Game Notes  (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 3 Cornell women's ice hockey team resumes conference play this weekend with its first home game in a month and a half as it plays host to Dartmouth on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. and Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. The Big Red ran their unbeaten streak to five games last weekend by tying Mercyhurst 4-4 in overtime on Jan. 10 and earning a 6-4 victory on Jan. 11. The Big Red (13-1-3) will look to continue its strong start in 2014 (3-0-1) and remain atop the Ivy League standings. For the past four seasons, Cornell has won nine or more non-conference games and continued that pattern this year, going 9-1-2 against non-ECAC Hockey competitors.

Cornell enters the week two points ahead of Harvard and three points ahead of Princeton in the Ancient Eight standings. In ECAC Hockey play, the Big Red is tied with Quinnipiac with 18 points and has four games in hand against the Bobcats, and just one point ahead of Ivy League foe Harvard with a game in hand on the Crimson.

ABOUT THE BIG RED

Through the course of two games last weekend – a win and a tie for the Big Red – Cornell scored 10 goals, half of which came on the power play – an area of the game the team had been striving to improve in recent weeks. Jill Saulnier led the team in scoring, tallying two goals and three assists against Mercyhurst. Teammate Jess Brown chipped in two goals and one assist during the pair of games in Erie, Pa. Senior netminder Lauren Slebodnick remained undefeated this season, bringing her career win total to 62.

Cornell is currently sharing first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with Quinnipiac with 18 points; one point ahead of the second-place Crimson and three points in front of Clarkson. The Big Red is the only league team without a loss this season (8-0-2) in ECAC Hockey.

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 159-96-20 record; 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 DARTMOUTH

The Big Green is coming off a good weekend during which it beat Yale for its first Ivy League win (5-4), and tied Brown in overtime (3-3) to improve to 4-12-1 overall (3-7-1 ECAC Hockey). Ali Winkel assisted on the Big Green's first goal against the Bulldogs and later scored the game-winner with under a minute left to play. Sophomore Lindsey Allen leads Dartmouth with nine goals and three assists for 12 points and teammate Karlee Odland has netted three goals and six assists for nine points this season. Each of Dartmouth's three netminders has seen time in goal, with Lindsay Holdcroft (4-7-1, .900 sv %, 2.88 GAA) 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 41-28-7 lead since. One of the more formidable teams the Big Red has met during the Doug Derraugh era, Dartmouth is 9-8-2 against Cornell since he took over the program in 2005-06. In the matchup earlier this season, the Big Red came away with a 4-2 win on Nov. 16. Three of Cornell's four goals came from power play opportunities with solid performances from Hanna Bunton (1g, 2a) and Alyssa Gagliardi (1g, 1a).

ABOUT NO. 6 HARVARD

Harvard sits just one point behind Cornell in ECAC Hockey after splitting games against Brown (W, 6-3) and Yale (L, 2-0) this past weekend. Two-time ECAC Goaltender of the Week Emerance Maschmeyer has been the star early on for the Crimson, posting a .961 save percentage and 1.14 goals-against average; good for first and second among league netminders, respectively. Maschmeyer has five shutouts to her credit coming into this weekend's games and the Crimson has not allowed more than three goals in a contest all season. Sophomore Miye D'Oench leads Harvard with 13 points on eight 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 51-25-4, 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 8-1-2 record, including the 3-3 overtime tie earlier this season in Cambridge. Cornell came back from a 2-0 deficit after two periods of play to tie things up early in the third period. Mary Parker looked to bring home the win for the Crimson when she scored two minutes later, but with four minutes left, Jillian Saulnier scored her second goal of the night to force the game into overtime.

#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.

LAST TIME OUT

Junior Jillian Saulnier and sophomore Jess Brown both netted two goals and had one assist while teammate Taylor Woods had one goal and one assist as the No. 3 Big Red women's hockey team handed the Mercyhurst Lakers their sixth loss of the season. Slebodnick tallied her 62nd career win and remained unbeaten on the season, improving her record to 11-0-3.

BIG RED SPECIAL TEAMS

The Big Red sits atop the national leaderboard at 30.1 percent with the man-advantage. The combined special teams' average of 59.4 percent is good for second in the country, behind ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rival, Harvard.

NATIONAL NUMBERS

*Jillian Saulnier leads the nation in points per game (1.71) and goals per game (0.88), is ranked tenth for assists per game (0.82).

*Emily Fulton (1.65) is second behind teammate Saulnier in points per game, third in the nation for assists per game (1.00), and ninth for goals per game (0.65).

* Cassandra Poudrier is ranked first in power play goals with five.

*Jessica Campbell rests at fifth in assists per game (0.94) behind her teammate Fulton, and is ninth in points per game (1.47).

*Lauren Slebodnick is ranked fourth for winning percentage with .893 and a record of 11-0-3.

*As a team, Cornell has the number two scoring offense averaging 4.06 goals per game.

60 & 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 series, Slebodnick has a career record of 62-8-5.

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 (47-77--124).

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.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Throughout this season, several Cornell players have earned the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, Rookie of the Week, and Goaltender of the Week honors. Most recently, freshman goaltender Paula Voorheis received Rookie of the Week (Jan. 7). Others include senior goaltender Lauren Slebodnick as Goaltender of the Week (Oct. 22), junior forward Emily Fulton as both Player of the Week (Oct. 29) and the October Player of the Month, and freshman forward Hanna Bunton as Rookie of the Week (Nov. 19).

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.

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 entered her senior campaign as Cornell's program leader in both categories and is currently the program leader in wins (62).

CORNELL IN THE OLYMPICS

The last time the Winter Olympics were held in 2010 in Vancouver, one member of the Cornell women's hockey team won a gold medal with Team Canada. But in 2014 in Russia, there could be as many as four members of the Big Red with Olympic medals around their necks. Hockey Canada announced on Dec. 23 its final roster for its women's hockey team to take the ice in February -- including Rebecca Johnston '12, Laura Fortino '13, Lauriane Rougeau '13 and senior Brianne Jenner. All four were on Canada's centralization roster, which was trimmed from 27 to the final 21 who will be making the trip to Sochi, Russia.

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

The Big Red continues conference play next weekend on the road, traveling to St. Lawrence on Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. followed by a matchup at Clarkson on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m.