ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's ice hockey team heads to Boston for an NCAA quarterfinal round matchup with third-seeded Northeastern. The winner will advance to the Frozen Four, in Hamden, Connecticut, where it will take on the victor of second-seeded Minnesota and Princeton in the national semifinal on March 22.
 

NCAA QUARTERFINAL

#6 Cornell at #3 Northeastern 
GAME: 1 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2019
PLACE: Matthews Arena • Boston, Mass.
RECORDS: Cornell 23-5-6, 17-3-2 ECAC Hockey
                    Northeastern 27-5-5, 21-3-3 Hockey East
VIDEO: NCAA.com
LIVE STATS: NCAA.com
TICKETS: Tickets.GoNU.com
NOTES: Cornell | Northeastern 

*Numbers reflect each team's seeding in the NCAA Tournament
 

ABOUT THE BIG RED

• Cornell enters the matchup with an overall record of 23-5-6 and finished the regular season with a mark of 17-3-2 in ECAC Hockey play. Cornell claimed the ECAC Hockey regular season title, its first since 2013.
• As a team, the Big Red is averaging 3.26 goals, which ranks eighth in the nation, while holding its opponents to 1.68 goals per game, which ranks second.
• The Big Red is 5-3 against ranked opponents this season and owns a record of 9-2-6 on the road.
• For the eighth time in last 10 seasons the Big Red advanced to the ECAC Hockey title game. In the span, the Big Red has posted a record of 4-4 in the championship game.
• This marks the program's seventh trip to the NCAA tournament. Cornell made it each year from 2010-14 and again in 2017.

  

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS!

• The Big Red captured its first ECAC Hockey regular season title since 2013.
• Cornell finished with a total of 36 points in the standings, which was three more than Colgate, Clarkson and Princeton.
• 36 league points is also the most for the program since 2013, when it had 37.
• With two weeks left in the regular season, the Big Red was tied for second in the conference standings with Clarkson, three points behind then-leader Princeton. The Big Red won out to collect eight more points, while Princeton went 1-3 and Clarkson went 2-1-1.

 

IN THE POLLS

• The Big Red dropped a spot to No. 6 in the nation in both the USCHO.com Women's Division I Poll and the USA Today USA Hockey Magazine Division I Poll this week.
• In the USCHO.com poll, Cornell received 81 points, which was 21 more than seventh-ranked Princeton and five fewer than fifth-ranked Clarkson.
• In the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, Cornell received 96 votes, which was 20 more than seventh-ranked Princeton and 17 fewer than fifth-ranked Boston College.

 

ABOUT NORTHEASTERN

• The Huskies enter Saturday's matchup as the tournament's third overall seed with a record of 27-5-5 and are 15-2 at home this season. This marks their third NCAA tournament appearance and their first time earning the right to host.
• After checking in at No. 8 in both preseason polls, the Huskies worked their way up the national ranking to the No. 3 spot by the Dec. 3-4 releases and have held it since.
• The Huskies average 3.49 goals, which ranks sixth in the nation, while they surrender an average of 1.95 which ranks seventh.
• Led by freshman forward Alina Mueller with 51 points (21g, 30a), the Huskies have five members with 30 or more points this season: Kasidy Anderson (21g, 15a), Skylar Fontaine (11g, 24a), Veronika Pettey (17g, 16a) and Chloé Aurard (12g, 19a). Mueller ranks second in the nation in points amongst freshmen, trailing only Princeton's Sarah Fillier, who has 55.
• In net the Huskies have turned to Aerin Frankel for much of the season. The sophomore netminder, who was tabbed the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year, owns a goals against average of 1.77 and a .934 save percentage.

 

THE SERIES WITH NORTHEASTERN

• Northeastern leads the all-time series 28-11-1, but the two schools have only clashed twice since 2002. The teams met every year from 1988-2002.
• The Big Red and Huskies last met in 2013 at Matthews Arena with the Cornell winning, 4-2. Cornell twice erased one-goal deficits and scored the final three goals to win the game.

 

NCAA QUARTERFINALS HISTORY

• This marks the Big Red's seventh appearance in the NCAA quarterfinal. The Big Red is 3-3 overall in the opening round.
• It won its first three appearances in 2010 (Mercyhurst, 3-2 OT), 2011 (Dartmouth, 7-1) and 2012 (Boston University, 8-7 3OT). Cornell has lost its last three appearances in 2013 (Mercyhurst, 4-3 OT), 2014 (Mercyhurst, 3-2) and in 2017 (Clarkson, 3-1).
• The Big Red is 1-0 all-time against the Hockey East in the quarterfinal round.
• Four of its six quarterfinal contests have been decided by a goal with three having gone to overtime.

 

ALL-ECAC HOCKEY HONORS

• In addition to Doug Derraugh being named the ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year and Jaime Bourbonnais tabbed the league's best defenseman, three members were listed to the all-ECAC Hockey teams.
• Bourbonnais earned a spot on the first team for the first time in her career. Kristin O'Neill was named to the second team and Micah Zandee-Hart was tabbed to the third team.
• All three have garnered ECAC Hockey recognition the three years they have been members of the team.

 

ALL-IVY HONORS

• Five members of the Big Red were recognized to the All-Ivy teams and Doug Derraugh was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year.
• Kristin O'Neill and Jaime Bourbonnais were named to the first team. Bourbonnais was one of two unanimously voted to the first team.
• Maddie Mills, Micah Zandee-Hart and Marlène Boissonnault made up the Big Red members of the second team.

 

LAST TIME OUT

• Cornell fell to Clarkson 4-1 in the ECAC Hockey title game. After falling behind 2-0, Maddie Mills found the back of the net to make it a one-goal game. But Clarkson responded near the midway point of the third to go back ahead two goals before netting an empty-netter.
• Following the conclusion of the championship game, Micah Zandee-Hart and Maddie Mills were named to the all-tournament team.
• The Big Red worked its way back from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat Princeton 3-2 in the semifinal game. Micah Zandee-Hart netted the game winner just over a minute into double overtime.
• Gillis Frechette was the first member of the Big Red to find the back of the net with a goal in the second period. Then Maddie Mills tied the game up at two with a wrap-around goal in the third.

 

KEEPING IT 100

• Junior captain Kristin O'Neill eclipsed the 100 career-point mark two weekends ago against Rensselaer. In Big Red history, 23 players have reached the century mark, with 10 of them coming in the NCAA era (2001-present).
• This season, O'Neill has the fifth highest mark in Division I hockey with an average of .71 goals per game.
• Six of her tallies have been game-winners, which ranks tied for third in the nation.

   

 PENALTY KILLERS

• Since Jan. 12, Cornell's penalty kill unit has been the best in the nation.
• The Big Red has killed 58 of the 62 penalties it has faced, which equates to a percentage of .935. The second best team during the span is RIT, which owns a percentage of .927.
• On the season, Cornell ranks fifth in the nation in penalty kill percentage with a percentage of .875.
• Prior to Jan. 12, the Big Red ranked 32nd in the nation in penalty kill percentage with a mark of .810.

 

THE FRESHY, FRECHETTE

• Freshman forward Gillis Frechette has registered nine points in the Big Red's last nine games, after recording three in Cornell's first 25. During the stretch she's netted a total of six goals and has added three assists.
• Frechette netted her first career goal on Feb. 15 against Brown on a redirect in front of the net. 
• In game three against Rensselaer, the Weston, Massachusetts, native scored two goals for the first time in her career in scored her first career game-winner.

 

MILLS, A POINT FACTORY

• Sophomore forward Maddie Mills leads the team with 39 points (18g, 21a) on the season.
• Mills owns three point-streaks of five or more games this season.
• Mills has now reached the three-point barrier five times this season with the most recent coming against Brown on Feb. 15 when she registered two goals and an assist. The Sewickly, Pennsylvania, recorded her first career hat trick against Harvard on Jan. 19.

  

HAVE A DAY, BOURBONNAIS

• Junior defenseman Jaime Bourbonnais averages the second most points per game in the nation (.97) by a defenseman trailing only Boston College's Megan Keller. Additionally, she has the fourth highest assists per game average (.67) and goal per game average (.30) of any defenseman in the nation.
• Her top performance of the season came against Robert Morris, when she had a career-high three points (1g, 2a).
• The Mississauga, Ontario, native became the sixth defenseman in the program's Division I history against Rensselaer on Feb. 22 to reach 50 career assists.
• With 69 career points, she ranks sixth in Cornell's Division I history in points by a defensemen. Bourbonnais is five shy of tying Cassandra Poudrier for the fifth place all-time.

 

LIKE A BOSS

• Senior goaltender Marlène Boissonnault moved into second place on the program's all-time wins list with 55. With the win over Rensselaer on March 1, Bossionnault passed Amanda Mazzotta (53) for second place all-time.
• She posted her 13th career shutout against Harvard on Jan. 19, which passed Kathryn LoPresti (1985-88) for the third most in program history. Since then, she's added two more shutouts with the most recent one coming against Yale on Feb. 16.
• This season, the Dundee, New Brunswick, native owns a record of 19-4-4 and has recorded six shutouts.
• Boissonnault ranks atop ECAC Hockey with a goals against average of 1.66. Her .778 win percentage is also the second highest in the league amongst goaltenders.

 

ABOUT HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH '91

• Now in his 14th season directing the Cornell women's hockey program in 2018-19, Doug Derraugh has brought the Big Red women to their place among the nation's elite.
• Derraugh has an overall record of 264-149-42 as the head coach of the Big Red, with his 250th win coming in the form of a 4-0 win over No. 9/9 St. Lawrence on Nov. 30.
• Cornell has made the ECAC Hockey Tournament each of the last 12 seasons, has won the tournament four of the last 10 years and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in seven of those seasons.
• The 2019 ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year 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.

 

BIG RED REWIND

• Cornell finished the 2017-18 season with an overall record of 21-9-3 and seventh in both of the major Division I polls.
• For the eighth time in the last nine years the Big Red advanced to the ECAC Hockey Semifinals, where it lost to the eventual national runner-up Colgate on a last second goal.
• Kristin O'Neill and freshman standout Maddie Mills led the team's offensive attack. O'Neill led the team in points (41), goals (20) and assists (21). Mills, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season, was close behind with 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists.
• Of the four players who earned all-ECAC Hockey honors last season three are returning to the squad. O'Neill earned team honors, while Maddie Mills was tabbed to the all-rookie team. Defensemen Jaime Bourbonnais and Sarah Knee earned second and third team accolades, respectively.
• Bourbonnais who returns to squad this year led all defensmen in points on the team with 24. The then sophomore was tied for the team lead for assist with O'Neill with 21 and recorded three goals on the season.
• In net, Marlène Boissonnault was the main goaltender, starting 31 of the of the Big Red's 33 games. The Dundee, New Brunswick, native posted a goals against average of 1.76 paired along with a .924 save percentage. Boissonnault finished the season with two shutouts and an overall record of 21-7-3.

 

O CANADA

• Eight Cornellians led Canada to a second place finish in the 4 Nations Cup from Nov. 6-10 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
• Current members Micah Zandee-Hart, Kristin O'Neill and  Jaime Bourbonnais earned a spot on the roster as well as women's hockey alumnae Laura Fortino, Johnston, Brianne Jenner and Jillian Saulnier. Head Coach Doug Derraugh will serve as an assistant coach. 
• The roster was narrowed down from the 59 players invited to the national women's team Fall Festival back in September, which had a total of 10 Cornellians in attendance: Zandee-Hart, Kristin O'Neill, Bourbonnais, Johnston, Jenner, Lauriane Rougeau, Fortino and Jillian Saulnier were evaluated. Derraugh served as coach while former Big Red goaltender Amanda Mazzotta served as a goaltending consultant.
• On March 6, Bourbonnais, Zandee-Hart, Fortino, Jenner, Johnston and Saulnier were named to the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship, taking place April 4-14 in Espoo, Finland.

 

EIGHT-GOAL BARRAGE

• For the first time in its Division I history, the Big Red had eight different goal scorers in a contest on Feb. 22 against Rensselaer.
• The goal-scorers for the Big Red on the evening were Kristin O'Neill, Micah Zandee-Hart, Pippy Gerace, Amy Curlew, Jaime Bourbonnais, Grace Graham, Lenka Serdar and Gillis Frechette.
• Eight goals was also the most for the Big Red in a game since Jan. 20, 2015 when it beat Union, 8-2.

 

TWO C's

• Micah Zandee-Hart and Kristin O'Neill are donning Cs on their jerseys this season, as Derraugh announced the tandem as team captains.
• Zandee-Hart spent last year with Hockey Canada and is rejoining the Big Red for the 2018-19 season. In 2016-17, the Saanichton, British Columbia, native earned both first team all-ECAC Hockey and all-Ivy League honors and was just the second sophomore captain in school history.
• In 2017-18, O'Neill led Cornell in goals (20), assists (21), points (41) and plus/minus (+26). The Oakville, Ontario, native was tabbed the Ivy League Player of the Year and earned first team all-ECAC Hockey and all-Ivy honors.

  

PRESEASON BLING

• Kristin O'Neill and Jaime Bourbonnais were tabbed to the preseason all-league squad back in September.
• O'Neill led the team in goals (20), assists (21), points (41) and plus/minus (26) last season. A first team all-league selection, O'Neill ranked fourth in the conference in goals per game, averaging 0.65. In addition to being the ECAC Hockey Player of the Month last November, she also was twice named the league's player of the week.
• Bourbonnais was a second team all-league selection last season. She led all defensemen on the team with 24 points on three goals and 21 assists. Additionally, she led all defensemen in the league in assists per game, averaging 0.68

 

PRESEASON PROJECTIONS

• Cornell was picked to finished third in the ECAC Hockey Preseason Poll, the league office announced in September.
• The Big Red received 101 points in the poll, which was 18 more Princeton, which was picked to finish fourth, and eight fewer than Colgate, which was picked to finish second.
• Cornell finished last season ranked third in the conference with a league mark of 15-5-2.

 

THE ROOKS

• Six new members were added to Cornell women's hockey team.  The group includes three forwards, two defensemen and a goalkeeper.
• Sam Burke, Gillis Frechette, Bella Kang, Kaity McKenzie, Taylor Pietrowski and Athena Song are the six new additions.

 

BORDER BATTLE

• Out of the 23 players on the roster, 15 are from the United States while eight call Canada home.
• The Americans have representatives from the Northeast region (8), Midwest (5), South (1) and West (1).
• The Canadians on the roster come from four different providences: Ontario (3), New Brunswick (2), Saskatchewan (1), Newfoundland and Labrador (1) and British Columbia (1).

 

47 YEARS OF BIG RED HOCKEY

• With the start of the 2018-19 season, the women's hockey program is embarking on its 47th season of intercollegiate play and currently holds an all-time record of 601-511-76.
• Cornell, which began play with the 1972-73 season, is the second-oldest Division I women's program in the country still in existence. Brown began play in 1967-68.