Karpenko, Young Named to League All-Star Team to Face Team USA

Amanda Young (l) and Chelsea Karpenko

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell sophomores Chelsea Karpenko and Amanda Young have been named to the roster of a team of ECAC Hockey all-stars that will face the U.S. Olympic Team on Jan. 3, 2010, in Hamden, Conn., the league office announced today.

The duo will join 19 other players from around ECAC Hockey to take on Team USA at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn., the home of the Quinnipiac ice hockey program. The game is part of Team USA's Qwest Tour, a 10-game series building up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Karpenko is currently second on the Big Red in scoring with a team-best six goals and six assists for 12 points through the first 14 games of the season. She has tallied four of her six goals on the year on the power play, ranking her tied for 10th in the nation in power-play goals.

Young, meanwhile, has been steady on the young defensive corps for the Big Red, posting a pair of assists but helping to anchor a defense that is allowing just 1.64 goals per game, seventh in the nation. She has also seen extensive time on the Big Red's penalty killing unit that has successfully killed off 44 of 45 opponents' power plays this season for a national-best 97.8 percent conversion rate.

Clarkson, Harvard, Princeton and Rensselaer each lead the way with three players selected to the team, while Colgate, Cornell and Yale each have two players on the roster. Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence and Union all have one representative, while Dartmouth and Brown have no selections due to their teams playing non-conference contests that day. The team will be coached by Princeton's Jeff Kampersal, with Rensselaer head coach John Burke and Yale head coach Hilary Witt serving as assistant coaches.

Team USA has already played a pair of conference all-star teams during the Qwest Tour, scoring a 6-1 victory over the WCHA All-Stars to open the tour at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 25, and defeating the Hockey East All-Stars, 4-0, on Nov. 22 at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. Team USA also played an exhibition against North Dakota on Oct. 10 at the Gardens Arena in Warroad, Minn., scoring an 11-1 victory over the Fighting Sioux in that contest.

Tickets for the ECAC Hockey All-Stars against Team USA are sold out.

The Cornell women wrapped up play for 2009 on Saturday with an 8-4-2 mark and sit tied with Clarkson atop the ECAC Hockey standings with 16 points. The Big Red has gone 7-1-2 in league play this season, including victories over four teams ranked in the top 10 of the country.

Cornell returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010, when it plays host to the first-ever meeting with second-year program Syracuse in a 7 p.m. contest at Lynah Rink.