ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's ice hockey team fought through the snow and ice to get to New England for this weekend's ECAC Hockey set. Now they'll need to fight off a pair of upset bids when the third-ranked Big Red end a month-long break when it visits Brown on Friday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. and Yale on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 4 p.m.

The Big Red have been off since a 5-2 victory over Syracuse exactly a month ago and bring an unbeaten conference record (6-0-2) and a strong 3-0-2 road mark into a pair of important conference contests that also count toward Ivy League play (2-0-1). Despite more than a foot of snow that continued to fall through the team's journey East, the Big Red will be looking to continue its strong start.

After a month of training, final exams and the holidays, the Big Red is anxious to get championship season started. Cornell enters January a point behind Princeton and tied with Harvard with two games in hand on the Tigers in the Ancient Eight standings. In ECAC Hockey play, the Big Red is second behind Harvard with a game in hand on the nationally ranked Crimson and three games in hand on Quinnipiac, who is tied with Cornell with 14 points.

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 156-96-19 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 BROWN
Brown enters the weekend with a 1-9-3 record and is looking for its first ECAC Hockey win (0-5-1). The Bears last played on Dec. 7, earning a 3-3 tie at Maine to snap a three-game losing skid. The Bears have scored just seven goals in its six conference contests and are scoring on 9.8 percent of its power play attempts overall. Erin Conway leads the Bears in scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points, while Sarah Robson has three goals and four assists. Senior goalkeeper Aubree Moore had played a majority of the time in goal, posting a 2.68 goals against average and a .923 save percentage while starting 12 of the team's 13 games. Head coach Amy Bourbeau is in her third season directing the Bears' program. She is just the third head coach in Brown's 47-year history.

THE SERIES WITH THE BEARS
Cornell extended its lead in the lifetime series against Brown to 42-34-8 and has won 13 in a row dating back to the 2005-06 season when the Bears earned a 3-2 win at Lynah Rink. The Big Red swept the Bears a year ago by a combined score of 6-2.

ABOUT YALE
The Bulldogs are 4-8-1 on the season and 2-3-1 in ECAC Hockey play and will be back on the ice for the first time since taking a 5-1 win over Providence on Dec. 6. Yale swept a road weekend in conference play when it topped Rensselaer and Union in mid-November, but will be looking for its first home victory of the season (0-3-1) when Colgate visits on Friday. The Bulldogs are averaging 2.2 goals per game on the season and has converted on 13 percent of its power play attempts while killing off 79 percent of opponents' chances. Freshman Phoebe Staenz leads the team in scoring with seven goals, nine assists and 16 points in her 11 games, while Janelle Ferrara has three goals and seven assists to also hit double figures in the scoring column. In goal, Jaimie Leonoff has a 4-8-1 record with a 3.18 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Head coach Joakim Flygh is in his fourth year directing the Bulldog program.

THE SERIES WITH THE BULLDOGS
Cornell has a large lead in the lifetime series against Yale, holding a 50-13-1 record against the Bulldogs. The Big Red has not lost to Yale since Jan. 23, 2009, and its last six games against Yale have been by a combined 35-4.

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore defenseman Cassandra Poudrier scored two power-play goals and freshman goaltender Paula Voorheis stopped 39 shots, as the No. 3 Big Red women's hockey team came back from an early two-goal deficit to beat Syracuse 5-2 at the Onondaga War Memorial on Dec. 3. Voorheis made her first collegiate start against the Orange, and earned her first career victory, as she is now 1-1-0 in three career appearances.

BIG RED SPECIAL TEAMS
The Big Red sits atop the national leaderboard at 30.6 percent with the man-advantage. The combined special teams' average of 59.7 percent is good for second in the country, behind ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rival, Harvard.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
* Emily Fulton (1.85) remains the national leader in points per game and assists per game (1.23) and is 12th in goals per game (0.62).
* Jillian Saulnier is the leader in goals per game (0.92) and is tied for fourth with teammate Jessica Campbell in the points per game category (1.54).
* In addition to being tied with her linemate in PPG, Campbell is also fifth in the assists per game category (1.00).
* As a team, Cornell has the number two scoring offense averaging 4.08 goals per game and also is ranked fifth in scoring margin (2.00).

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 ECAC Hockey weekend, Slebodnick has a career record of 60-8-4.

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 (44-71--115).

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.

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 (60). Backing up Slebodnick this season will be sophomore Stefannie Moak and freshman Paula Voorheis.

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 stays on the road to complete its five-game road swing when it visits Merchurst on Friday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. in Erie, Pa.