Cornell University Athletics

At Cornell
Sawada, who served as a co-captain during his senior season, closed out his career with an outstanding display of offensive ability, scoring at least one point in 10 of his final 13 games. He started off the season slowly, collecting just two points during the 2007 portion of the schedule, tallying a goal at Dartmouth on Nov. 17 and an assist at Brown a week earlier. He snapped out of his scoring slump in the second half of the season, collecting 24 of his 26 points in the final three months of the season. Sawada broke through with a four-point weekend, all on assists, in the Big Red's weekend sweep over Niagara on Jan. 4-5, with three of those assists coming in game two, a 4-3 Big Red win. He had another three-point game on March 9 in the decisive game three of the ECAC Hockey First Round series win over Dartmouth. In that series, he struck for seven points on five goals and two assists after entering post-season play with just four goals on the season. He scored 26 points on the year, a career-best, with 10 goals and 16 assists. The 10 goals tie his career high, set as a junior, while the 16 assists are a career-best for a season. He played in every Cornell game over his four-year career, with his 137 career games one shy of the school mark set by Jeremy Downs from 2001-05. Sawada further established himself as an offensive force during his junior season, when he posted a career-best 21 points on 10 goals and 11 assists. He scored three game-winning goals to lead the team, and tallied his first short-handed goal at Yale on Nov. 4. He has never missed a game in his Cornell career, appearing in 101 contests through the first three seasons. Sawada was a key contributor on the Cornell power play, notching four extra-man tallies on the season. He had a career game in the final regular-season game at Lynah Rink against Princeton, collecting two goals and two assists in the 8-4 win. Sawada had his first three-point game against New Hampshire in the semifinals of the Florida College Classic, scoring two goals and an assist to help Cornell into the championship game. He had a string of five straight games with at least a point from Thanksgiving to New Years, tallying eight points over that span. Sawada emerged as both a physical presence and a scoring threat during his sophomore season in 2005-06, when he scored 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists. Sawada had a pair of multi-point games during his sophomore season, picking up a pair of assists in the Jan. 20 win over St. Lawrence and scoring two goals against Colgate on Feb. 3. Sawada also scored three goals with a man advantage during the season. Sawada entered Cornell as a celebrated player, having been drafted in the second round of the NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars in 2004. He scored three points in his first five games, including his first career goal against Brown on Nov. 6. He demonstrated an ability to be physical in his rookie campaign, dishing out some of the hardest hits by any Big Red player. One of his biggest points came when he fed Topher Scott from the left wing for the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the ECACHL quarterfinal series against Clarkson.

Before Cornell
A three-sport athlete, Sawada played hockey and basketball and participated in the decathlon, pole vault and javelin on the track and field team. He earned a spot on the 2004 BCHL All-Star team and was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the second round of the 2004 NHL Draft. Sawada holds a pole vault school record at Vancouver College HS. He earned the academic award in basketball from 1998-2003 and was named Lower Mainland Defensive MVP in basketball in 2003.

Personal
Raymond Masao Sawada is the son of Jack and Regina Sawada and has a twin brother. He is majoring in human biology, health and society in Cornell's College of Human Ecology.