ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell women's hockey begins its second half of conference play this weekend when No. 5/5 Clarkson and St. Lawrence come to Lynah Rink for a pair of ECAC Hockey matchups. Both the Golden Knights and the Saints currently sit above the Big Red in the conference rankings, but the league's third- through ninth-place teams are separated by just five points, making every game crucial. Friday afternoon's game against Clarkson will be simulcast on ESPN3 and the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
GAME 20: Cornell Big Red vs. No. 5/5 Clarkson Golden Knights
WHEN: Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 — 3 p.m.
WHERE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 RECORDS: Cornell 8-8-3 (4-5-3 ECAC Hockey), Clarkson 19-3-2 (7-3-2 ECAC Hockey)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN3, Ivy League Digital Network
 
GAME 21: Cornell Big Red vs. St. Lawrence Saints
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016 — 3 p.m.
WHERE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2015-16 RECORDS: Cornell 8-8-3 (4-5-3 ECAC Hockey), St. Lawrence 12-10-2 (6-5-1 ECAC Hockey)*
LIVE STATS:  CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
*—records do not include Friday's games
 
GAME NOTES:
Cornell | Clarkson | St. Lawrence (coming soon)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell took three out of four points last weekend, outlasting Yale, 6-4, after the Bulldogs scored three second period goals to tie the game, and tying Brown, 2-2, despite outshooting the Bears, 48-17. The Big Red is tied for eighth in the ECAC Hockey standings heading into the weekend with 11 points coming on conference wins over Princeton, St. Lawrence, Dartmouth and Yale. Of Cornell's eight losses, six have come at the hands of teams ranked or receiving votes in the national polls, including two to now-No. 1 Boston College. Junior Hanna Bunton leads the team with 20 points (10-10–20). Junior Kaitlin Doering, senior Jess Brown and freshman Micah Hart each have 14 points.
 
ABOUT NO. 5/5 CLARKSON
Holding steady at No. 5/5 in the national polls, the Golden Knights have lost just three games so far this season, all to ECAC Hockey opponents. Quinnipiac blanked Clarkson, 3-0, on Nov. 20; Rensselaer stunned the Golden Knights, 2-1 on Nov. 7, despite Clarkson posting a 46-18 advantage in shots; and Colgate downed the Golden Knights, 4-3, in overtime on Dec. 4, a day before Clarkson shut out the Big Red. The Golden Knights are undefeated in the New Year, posting convincing wins over Yale and Brown before eking out a 1-0 victory over Dartmouth and an impressive comeback defeat of then-No. 8/9 Harvard, 5-2, this past weekend. Junior Cayley Mercer continues to lead ECAC Hockey with 36 points on 17 goals and 19 assists. Senior Olivia Howe isn't far behind with 11 goals and 16 assists. Sophomore Shea Tiley has still been solid between the pipes, posting an impressive 1.29 goals-against average and .934 save percentage.
 
THE SERIES VS. CLARKSON
Fresh off a stinging overtime loss to Colgate the night before, the Golden Knights blanked Cornell, 4-0, on Dec. 5 to cut the Big Red's all-time series lead to 23-13-3. Last season, Cornell beat the Golden Knights, 3-1, in the ECAC Hockey Semifinal to advance to the league championship. In the regular season, the Big Red took a dominant 8-3 win in Potsdam in December but tied Clarkson, 1-1, in Ithaca in January.
 
ABOUT ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints took three of four points last weekend, including an upset of then-No. 8/9 Harvard, 2-0, on Friday. In the first weekend of the New Year, St. Lawrence topped Brown, 2-1, but fell to Yale, 5-2. Heading into their trip to central New York, the Saints sit in sixth in the ECAC Hockey with 13 points and conference and overall records just above .500. St. Lawrence's balanced offense — which features 12 skaters with at least three goals — is led by junior Brooke Webster and sophomore Kennedy Marchment, who each have 21 points. Goaltending has been split relatively evenly amongst Sonjia Shelly (4-6-1, 2.81 GAA, .902 SV%), Brooke Wolejko (5-3-0, 2.45 GAA, .880 SV%) and Grace Harrison (3-1-1, 2.76 GAA, .900 SV%). Harrison earned ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors on Tuesday after earning her first career shutout against then-No. 8/9 Harvard.
 
THE SERIES VS. ST. LAWRENCE
Jess Brown's hat trick propelled the Big Red to a 4-3 win over the Saints on Dec. 4 in Canton, N.Y., pushing Cornell's narrow all-time series advantage to 34-32-6. Last season, the Big Red took the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals from the Saints in two games, 3-1 and 3-2 decisions at Lynah. In the series-deciding game, St. Lawrence jumped out to a two-goal lead before the Big Red netted three unanswered third-period tallies. The Saints have not beaten Cornell since the 2012 ECAC Hockey Championship, when St. Lawrence took a 3-1 victory to seize the league title. The Big Red is 9-0-2 against the Saints since.
 
ABOUT HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH '91
Entering his 11th season directing Cornell women's hockey, Derraugh has brought the program to national prominence. He amassed a 189-112-24 record in his first ten seasons with the Big Red and has led the team to four ECAC Hockey Tournament Championships, four Ivy League Championships and five NCAA tournament appearances, including three trips to the Frozen Four. From 2009-10 to 2013-14, his teams notched five consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in program history.
 
FIRSTS (AND THIRDS)
In an eight-goal weekend against Yale and Brown, several Cornellians notched career marks. Freshman Lenka Serdar scored her first career goal in the first period against Brown, while classmates Pippy Gerace (2-1–3) and Micah Hart (0-3–3) set career highs for points against Yale. The win over the Bulldogs was also Gerace's first career multi-goal game. Fellow freshman Christian Higham posted her first multi-assist game against Yale with two helpers. In addition, senior Jess Brown recorded her third career hat trick, and second of the season, against Yale.
 
HOT STREAKS
Sophomore Erin O'Connor (0-5–5), junior Hanna Bunton (2-3–5) and senior Jess Brown (3-3–6) all come into the weekend on four-game point streaks. Bunton boasts the team's longest streak of the season thus far, a five-game span from Nov. 7 to Nov. 21.
 
AT THE HART OF IT
Freshman Micah Hart has 14 points (1-13–14) in her past 11 games and ranks 11^th nationally among rookies in points per game with 0.78 and 13^th among defenseman. The Big Red is 6-0-1 when Hart records an assist.
 
MAN DOWN
Junior Kaitlin Doering scored a shorthanded goal in back-to-back games, netting her first career man-down goal on Jan. 9 at Dartmouth before adding another on Jan. 12 at Colgate. The last Cornell women's hockey player to score a shorthanded goal in consecutive games was Rebecca Johnston on Jan. 21 and 22, 2011, both against Colgate.
 
TURNING THE CORNER
After going 1-4-1 through its first six games of the season, culminating with a 3-1 loss at Quinnipiac on Nov. 7, the Big Red has improved drastically in offensive production. Through the first six games, Cornell averaged just 1.17 goals per game and zero percent efficiency on the power play. Since Nov. 7, beginning with a 5-2 win over Syracuse, the Big Red has averaged 3.31 goals per game and a power play efficiency of 27.1 percent. Over the 13-game span, Cornell has scored at least three goals on nine occasions and has netted 13 power play goals.
 
HATS OFF
*Senior Jess Brown has a pair of hat tricks on the season, scoring three in Cornell's 4-3 win at St. Lawrence on Dec. 4 and in the team's 6-4 win over Yale on Jan. 15. Brown now has three career hat tricks.
*Junior Hanna Bunton notched her first career hat trick, part of a four-point outing, in the Big Red's 6-1 rout of Mercyhurst on Nov. 21. The final of her three goals on the afternoon was her eighth of the season, a career high just 10 games into the year.

NATIONS CUP
Senior captain Cassandra Poudrier, junior Hanna Bunton and freshman Micah Hart won gold with the Canadian Women's National Development Team in the 2016 Nations Cup in Germany in early January, as Canada defeated Finland, 4-3, in overtime. Poudrier, who was serving as one of Canada's assistant captains, assisted on the team's first goal in a 4-2 preliminary-round win over Russia to earn Canada a spot in the gold medal game after the team beat Sweden, 2-1.

WINDJAMMER WINNERS
The Big Red won the Windjammer Classic hosted by Vermont the weekend of Nov. 28-29, beating Boston University, 4-2, and Vermont, 4-0, for the team's first weekend sweep of the season. Senior captain Cassandra Poudrier was named the tournament MVP and earned All-Tournament honors after a five-point weekend. Forwards freshman Pippy Gerace and senior Taylor Woods and freshman goaltender Marlene Boissonnault were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
WEEKLY HONORS
Poudrier was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week and Gerace earned Rookie of the Week honors the week of Nov. 30 for their performances in the Windjammer Classic. Poudrier posted two goals and three assists in the tournament while Gerace added two goals, including the game-winner against Boston University, and an assist.
 
BEATING THE UNBEATEN
Cornell's thrilling 2-1 win over then-No. 10/10 Princeton was the Tigers' first loss of the season, after going 4-0-0 in their first four games. Princeton was the last team in ECAC Hockey to surrender an unbeaten, untied record.
 
SHUTOUT STREAK SNAPPERS (x3)
*Taylor Woods' first goal at Princeton snapped Tigers goalie Alysia Dasilva's shutout streak of 118 minutes, 44 seconds.
*Junior Hanna Bunton scored the Big Red's first goal of the season 4:50 into the third period on Oct. 24 against No. 2/2 Boston College, marking the first time BC goaltender Katie Burt had let a puck past her in over 150 minutes of play.
*Quinnipiac goaltender junior Sydney Rossman hadn't surrendered a goal in 81:28 when Bunton netted the first goal of the game at 12:29 of the first period on Nov. 7, an eventual 3-1 Bobcats victory.

RECORDS WATCH
*With her first goal of the game at Mercyhurst on Nov. 21, junior Hanna Bunton moved into a tie for No. 17 on the Cornell all-time list for game-winning goals with seven. Senior Taylor Woods is currently tied for the No. 23 spot with six. Bunton is two game-winners away from being tied for tenth.
*Woods is tied for 12th all-time with 12 career power-play goals. She is three power-play goals away from knocking Jeri Maerz out of 10th.
*Woods' short-handed goal against Princeton tied her for 10th all-time with three man-down tallies.
*Bunton and Kaitlin Doering are tied for 12th all-time with two short-handed goals.
*Woods is now tied with Liz Zorn for 11^th all-time for shots on goal with 317. She needs 17 shots to surpass Lauriane Rougeau in 10^th with 333. Woods was also No. 13 for shots per game with 2.69 entering her senior season.
*With eight shots on goal against Yale and Brown on Jan. 15-16, Bunton jumped over teammate Cassandra Poudrier into 15^th with 240.
*Cassandra Poudrier is right behind Bunton in 16^th with 239 shots on goal. She is just 18 shots away from overtaking Alyssa Gagliardi in 14th.
*Junior Paula Voorheis sits at No. 6 for most career wins in program history with 29.
*With her blanking of Vermont, Voorheis is now tied for seventh with six shutouts.
*Voorheis moved into the No. 11 spot for saves with 30 saves against Rensselaer on Oct. 30. She now has 1395.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red hits the road once again, travelling to the capital region to face Union and Rensselaer for games on Jan. 29 and 30. Cornell took both teams to overtime in October, tying Union and falling to RPI in the extra frame.