ITHACA, N.Y. — The #7 women's hockey team will begin its quest for a fifth ECAC Hockey Tournament championship on Friday when the Big Red hosts Colgate in game one of a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink.

This is the 10th consecutive year that Cornell has made the ECAC Hockey Tournament and fourth time in the last five years that Lynah Rink will play host to the quarterfinal round. The teams split the regular season series, with each home team coming away with a 2-1 win after spotting the visitor a 1-0 lead. 

ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals - Game 1
GAME #30: CORNELL BIG RED vs. COLGATE RAIDERS
TIME: 3 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameDay

ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals - Game 2
GAME #31: CORNELL BIG RED vs. COLGATE RAIDERS
TIME: 3 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameDay

ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals - Game 3 (if necessary)
GAME #32: CORNELL BIG RED vs. COLGATE RAIDERS
TIME: 3 p.m.
DATE: Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.

RECORDS: Cornell 17-7-5 (13-4-5 ECAC Hockey), Colgate 22-9-3 (13-8-1 ECAC Hockey)*
 *records do not include Friday or Saturday's results
 
GAME NOTES: Cornell | Colgate

About the Big Red
• On Friday, Cornell overcame a two-goal, third period deficit against #5 St. Lawrence to force overtime  (and earn an eventual 2-2 tie) but dropped another overtime game the next day to #3 Clarkson (5-4).
• The Big Red jumped out to a 3-1 first period lead against the Golden Knights on the strength of three power-play goals. Clarkson went up 4-3 with 5:09 to play but freshman Grace Graham pulled Cornell back just 1:03 later to force the extra time.
• Cornell topped Brown on Feb. 11 (5-1) to clinch the program's first outright Ivy League title since the 2011-12 season.
• Senior Hanna Bunton is Cornell's leading scorer (10-16—26) while freshman Kristin O'Neill leads the team in goals and is second in points (12-12—24).
 • Senior Paula Voorheis has the nation's fifth-best save percentage (.936) and 12th best goals against average (1.80) while sophomore Marlene Boissonnault is fourth overall in goals against average (1.52) and 16th in save percentage (.925) and her 10-1-2 record, which includes an eight-game unbeaten streak, ranks her second in the nation and first in the conference in win percentage (.846). 

About Colgate
• Colgate lost to Clarkson on Friday (5-2) and St. Lawrence on Saturday (3-0), with the loss to Clarkson snapping a six-game win streak. 
• The Raiders finished the ECAC slate in sixth place with a 13-8-1 record, going 2-8-0 against the five teams that finished above them, with the wins coming against Cornell on Nov. 1 (2-1) and St. Lawrence on Jan. 20 (4-3, OT). 
• Colgate's 90.9 percent overall penalty kill rate is the third-best in the country  and its conference rate (89.2) is tops in the league. 
• Jessie Eldridge leads the Raiders in scoring (13-24—37) while Shae Labbe and Bailey Larson are tied for the team lead in goals and sit second (14-16—30) and third (14-12—26), respectively, in scoring. 
• In goal, Julia Vandyk has started 31 of 34 games, going 20-9-2 with a 1.91 goals against average, .924 save percentage and putting up five shutouts. 

The Series with Colgate
• The Big Red and the Raiders split the regular season series, with each home team coming away with a 2-1 win after spotting the visitor a 1-0 lead.  
• When the teams met on Nov. 1, they played two scoreless periods before combining for three goals in the final frame. Kristin O'Neill put Cornell up 1-0 just 27 seconds into the third only to see Lauren Wildfang tie the game with under seven minutes to play and then Cat Quirion scored the game-winner with 1:04 left on the clock. 
• In last month's meeting at Lynah Rink, Colgate's Shelby Perry scored 5:26 into the second but the Big Red used power-play goals – against a then top-ranked Raiders penalty kill unit – from seniors Kaitlin Doering and Hanna Bunton for the 2-1 comeback win.
• Cornell has an all-time series lead of 36-13-4.

About Head Coach Doug Derraugh '91
• Now in his 12th season directing the Cornell women's hockey program in 2016-17, Doug Derraugh amassed a 202-126-28 record in his first 11 seasons as the head coach of the Big Red, with his 200th win coming in the form of a 4-2 win last year against Yale. 
• Cornell has made the ECAC Hockey Tournament each of the last nine seasons, won the tournament four of the last seven years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five of those seasons. 
• 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. 
• He led the team to five consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in program history in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-2014.

We've Been Here Before
• Cornell and Colgate are meeting in the ECAC Hockey playoffs for the third time, with all matchups coming in the quarterfinals. 
• In 2013, top-seeded Cornell hosted the Raiders at Lynah Rink, coming away with a 5-4 win in overtime in the first game and a 3-2 win in the series clinching game. The Big Red then went on to top St. Lawrence (4-2) and Harvard (2-1) to win the ECAC Tournament Championship.
• The squads also collided at Lynah Rink in 2010 - also as #1 and #8 seeds - with the Big Red sweeping the series (2-1, 5-0) before going on to top Rensselaer in the semifinals (5-4) and then Clarkson in overtime of the final (4-3) for the title. 

Best of the Big Red Against Colgate
• Senior Hanna Bunton has tallied five points on two goals and three assists against Colgate in her career.
• Co-captain Kaitlin Doering has potted three goals against the Raiders in her career, including a two-goal outing – with a short-handed goal – in a 4-3 loss on Jan. 12, 2016.
• Junior Erin O'Connor has a goal and two assists against Colgate while senior Sydney Smith, Brianna Veerman and sophomore Lenka Serdar each have one helper.
• Senior Paula Voorheis is 4-2-1 against Colgate over the past four seasons. 

Another Year, Another Trip to the Playoffs
• This is the 10th consecutive year that Cornell has made the ECAC Hockey Tournament and fourth time in the last five years that Lynah Rink will play host to the quarterfinal round.
• The Big Red has four tournament titles (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014). 

The Big Red in the Quarterfinals
• Cornell is 12-14 all-time in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal round since it began in 1993 and 12-12 since the best-of-three format was instituted in 2002.
 • The Big Red swept six-straight quarterfinal series from 2010-15 before being knocked out by Clarkson last season (2-0, 5-2). 

Ivy League Champions
• Cornell clinched the program's 13th Ivy League title with a 5-1 win over Brown on Feb. 11 that secured a 7-0-3 record and 17 Ivy points.
• It's the first title for Cornell since the 2012-13 season, when it shared it with Harvard, and the first outright title since the 2011-12 season.
• Cornell is the first team to finish the Ivy League slate without a loss since 2009-10, when that year's Cornell squad also went 8-0-2 for the title. 

Power-Play Prowess 
• In Saturday's game against Clarkson, Cornell scored three-straight power-play goals in the first period and then finished the game 3-of-7 on the man-advantage. 
• Against Providence on Jan. 7, Cornell's final three goals came on the power-play and the Big Red finished the game 3-of-7 on the man-advantage. 
• The only other game on record in program history in which Cornell scored three-straight power-play goals came last year in a 4-0 win over Vermont and the Big Red went 3-of-7 on the power-play.
• Sophomore Pippy Gerace tallied the third score against both Providence and Vermont.  

Doering Finding the Net
• After notching just three points on one goal and two assists during the first 14 games of the season, co-captain Kaitlin Doering has scored nine goals and assisted on three others in the last 15 contests.
• The senior also scored in four-straight games, which is a career long goal-streak, in those 15 games and her season total of 10 goals is a career high. 
• Doering tied for the national lead in game-winning goals in the month of January with four.
• With a goal and an assist against Syracuse on Jan. 10, Doering earned her fourth career multi-point game and her first in 30 games – something she repeated with a goal and an assist against Union on Feb.3. 

No Such Thing As A Sophomore Slump
• The five members of Cornell's Class of 2019 have all set career-highs this season.
• Forwards Diana Buckley (6-4—10), Pippy Gerace (5-6—11) and Lenka Serdar (2-10—12) have all hit career highs in points while co-captain Micah Hart has recorded five goals compared to just one a year ago and leads all sophomore defensemen in the nation in  power-play goals (5).
• In goal, Marlène Boissonnault is 10-1-2 and has a 1.52 goals against average and a .925 save percentage – after going 5-1-0 and putting up a 3.02 and .882 last year in those categories – and also earned the first and second shutouts of her career.

Freshmen Finesse
• The Big Red has two scores this season for which the goal and two assists are all credited to members of the Class of 2020.
• On Friday against St. Lawrence, Amy Curlew was assisted on her game-tying goal by classmates Kristin O'Neill and Paige Lewis.
• When O'Neill scored her first goal of the game against Quinnipiac on Jan. 14, she was assisted on the goal by Curlew and Jaime Bourbonnais.

Don't Fall Behind the Big Red
• Cornell is 11-1-2 this season when leading after one period and 13-0-2 when leading after two periods.
• The team has scored first in 18 games this season, going 14-2-2 in those contests. 

Brilliant Bourbonnais
• Cornell is 10-0-3 when freshman Jaime Bourbonnais notches a point and 8-0-1 when she has an assist. 
• She has had two multi-point games this season.
• The defenseman is currently tied for third on the team in points with 15 (5-10—15).

The Kids Are Alright
• The Class of 2020, which makes up 37 percent of the roster, has notched 39 percent of Cornell's 189 points this season.
• Of the team's 75 goals, 32 have come from a rookie class that has also put up 73 of the team's 189 points and 41 of the team's 114 assists. 

O'Neill Sets Program Record
• Against St. Lawrence on Jan. 21, freshman Kristin O'Neill set a program record for short-handed goals in a season with four and then added to that with her fifth of the year against Union on Feb. 3.
• O'Neill, who leads the nation in man-down goals, is the first freshman to notch five short-handed goals in a season since Monique Lamoreux recorded five during her 2008-09 freshman season at Minnesota. 

The Tallest of Teams
• The Big Red roster has an average height of 5'6.5", making it the tallest in the NCAA with Lindenwood coming in a close second at 5'6.4".
•  Cornell's two-member junior class has an average height of 5'11.5", making it both the tallest junior class of any team in the NCAA and the tallest class overall as it stands 2.5 inches over the next closest average in Ohio State's junior class.

Paula2K
• With her 21st save of the game on Jan. 21 against St. Lawrence, senior Paula Voorheis became the second goaltender in program history to reach 2,000 career saves.
• Alanna Hayes sits in first place all-time in program history with 2,381.
• Voorheis made a total of 822 saves during the 2014-15 season, which is tops in single-season history, and has made 423 saves this season in her 16 starts. 

Century Club
• A trio of Big Red players eclipsed the 100 career games played mark in the first nine games of the 2016-17 season. 
• Senior Sydney Smith played in her 100th career game on Oct. 22 against Mercyhurst. 
• Senior co-captain Kaitlin Doering skated in her 100th career game on Oct. 29 against Union. 
• Senior forward Hanna Bunton played her 100th career game on Nov. 19 against Princeton. 
• Alyssa Gagliardi '13 holds the all-time record for career games played in program history with 138. 

Weekly Honors
• Micah Hart earned her first career ECAC Hockey Player of the Week award on Feb. 7 after scoring two goals and notching two assists in wins over Union and RPI.
• The co-captain is the first defenseman in the league this season to win the weekly award and the first Cornell sophomore since Brianne Jenner during the 2011-12 season.
• Hanna Bunton was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for Jan. 16 for her heroic two-goal weekend in the Big Red's tie with Princeton and an overtime win over Quinnipiac.
• Bunton scored with 1:02 left on the clock to force overtime against the Tigers on Jan. 13 and then potted a goal just 10 seconds into overtime the next day against the Bobcats.
• The senior also earned the honor for the week of Nov. 14 after she notched her second career hat trick in the 4-0 win over the Bears and then assisted on two goals, including the game-winner, in a 4-2 win over the Bulldogs.

Meet the Captains
• Senior Kaitlin Doering and sophomore Micah Hart will be serving as Cornell's captains for the 2016-17 season. 
• Doering is coming off a 2015-16 season in which she set a career high with 18 points on seven goals and 11 assists. 
• Hart led all Big Red defensemen last year with 18 points on one goal and 17 assists, finished the season with six multi-point outings and was second on the team with 56 blocked shots. 
• Hart is just the fourth sophomore to don a letter in program history and the second to serve as a captain. 

Preseason Honor
• Sophomore defenseman Micah Hart was named to the preseason All-ECAC team. 
• Cornell last had a representative on the preseason all-conference team prior to the 2014-15 season when both Jill Saulnier and Brianne Jenner were selected.

Up Next
• The semifinals and final of the ECAC Hockey Tournament will be held March 4 and 5 at the remaining highest seed.