ITHACA, N.Y. – After two dramatic wins last weekend against Colgate, the Big Red women's hockey team is looking for its third ECAC Hockey Tournament championship in the last four years this weekend. First up is a rematch of last year's tournament title game against fifth-seeded St. Lawrence on Saturday at 1 p.m. If Cornell wins, it will play in the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three weekend games at Lynah Rink will be broadcast live in HD on ESPN3.
GAME INFORMATION
ECAC SEMIFINAL #1: No. 3 Cornell vs. St. Lawrence
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 9, 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: St. Lawrence leads 32-28-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 6-0 on Jan. 18, 2013
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell (25-5-1); St. Lawrence (19-13-5)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
ESPN 3
ECAC SEMIFINAL #2: No. 7 Harvard vs. No. 5 Clarkson
GAME TIME: Saturday, March 9, 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
LAST MEETING: Clarkson won 3-1 on Feb. 23, 2013
2012-13 RECORDS: Clarkson (28-8-0); Harvard (23-5-3)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
ESPN 3
ECAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Participants TBD
GAME TIME: Sunday, March 10, 1 p.m.
GAME SITE: Lynah Rink (Ithaca, N.Y.)
LIVE STATS:
Cornell Live Stats
LIVE VIDEO:
ESPN 3
ABOUT THE BIG RED
The Big Red barely escaped with its playoff life last weekend, defeating eighth-seeded Colgate 5-4 in overtime on Friday night and 3-2 in regulation on Saturday to advance to its fourth consecutive ECAC Hockey Tournament semifinal. Cornell trailed for the majority of both games. On Friday, the Big Red was down by scores of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 before a tying goal in the final minute by
Monika Leck sent the game to overtime. Once there,
Brianne Jenner got the game winner – her fifth point of the night – just 39 seconds into the extra frame. The next night,
Lauriane Rougeau scored a game-tying goal in the final minute, and Jenner had a game winner with exactly one second left on the clock. Cornell, ranked No. 3 in the nation, got two wins from
Lauren Slebodnick in those games.
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 ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints, based in Canton, earned their spot in the ECAC Hockey Tournament Semifinal by defeated fourth-seeded Quinnipiac in a three-game series. The first two games of the series went to overtime, with Quinnipiac winning in triple overtime on the second night. But goalie Carmen MacDonald pitched a shutout in game three as the Saints won 2-0 and advanced to Lynah Rink for the second straight year. St. Lawrence, the defending tournament champion, is led on offense by Kelly Sabatine's 17 goals and 20 assists. Amanda Boulier has eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points, second on the roster. MacDonald has started in 34 contests, earning a 2.27 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.
St. Lawrence is coached by Chris Wells.
THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints and Big Red have already met three this season with Cornell claiming two wins at home and one on the road. Most recently, Cornell shut out the Saints 6-0 in Lynah Rink in mid-January. In that game,
Brianne Jenner had two goals and two assists as
Lauren Slebodnick made 20 saves for the win. Cornell's other wins against the Saints this year came by scores of 5-1 and 4-2. Before that, though, St. Lawrence knocked off the Big Red by a 3-1 score in last season's conference tournament championship game at Lynah Rink. St. Lawrence still leads the lifetime series with Cornell by four games, 32-28-4.
A WIN AGAINST ST. LAWRENCE WOULD…
…give the Big Red a 4-0 season sweep of the Saints…move the team to 14-1 in the ECAC Hockey Tournament over the last four years…advance the Big Red to the ECAC Hockey Tournament championship game for the fourth straight season…make the Big Red 14-1 against teams from New York this year…improve the team to 16-0-1 at Lynah Rink this year…be Cornell's fourth consecutive win against St. Lawrence.
ABOUT HARVARD
The Crimson, based in Cambridge, Mass., advanced to the conference semifinals on the strength of a series sweep against Ivy League rival Dartmouth. Harvard cruised past the Big Green, winning games on Friday and Saturday by scores of 3-0 and 4-0. Harvard, the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, was leading the ECAC Hockey standings for much of the season before dropping a game to Clarkson on the final day of the regular season, giving the league championship to Cornell. Harvard is led on offense by Jillian Dempsey's 43 points on 23 goals and 20 assists. Lydnsey Fry is second on the team with 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points. In net, Emerance Maschmeyer has emerged as the team's top goaltender, shutting out Dartmouth twice last weekend. She has a goals against average of 1.27 and a save percentage of .939.
Harvard is coached by Katey Stone.
ABOUT CLARKSON
The Golden Knights, who hail from Potsdam, reached the ECAC Hockey Tournament semifinal thanks to a sweep over the weekend of Rensselaer. Clarkson won the first game of the series 3-2 in overtime on Friday night and then had an easier go of it on Saturday night when it won 5-2. Clarkson, the second seed in the tournament, is strong on offense. Jamie Lee Rattray tops Clarkson with 22 goals and 28 assists for 50 points. Carly Mercer has 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists. In net, defending ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year Erica Howe has a .935 save percentage and a 1.63 goals against average.
Clarkson is led by co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers.
#REREPACKLYNAH
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 #REREpacklynah. 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.
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 has won 13 of 14 ECAC Hockey Tournament games and won two of the last three titles. Cornell is 13-1 at Lynah Rink in the tournament.
JENNER GAME WINNERS
Brianne Jenner's two game winners over the weekend now gives her a combined seven on the season. That total, the highest on the Cornell roster, is good for a tie for fourth in the nation. Jenner is only behind Clarkson's Jamie Lee Rattray (nine), North Dakota's Jocelyne Lamoreux (nine), and Minnesota's Amanda Kessel (eight).
MAKING A POINT
Brianne Jenner didn't just score both game-winning goals in Cornell's series win against Colgate over the weekend. She also assisted on or scored every other tally for the Big Red. With eight points over the weekend, Jenner took over the offense for the Big Red. She is currently tied for the national lead in playoff points, equal to Jocelyne Lamoreux of North Dakota's eight. Jenner's 63 points this season now surpasses
Rebecca Johnston's team-leading 61 from 2011-12 and is Cornell's best offensive season by any player in the modern era. The last Cornell player to tally 63 points in a year was Cindy Warren in 1978.
EVENLY SPREAD
Cornell has scored 120 goals during regulation this year, and the team has spread them out almost perfectly evenly through the game's three periods. The Big Red has struck 38 times in the first and third periods while scoring 44 times in the second period this year. Last season, Cornell was much less even, scoring 13 more goals in the second period than in any other.
HELPING HAND
Lauren Slebodnick had no assists entering her junior season, but the goaltender now has three alone this year. Slebodnick got her third helper of the year on Friday, assisting on
Brianne Jenner's power play goal in the third period. In the last 14 seasons, Cornell goalies have only tallied four total assists, and Slebodnick has three of them this year.
FOUR IN A ROW
When the final buzzer sounded at Union on Feb. 23, 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.
WINNING WAYS
Lauren Slebodnick now has 49 wins in her Cornell career and she sits all alone in second in team history. She passed Sarah Mott with the Friday win against Colgate and is now just four wins behind the school record of 53 set by
Amanda Mazzotta '12 last year.
MOVING ON UP
With her eight-point weekend, Jenner slid further up the Cornell history books. She passed
Catherine White '12 for sixth all-time in team history with her 168th career point, and she is now 17 points behind
Rebecca Johnston '12 for the most points in the NCAA era. Jenner also moved into a tie for seventh all-time at Cornell with 75 goals and fifth all time with 96 assists.
CENTURY MARK
Junior defenseman
Hayleigh Cudmore will be playing in her 100th career game on Friday night. Cudmore, who got her 50th career point last weekend, is the team's second-highest scoring defenseman this season.
IVY LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS
By earning three points in its games against Harvard and Dartmouth in mid-February, 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.
U.S. TRAINING CAMP
Cornell junior defenseman
Alyssa Gagliardi was named to the roster of the U.S. Women's National Team training camp in late February. 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
After moving up for back-to-back weeks, Cornell dropped in the USCHO.com national poll to third. The Big Red fell behind Boston College. In the USA Today poll, though, Cornell remained at the No. 2 spot. Undefeated Minnesota (36-0) remains No. 1 in both polls while Clarkson and Harvard are in the picture at No. 5 and No. 7, respectively.
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
Based on Cornell's regular-season performance, having home ice for the conference tournament would appear to be a significant advantage. In its 16 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 2.85 points per game in Lynah Rink as opposed to 1.53 points per game away from home. The Big Red has scored 193 points in its 16 home contests but just 138 in 15 games away from Lynah. In home games, all players on the roster are at least even on the plus/minus, and Jenner leads that category with +31. 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 15-0-1 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.
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 32 goals on the season, has raised nearly $3,000 for Primeau. 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 fourth-best points per game total with 2.17, while
Jillian Saulnier sits in 13th with her 1.48 points per game. Jenner's 1.10 goals per game put her second in the country in that category. Saulnier is fifth and Jenner is eighth in the nation with 1.15 and 1.07 assists per game, respectively.
Lauriane Rougeau is eighth in points per game by defenseman (0.81).
Lauren Slebodnick has the country's fifth-best goals against average (1.46) its ninth-highest save percentage (.929) and its fifth-best winning percentage (.804).
Jessica Campbell is tied for third with three short-handed goals.
As a team, the Big Red's 3.94 goals per game ranks it fourth in the country, and its 1.55 goals allowed per game is also fourth-best. Cornell has the nation's third-best penalty kill (90.1 percent).
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Colgate
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
Cornell will await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at 6 p.m. Cornell would be guaranteed a spot in the field of eight with a win on Sunday, but it also stands a very strong chance of making the field as an at-large team. Cornell would play an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game next weekend.
