the regular season with two crucial victories over Rensselaer and Union, earning the final playoff spot in ECAC Hockey thanks to Princeton falling in the last game of its year. Colgate was on a three-game losing streak prior to the final weekend of the year. The Raiders have the second-worst penalty kill (73.1 percent) and fourth-worst scoring defense (3.45 goals allowed per game) in the country. On offense, Colgate is led by Brittany Philips, whose 24 points come on 16 goals and eight assists. Also with more than 20 points is fellow senior Jenna Klynstra (six goals, 15 assists). Backstopping the Raiders all season has been Ashylnne Rando, who came up huge in the final games of the regular season, giving up two combined goals to RPI and Union. Rando has a 2.96 goals against average and a .901 save percentage in 28 games this year.
The Raiders are coached by Greg Fargo who is in his first year with the team. Colgate last made the ECAC Hockey Tournament at the end of the 2010 season, losing two consecutive games in the quarterfinals against the Big Red at Lynah Rink.
THE SERIES WITH COLGATE
Cornell and Colgate, long-standing rivals who have played dating back to the 1973-74 season, have been a one-sided rivalry in recent years. The Big Red has now claimed nine straight contests against the Raiders including victories of 9-0 and 9-2 back in November. In those games,
Brianne Jenner had a combined six goals and three assists. The teams met in the ECAC Hockey playoffs back at the end of the 2010 regular season with the Big Red winning two straight games in the conference quarterfinals. Colgate last beat the Big Red on Jan. 11, 2009.
TWO CONSECUTIVE WINS AGAINST COLGATE WOULD
…give the Big Red a 4-0 season sweep of the Raiders…move the team to 13-1 in the ECAC Hockey Tournament over the last four years…advance the Big Red to the ECAC Hockey Tournament Semifinal for the fourth straight season…make the Big Red 13-1 against teams from New York this year…improve the team to 15-0-1 at Lynah Rink this year.
CORNELL IN THE ECAC HOCKEY TOURNAMENT
What started out poorly has become a strength for the Big Red in recent years. Dating back to 1996, Cornell lost its first 14 ECAC Hockey Tournament games over a span of 12 years including a stretch of eight straight losses to Harvard from 2003 to 2009. But since the last loss to Harvard in 2009, the Big Red have won 11 of 12 ECAC Hockey Tournament games and won two of the last three titles. Cornell is 11-1 at Lynah Rink in the tournament.
FOUR IN A ROW
When the final buzzer sounded at Union on Saturday night, Cornell still had to wait five minutes before the good news was confirmed. When Clarkson's 3-1 victory at Harvard was completed, the Big Red claimed the ECAC Hockey regular season trophy for the fourth consecutive season. This marks the first time in league history that a team has ever won four straight regular season crowns.
#REPACKLYNAH
After a highly successful campaign to #packlynah for the regular season series against Harvard and Dartmouth, the Big Red is hoping to fill the rink again for playoff action this weekend and #REpacklynah. A total of 2,182 fans came out on Feb. 15 for the Big Red's 3-1 win against Harvard, and more than 1,300 made it out to the Dartmouth game the following day. That two-day total of nearly 3,500 fans was the highest regular-season weekend draw in Cornell women's hockey history. Friday's fan attendance was the second-best showing in a regular-season game in school history. The Lynah Faithful are being asked to come out and show their support again this weekend.
MOVING UP THE WINS LIST
Lauren Slebodnick now has 47 wins in her Cornell career, tied for second in team history with Sarah Mott who played from 1978-82. Slebodnick will take sole possession of second place with her next victory. She is now only six total wins behind the school record of 53 set by
Amanda Mazzotta '12 last season.
HELPING HAND
Brianne Jenner picked up two assists last weekend, moving ahead of
Rebecca Johnston '12 and Digit Degidio '83 on the career list. Jenner now has 92 in her career and is all alone in sixth in school history. She is now only three assists behind current teammate
Laura Fortino, who is in fifth, and
Catherine White '12 who is alone in fourth with 101.
CENTURY MARK
Junior defenseman and assistant captain
Alyssa Gagliardi will be playing in her 100th career game on Friday night. Gagliardi, just two points away from 60 in her career, has been essential for the Big Red this season on defense and offense.
IVY LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS
By earning three points in its games against Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend, the Big Red claimed a share of its fourth consecutive Ivy League championship. Cornell is the only school in Ivy League history to win the title four times in a row, also accomplishing this from 1976-80 when it won the league crown six consecutive seasons. Princeton came closest to matching this, winning the league three consecutive years from 1982-84. Cornell celebrated on the ice after tying Dartmouth two weekends ago, and Harvard's win against Yale on Tuesday night clinched a shared title for the Crimson.
PENALTY KILLERS
Cornell continues to excel on the penalty kill and is still No. 2 in the nation in percentage of penalties kill. Cornell has not allowed a goal on 129 of 140 penalties taken this season for a total of 92.1 percent. Though the team did allow a power play against Rensselaer on Friday, Cornell has still killed off 27 of its last 28 man disadvantages.
OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
The Big Red got eight goals total last weekend, and six came from defensemen. Seniors
Laura Fortino and
Lauriane Rougeau each had two goals while juniors
Alyssa Gagliardi and
Hayleigh Cudmore struck once each.
U.S. TRAINING CAMP
Cornell junior defenseman
Alyssa Gagliardi was named to the roster of the U.S. Women's National Team training camp on Monday. Gagliardi is one of 28 players invited for the camp, which will take place in Lake Placid from March 25-31. From there, USA Hockey will cut the group down to 23 players who will compete with the U.S. Women's National Team at the Women's World Championship in April in Ottawa, Ontario. Gagliardi also attended the Women's National Team Winter Camp in Minnesota over winter break.
NATIONAL POLLS
The Big Red has moved up in the national polls for the second consecutive week, leaping over Boston College to claim the No. 2 spot in the country. Cornell is now as high in the polls as it has been all season. ECAC Hockey rivals Clarkson and Harvard remain in the poll at No. 5 and No. 7, respectively. No other ECAC Hockey teams are receiving votes. Minnesota (34-0) remains No. 1 as it has all season.
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
The Big Red clinched home-ice advantage throughout the ECAC Hockey Tournament when it won the league's regular-season title last week, and that would appear to be a sizeable advantage for the team based on its regular-season performance. In its 14 home games this season, Cornell is averaging approximately three points per game as a team more than it is averaging on the road. Offensive leader
Brianne Jenner is earning 2.67 points per game in Lynah Rink as opposed to 1.53 points per game away from home. The Big Red has scored 170 points in its 14 home contests but just 138 in 15 games away from Lynah. In home games, all players on the roster are at least a +1, and Jenner leads that category with +27. On the road, though, two Big Red players have minus ratings and the team high is
Lauriane Rougeau's +12. Cornell's win-loss record is also much better at home. Cornell is 13-0-1 at Lynah Rink but 10-5-0 on the road.
OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 31 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 20-11 record, including a 3-1 win against No. 5 Harvard two weeks ago. Cornell was a very impressive 9-3 against ranked opponents in 2011-12.
A RARE TIE
Cornell's 0-0 tie against Dartmouth was the team's first draw since Feb. 4, 2011 against Clarkson, a span of more than two calendar years. Cornell went all of the 2011-12 season without a tie.
STREAKS SNAPPED
Entering last weekend's games against Harvard and Dartmouth, Cornell had a streak of scoring at least one goal in 107 games. Though the team extended that mark to 108 with three goals against Harvard, the Dartmouth game broke that streak after more than three years. Cornell was last shut out on Feb. 5, 2010 in a 0-0 draw against Quinnipiac.
Brianne Jenner was also working on a 13-game point streak, but she failed to tally a goal or assist against Harvard and Dartmouth, breaking the streak. The Harvard contest was the first time all season that Jenner played, failed to record a point and Cornell still won. The team also won without a point from Jenner at Rensselaer last weekend.
DO IT FOR DARON SERIES
Cornell's against Rensselaer and Union on Feb. 1-2 were 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. Close to 2,000 Cornell fans came out to the games, many wearing purple to support the charity.
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 28 goals on the season, has raised more than $1,500 for Primeau plus more than $250 in extra donations. To sponsor Jenner's charity, e-mail her at
bj72@cornell.edu.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Another terrific week for the Cornell Big Red and
Brianne Jenner resulted in the junior receiving the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week Award for the second time this season on Feb. 5. Jenner had another double-digit point week, tallying 10 total points in three games against No. 7 Mercyhurst, Union and Rensselaer. She tied a season and career high with six points against the Dutchwomen, recording four goals and two assists. Jenner previously won Player of the Week on Jan. 21.
Lauren Slebodnick was named Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 21 as well, while
Taylor Woods (Nov. 20) and
Cassandra Poudrier (Nov. 6) have each earned an ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honor this season.
MONTHLY HONORS
The Big Red women's hockey team went 7-1 in January, and ECAC Hockey has recognized two Cornell players as essential to that terrific month by giving them ECAC Hockey Women's Monthly Awards on Thursday night.
Brianne Jenner, the team's leading scorer, was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Month, and goalie
Lauren Slebodnick was named the league's Goaltender of the Month. Jenner had a team-high 23 points in the month for Cornell while Slebodnick had seven victories and gave up just three goals in four conference games.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
Cornell has multiple players near the top of the country in many categories.
Brianne Jenner has the nation's fourth-best points per game total with 2.04, while
Jillian Saulnier sits in 13th with her 1.48 points per game. Jenner's 1.04 goals per game put her third in the country in that category. Saulnier is fourth and Jenner is ninth in the nation with 1.15 and 1.00 assists per game, respectively.
Hayleigh Cudmore is eighth in points per game by defenseman (0.83).
Lauren Slebodnick has the country's third-best goals against average (1.34), its seventh-highest save percentage (.935) and its fifth-best winning percentage (.788).
Jessica Campbell is tied for third with three short-handed goals.
As a team, the Big Red's 3.93 goals per game ranks it fourth in the country, and its 1.45 goals allowed per game is also third-best. Cornell has the nation's second-best penalty kill (92.1 percent).
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against RPI and Union
Approaching career numbers:
MECO CUP
Seven Big Red players won the Gold with the Canada Under-22 roster for the Meco Cup in January.
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.
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.
UP NEXT
If Cornell defeats the Raiders in the best-of-three series, it will host the ECAC Hockey Tournament Semifinals and Final at Lynah Rink next weekend with the other three remaining teams. With a series loss to Colgate, Cornell will wait to see if it is selected to the NCAA Tournament after next weekend's games.
