ITHACA, N.Y. - The #4 Cornell women's ice hockey team will open 2020 at home against College Hockey America (CHA) foe, Mercyhurst.
 

Game Information

 
Mercyhurst at #4 Cornell
SITE: Lynah Rink - Ithaca, N.Y.
*RECORD: Cornell 11-1-1, 7-0-1 ECAC Hockey; Mercyhurst 11-5-2, 5-1-0 CHA
SERIES RECORD: Mercyhurst leads, 16-9-5
 
Game One
DATE: Saturday, January 4
TIME: 3:00 PM
STREAM (USA): ESPN+
STREAM (INT'L): Stretch Internet
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets
 
Game Two
DATE: Sunday, January 5
TIME: 1:00 PM
STREAM (USA): ESPN+
STREAM (INT'L): Stretch Internet
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets
 
*records as of Jan. 2
 
Cornell game notes
Mercyhurst game notes
 

How To Watch

• These games are two of 26 out of 29 games on the Big Red's schedule to be broadcast on ESPN+, including all Cornell home games and all ECAC Hockey road games.
• ESPN+ is currently only available to fans in the US for $4.99/month or $49.99/year. (https://plus.espn.com/). 
• A similar international platform is the home for fans outside of the U.S., and will feature both live and archived games with Stretch Internet.

 

About the Big Red

• At the halfway mark of the season, Cornell is ranked fourth in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. The Big Red is 11-1-1 on the season with a 7-0-1 record in ECAC Hockey. Cornell has earned wins against Quinnipiac (twice), #6 Princeton (twice), St. Lawrence, Yale and Brown in ECAC Hockey and the team tied #6 Clarkson. Outside of the conference, the Big Red beat #8 Robert Morris twice, Syracuse and #6 Ohio State. The one loss came on November 29 at #6 Ohio State.
• With 13 games under her belt, senior defender Jaime Bourbonnais leads the team with 19 points on two goals and 17 assists. She has earned a point in all but one game (at St. Lawrence), including three games with three assists. Her longest point streak of the season was six games.
• Junior forward Maddie Mills follows with 16 points on seven goals and nine assists. Mills has had four multi-point games.
• Senior forward Amy Curlew follows in third place with 15 points on eight goals and seven assists. Curlew earned her first career hat trick against Brown (Nov. 16) to close out a five-goal weekend. She is on a seven-game point streak, which is tied for the longest on the team with senior Kristin O'Neill.
• Lindsay Browning became the first goalie in program history to open the season with three shutouts when the team beat Quinnipiac, 1-0. In just 13 games, Browning has 272 saves for a .965 save percentage. The junior goalie has let 10 shots past her and into the net for a .79 goals against average.

 

Work as a Team, Win as a Team

• The Cornell Big Red women's ice hockey team ranks:
  • 1st in the nation in scoring defense (.85 goals per game - 11 in 13 games)
  • 1st in the nation in penalty kills (94.4% - 51/54 penalties killed)
  • 2nd in the nation in scoring margin (3.15 - 4.00 goals for per game, .85 goals against per game)
  • 2nd in the nation in team winning percentage (.885)
  • 2nd in combined special teams (60.0% - 63/105)
  • 3rd in the nation in scoring offense (4.00 goals per game - 52 in 13 games); tied with Northeastern
  • 6th in the nation in power plays (24.1% - 12/51
  • 1st in the ECAC Hockey league in penalty kill percentage (.944)
  • 1st in the ECAC Hockey league in goal against average (.85)
  • 1st in the ECAC Hockey league in goals per game (4.00)
  • 1st in the ECAC Hockey league in winning percentage (.885)
  • 2nd in the ECAC Hockey league in power play percentage (.235)

 

Individuals Ranked Nationally

• Jaime Bourbonnais 
  • 1st in points per game (defenseman) (1.46)
  • 4th in assists per game (1.31); tied with Sarah Fillier (Princeton)
  • 10th in points per game (1.46)
• Lindsay Browning
  • 1st in goals against average (.79)
  • 1st in save percentage (.965)
  • 2nd in shutouts (4); tied with three other goalies
  • 2nd in winning percentage (.885)
• Amy Curlew
  • 5th in power-play goals per game (.31); tied with Arianna Boscia (Saint Michaels')
  • 7th in game-winning goals (3); tied with 22 other people, including Kristin O'Neill
  • 21st in goals per game (.62); tied with Sarah Fillier (Princeton) and Grace Lee (Yale)
  • 37th in points per game (1.15)
• Gillis Frechette
  • 43rd in points per game (1.00); tied with nine other people, including Paige Lewis
  • 47th in goals per game (.46); tied with Charlotte Welch (Yale)
• Grace Graham
  • 8th in short-handed goals per game (.09); tied with four other people
• Paige Lewis
  • 43rd in points per game (1.00); tied with nine other people, including Gillis Frechette
  • 44th in assists per game (.62); tied with three other people including, Willow Slobodzian
• Maddie Mills
  • 29th in assists per game (.69); tied with Claire Dalton (Yale)
  • 31st in points per game (1.23)
  • 32nd in goals per game (.54)
• Kristin O'Neill
  • 7th in game-winning goals (3); tied with 22 other people, including Amy Curlew
  • 9th in goals per game (.73)
  • 27th in points per game (1.27)
• Willow Slobodzian
  • 22nd in points per game (defenseman) (.69); tied with Arianna Boscia (Saint Michael's)
  • 44th in assists per game (.62); tied with three other people including, Paige Lewis
• Micah Zandee-Hart
  • 19th in points per game (defenseman) (.73)

 

Individuals Ranked in the ECAC Hockey League

• Jaime Bourbonnais
  • 1st in assists per game (1.31); tied with Sarah Fillier (Princeton)
  • 3rd in points per game (1.46)
  • 2nd in plus/minus (+17); tied with Willow Slobodzian and Gabrielle David (Clarkson)
• Lindsay Browning
  • 1st in goals against average (.79)
  • 1st in save percentage (.965)
  • 1st in shutouts (4)
  • 1st in win percentage (.885)
• Amy Curlew
  • 1st in power-play goals per game (.31)
  • 4th in game-winning goals per game (.23)
  • 7th in goals per game (.62); tied with Sarah Fillier (Princeton) and Grace Lee (Yale)
  • 13th in points per game (1.15)
  • 23rd in assists per game (.54); tied with Gillis Frechette
• Gillis Frechette
  • 15th in goals per game (.46); tied with Charlotte Welch (Yale)
  • 15th in points per game (1.00); tied with six other people including Paige Lewis
• Grace Graham
  • 3rd in short-handed goals per game (.08); tied with CC Bowlby (Dartmouth) and Claire Thompson (Princeton)
  • 9th in power-play goals per game (.15); tied with three other people including, Maddie Mills
  • 21st in goals per game (.38); tied with three other people including, Paige Lewis
  • 23rd in assists per game (.54); tied with Amy Curlew
• Paige Lewis
  • 8th in game-winning goals per game (.15); tied with three other people
  • 15th in points per game (1.00); tied with six other people, including Gillis Frechette
  • 16th in assists per game (.62); tied with three other people including, Willow Slobodzian
  • 21st in goals per game (.38); tied with three other people, including Grace Graham
• Maddie Mills
  • 9th in power-play goals per game (.15); tied with three other people, including Grace Graham
  • 10th in points per game (1.23)
  • 11th in goals per game (.54)
  • 11th in assists per game (.69); tied with Claire Dalton (Yale)
• Kristin O'Neill
  • 2nd in game-winning goals per game (.27)
  • 4th in goals per game (.73)
  • 7th in points per game (1.27)
  • 22nd in assists per game (.55)
• Willow Slobodzian 
  • 2nd in plus/minus (+17); tied with Jaime Bourbonnais and Gabrielle David (Clarkson)
  • 16th in assists per game (.62); tied with Paige Lewis, Elle Hartje (Yale) and Gabby Billing (Dartmouth)
• Micah Zandee-Hart
  • 7th in power play points per game (.18)
  • 13th in blocks per game (2.00); tied with Lucinda Quigley (Brown)

 

Cornell Career Records

• Kristin O'Neill
  • Ranks 1st in short-handed goals (10)
  • Ranks 2nd in game-winning goals (19) … Needs two more to pass Brianne Jenner (2010-12, 14).
  • Ranks 5th in shots on goal (457) … Needs 40 more to pass Jessica Campbell (2010-13)
  • Ranks 10th in plus/minus (+65) … Needs +4 to pass Jaime Bourbonnais.
  • Needs one more power-play goal to be tied for eighth in PPGs (16) with Laura Fortino (2009-12), Colette Bredin (1996-98) and Digit Degidio (1979-82).
  • Needs four goals to be tied for tenth in goals (68) with Chelsea Karpenko (2008-11)
  • Needs 25 points to be tied for tenth in points (144) with Diane Dillon (1979-82)
• Maddie Mills
  • Ranks 7th in power-play goals (17) … Needs one more to tie Jillian Saulnier (2011-14) for sixth place.
  • Needs one more short-handed goal to be tied for seventh in short-handed goals (4) with Taylor Woods (2012-15), Jessica Campbell (2010-13), Janna Dewar (1994), Linda Campbell (2010-13) and Digit Degidio (1979-82)
  • Needs one more game-winning goal to be tied for tenth, with 10, with Catherine White (2008-11) and Amy Stanzin (1982-85)
• Jaime Bourbonnais
  • Ranks 9th in plus/minus (+68) … Needs +13 to pass Catherine White (2008-11).

 

Cornell Seasonal Records

• Lindsay Browning
  • Ranks 10th in shutouts (4); tied with Alanna Hayes (1996) … Needs one more to be tied for fifth with two other people (five different seasons)
  • Needs four more wins to be tied for 10th in goalie wins in a single season with 15
• Grace Graham
  • Needs one more short-handed goal to enter the top-10 and be tied for seventh with two short-handed goals in a season

 

Last Week of Play in Review

• The Big Red opened its last weekend in 2019 with a 5-1 win over #6 Princeton. Cornell's Grace Graham earned her first career hat trick against the ranked team and Paige Lewis notched three points with one goal and two assists. The Big Red scored five straight goals before the Tigers closed the game with a tally of their own.
• Cornell closed 2019 with a three-goal win at Quinnipiac on December 7. 11 different student athletes earned points against the Bobcats with four goals and seven assists. 

 

About Mercyhurst

• Before opening conference play in the CHA, Mercyhurst played two two-game series against Colgate (Oct. 4-5) and Sacred Heart (Oct. 11-12) for a record of 2-1-1. After finding two victories against Sacred Heart, the Lakers continued to win two games against RIT (Oct. 18-19) and two games against Lindenwood (Nov. 1-2). To close out the first half of the 2019-20 season, Mercyhurst fell to #5 Clarkson twice (Nov. 15-16), beat Union twice (Nov. 29-30), and split the final two weekends of play against Robert Morris (Dec. 6-7) and St. Cloud State (Dec. 13-14). 
• Senior forwards Sam Isbell and Emma Nuutinen lead the team with 22 points each. Nuutinen has notched 11 goals and 11 assists while Isbell has four goals and 18 assists. Nuutinen has earned a point in each of the last five games and Isbell has five multi-point games on the season.
• Junior forward Summer-Rae Dobson follows the seniors with 17 points on nine goals and eight assists. She has four multi-point games so far with her longest point streak lasting four games in October. 
• Junior goalie Kennedy Blair started 17 of 18 games for 976:47 in goal. With 389 saves and 32 goals against, Blair has a .958 save percentage and 1.97 goals against average. She has earned two shutouts against RIT (Oct. 19) and Lindenwood (Nov. 1).

 

The Series vs Mercyhurst

• Mercyhurst leads the all-time series, which dates back to the 2001-02 season, 16-9-5.
• In the first 12 games, the Lakers posted a record of 11-0-1. Since then, the Big Red has had the edge in the series going 9-5-4.
• Cornell's first win in the series came in the 2010 Frozen Four on March 19. Catherine White scored the game-winner 13:14 into overtime to knock off the top-seeded Lakers. The goal gave the Big Red its lone berth to the national championship game.
• The two have met two other times in the postseason, in 2013 and 2014, with Mercyhurst winning both games.
• In the 2018-19 season, both games ended in a tie. On November 10, the game closed at 4-4 while the November 11 game ended without one goal scored.

 

Two Peas in a Pod

• Micah Zandee-Hart and Kristin O'Neill will be serving as the team's captains for the second year.
• Zandee-Hart led the 2018-19 squad with 55 blocks, while also finishing third with 17 assists and sixth with 21 points.
• O'Neill led last year's team with 22 goals while finishing second in points (38) and tying for first in power-play goals (7).

 

Border Battle

• Out of the 28 players on the roster, 17 are from the United States while nine call Canada home. 
• The Americans have representatives from Minnesota (4), Massachusetts (3), California (2), New York (2), Michigan (1), Iowa (1), Illinois (1), Pennsylvania (1), Virginia (1) and Connecticut (1).
• The Canadians on the roster come from five different provinces: Ontario (5), New Brunswick (1), Saskatchewan (1), British Columbia (1) and Newfoundland and Labrador (1).

 

About Head Coach Doug Derraugh

• Now entering his 15th season directing the Cornell women's ice hockey program in 2019-20, Doug Derraugh has brought the Big Red women to their place among the nation's elite.
• Derraugh has a 267-150-42 record in his first 14 seasons as the head coach of the Big Red, with his 200th coming in the form of a 4-2 win against Yale in 2016.
• Cornell has made the ECAC Hockey Tournament each of the last 12 seasons, won the tournament four of the last 10 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in seven of those seasons.
• The 2019 American Hockey Coaches Association National 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. Cornell returned to the NCAA Frozen Four in 2019 after finishing as National Quarter Finalists in 2013, 2014 and 2017.
• 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 2013-14.

 

About Associate Head Coach Edith Racine

• Edith Racine enters her first season as the associate head coach after serving as an assistant coach for 10 years prior. 
• Under her direction, the Big Red has seen vast improvement among its goaltenders. During her time at Lynah, Racine has most notably coached Amanda Mazzota, Lauren Slebodnick, Paula Voorheis and Marlene Boissonnault.
• During her first season with the Big Red, Racine coached Mazzota to finish as the national leader in shutouts (11) in the 2009-10 season, breaking the Cornell single season record for both men's and women's ice hockey. Mazzota was also the national leader for goals against average (1.11) after the close of the 2010-11 season, as well as the runner-up in save percentage. 
• Slebodnick finished her career with the top spot in Cornell history for career wins (68) and sixth-best goals against average in the nation during the 2012-13 season.
• Voorheis was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team in 2013-14. She finished her career after the 2016-17 campaign ranked second all-time in save percentage (.925) and saves (2,238) and third in goals against average (2.14). 
• Most recently, Racine has coached Marlene Boissonnault to national success. Boissonnault finished her senior season (2018-19) ranked second in the nation, and first in the ECAC, in goals against average (1.64). Boissonnault was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week six times in her career (2x in 2018-19 and 4x in 2017-18). She finished the second-winningest goalie in program history with 56 wins. 

 

Up Next

• After opening 2020 at home, the Big Red will travel to Central New York to face Union and Rensselaer on January 10-11. For both games, the puck will drop at 3 p.m.