Live Stats (St. Lawrence game) | Game Notes (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y.—The No. 4 Cornell women's ice hockey team travels to the North Country this weekend to visit St. Lawrence for a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday, Jan. 24 and Clarkson at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25. Freshman goaltender Paula Voorheis and the Big Red held off a Dartmouth team on Jan. 14 and came away with a 3-0 victory. Nineteen penalties were handed out throughout the game and only one player – sophomore forward Taylor Woods – was able to capitalize on the power play. The next night, Cornell faced Ivy League rival No. 5 Harvard in a much-anticipated matchup.  The Crimson proved to be too much and snapped senior goaltender Lauren Slebodnick's 14-game winning streak, scoring in all three periods, including once on an empty net late in the third. The loss dropped Cornell to No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll; however, they are still one place ahead of Harvard.

ABOUT THE NO. 4 BIG RED
Freshman goaltender Paula Voorheis picked up her third consecutive win and second consecutive shutout as the No. 3 Big Red women's hockey team defeated Dartmouth 3-0 on Jan. 17. During the game, there were a total of 19 power play opportunities and both teams struggled to connect, with the Big Red's defense shutting down all 10 of Dartmouth's opportunities and only capitalizing on one of their nine, when Taylor Woods found the back of the net at 12:10 in the first period. Woods scored again in the second period on assists from Caroline DeBruin and Anna Zorn and Jess Brown netted one of her own on assists from Hanna Bunton and Cassandra Poudrier. Cornell senior goaltender Lauren Slebodnick lost her first game of the season against No. 3 Harvard the following night while racking up 19 saves against the Crimson. Sophomore Anna Zorn had the only goal for the Big Red, scoring late in the first period to tie up at the game at one goal apiece.

Cornell is currently in second place in the ECAC Hockey standings and just one point behind Ivy League rival Harvard with 20 points and two ahead of third-place, No. 6 Clarkson.

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 160-97-20 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 ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints, from Canton, N.Y., hold a 6-14-2 record overall on the year and a 5-5-2 record in league play. St. Lawrence is led on offense this season by senior Mel Desrochers' 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists. Rylee Smith also has seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points. St. Lawrence has used two goalies this season, but Carmen MacDonald is the overwhelming leader in minutes played. She has a 2.32 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. St. Lawrence is coached by Chris Wells, now in his fifth year with the team.

THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints and Big Red have already met once this season in a game that resulted in a 6-4 victory for the Big Red. Still, St. Lawrence leads the all-time series 32-27-4. In that game, a non-league contest back in October, Cornell got two goals from Jessica Campbell and one each from Jillian Saulnier, Alyssa Gaglardi, Emily Fulton, and Kelly Murray. The last time the Big Red lost to the Saints was in the ECAC Hockey tournament final on March 3, 2012 at Lynah Rink.

ABOUT NO. 6 CLARKSON
The Knights, based in Potsdam, N.Y., are having an excellent season. Clarkson is currently ranked No. 6 in the country, has a 17-4-3 record and is just behind Cornell in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Knights are led on offense by senior Jaime Lee Rattray, with 19 goals and 17 assists in 24 games. Sophomore Erin Ambrose is also right behind her with 30 total points, and nine other Knights players have double-digit points on the season. In goal for Clarkson is Erica Howe, with a 1.09 goals against average in 26 games this season. Clarkson is led by co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers.

THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
The Big Red holds the lifetime advantage against Clarkson, holding a 19-10-2 record all-time versus the Knights. When the two teams faced off earlier this season, Cornell came away with a 6-3 win. Junior Jillian Saulnier scored two goals and one assist to lead the Big Red and teammate Emily Fulton had a hand on all but one of the goals, tallying five total assists.

2014 HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Senior defenseman Alyssa Gagliardi has been nominated as one of 18 hockey players, both male and female, for the Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award recognizes hockey's finest citizen and includes players from Division I, II, and III. Finalists will be announced in February and the winner will be named at the Frozen Four in Philadelphia on Friday, April 11. On the men's side, Andy Iles was also nominated. Union College was the only other school to have both a male and female nominee.
NATIONAL POLLS
Cornell dropped in the national polls for the first time since Oct. 28, moving down to No. 4 after losing to Harvard. Clarkson, one of the Big Red's opponents this weekend, dropped one spot to No. 6, while Harvard shot up to No. 6. Minnesota remains the country's top team with a record of 22-1-1.

LAST TIME OUT
The sophomores had a great showing against Dartmouth and Harvard this past weekend as Taylor Woods netted two goals against Dartmouth, while Cassandra Poudrier had three assists on the weekend, two against Dartmouth and one against Harvard, as the Big Red women's hockey team split a pair of hard-fought games against Ivy League opponents. Anna Zorn and Jess Brown both scored one goal and one assist during the weekend.

BIG RED SPECIAL TEAMS
The Big Red sits only behind Minnesota on the national leaderboard at 27.4 percent with the man-advantage. The combined special teams' average of 58.9 percent is good for second in the country, behind ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rival, Harvard. Cornell had 13 penalty kills on the weekend.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
*Jillian Saulnier is third in the nation for points per game (1.53) and goals per game (0.79).
*Emily Fulton is fourth in the nation for assists per game (0.89) and is seventh behind teammate Saulnier in points per game (1.47).
* Cassandra Poudrier is ranked third in power play goals with five.
*Jessica Campbell is ranked seventh in assists per game (0.84) behind teammate Fulton.
*Lauren Slebodnick is ranked fourth for winning percentage with .833 and a record of 11-1-3.
*As a team, Cornell has the number two scoring offense averaging 3.84 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 62-9-5.

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. Olympic play begins Feb. 8 with a matchup against Switzerland, followed by a Feb. 10 meeting with Finland. Team Canada finishes up group play with an always-anticipated game against Team USA on Feb. 12.

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 returns to Lynah Rink to continue conference play next weekend when it hosts Yale on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. , followed by a matchup with Brown on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 4 p.m.