ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's hockey team announced its return to competition with a 30-game schedule for the 2021-22 season, released today by Doug Derraugh '91, the Everett Family Head Coach of Women's Ice Hockey.

Picking up where it left off, the Big Red opens the season with two non-conference games against Mercyhurst on Oct. 22 and 23 — the same team Cornell was slated to face in the first round of the 2020 NCAA tournament that was ultimately canceled due to the pandemic.

ECAC Hockey gets under way the following weekend when Cornell travels to meet Ivy League opponents Harvard and Dartmouth on Oct. 29 and 30. Cornell will then play host to Yale and Brown Nov. 5 and 6 before a short turnaround brings up a Tuesday night home competition against Syracuse on Nov. 9 at Lynah Rink.

Cornell will make its second road trip of the season just days later, this time to the Capital District to face conference opponents Union on Nov. 12 and Rensselaer on Nov. 13. Two more home games the following weekend close out the fall semester's home slate when the Big Red take on Quinnipiac Nov. 19 before a rematch of the 2020 ECAC Championship game when it clashes with Princeton on Nov. 20.

The Big Red's final road trip of 2021 finds the team in Boston for two games against Northeastern Dec. 4 and 5. It will be the teams' first meetings since a 2019 NCAA quarterfinal game at Matthews Arena that ended in dramatic fashion, when senior Gillis Frechette — a native of nearby Weston, Mass. — scored the winning goal in overtime.

The first competition of 2022 lands Cornell on home ice as it faces Dartmouth and Harvard Jan. 7-8 before another Tuesday game — this one on the road against Penn State Jan. 11.

Cornell's last home events for the month welcome North Country opponents Clarkson and St. Lawrence for Jan. 14-15 bouts.

The next three weekends will be spent on the road with games at Brown (Jan. 21), Yale (Jan. 22), Princeton (Jan. 28), Quinnipiac (Jan. 29) and Colgate (Feb. 4). Roles reverse on Feb. 5 as Colgate travels to Ithaca to open the Big Red's final homestand of the season — a game that will also serve as the opening tilt of Lynah Rink doubleheader that day, preceding the Big Red and Raiders men's teams facing off at 7 p.m.

The Big Red will then end its home schedule with a contest against Penn State Feb. 8, followed by Rensselaer on Feb. 11 and Union Feb. 12.

Cornell concludes the regular-season Feb. 18-19 when the team travels to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

When COVID-19 halted the 2019-20 postseason, Cornell was ranked No. 3 in the nation with a 28-2-3 record with losses coming at the hands of Ohio State and Princeton and draws against Clarkson twice and Union once. During the abrupted season, Cornell outscored opponents 127-31 while averaging 3.8 goals a game.

The Big Red will get its first tune-up of the season on Oct. 15 during the annual Red/White Game at Lynah Rink.