White, Rougeau, Fortino Lead Cornell's All-League Honors

Lauriane Rougeau (l), Catherine White (c) and Laura Fortino

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A trio of Cornell players have been named to the All-ECAC Hockey First Team after guiding the Big Red to its first-ever regular season championship, announced on Wednesday by the league office. Sophomore forward Catherine White and freshmen defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau were each named to the league's top six in voting conducted by the league's coaches.

In addition to the three players garnering first-team honors, sophomore goaltender Amanda Mazzotta was named to the all-league third team for her play this season. Fortino and Rougeau, meanwhile, also earned spots on the all-league rookie team.

White finished third in the league in scoring, tallying seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points, only two points back of league-leading Sarah Parsons of Dartmouth, a second-team all-league selection. White's 24 assists were the most among all players in the league, four ahead of Harvard's Kate Buesser's total of 20. She also tied for first in the league in power-play points (11).

Fortino and Rougeau garnered the two spots on both the first team and the rookie team as defensemen. Fortino was seventh in the league in scoring with 24 points on nine goals and 24 assists, while Rougeau was 14th in the league (7-11--18). Fortino's nine goals ranked her in a tie for 10th in the league, with Rougeau tied for 19th with seven goals. Fortino shared the league lead in power-play points with White and Harvard's Leanna Coskren, with her six power-play goals the most among all players in the league. The duo also finished 1-2 in scoring among defensemen, with Fortino leading all rookies in scoring and Rougeau finishing tied for fourth. The pair also were a key part of the Cornell penalty-killing unit that has only allowed three power play goals all season.

Mazzotta garnered a spot on the third team as goaltender, finishing third in the league in goals-against average (1.16) and fourth in save percentage (.936). She also led the league with 10 shutouts in league play and set a league record for the longest shutout streak in ECAC Hockey history, going 286:54 without allowing a goal, including four straight shutouts.

Cornell, which was picked to finish seventh in the ECAC Hockey preseason poll, won the league's regular season title for the first time in school history. The Big Red has earned the top seed in the league tournament and will open up against eighth-seeded Colgate in a best-of-three series this weekend at Lynah Rink. Cornell and Colgate open the series with a 3:30 p.m. contest on Friday before facing off at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday's decisive game three, if necessary, would also begin at 2 p.m. Admission to all of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal contests is free of charge.

The ECAC Hockey specialty awards will be released daily over the next week. The schedule for those awards follows:

Coach of the Year - Thursday, February 25
Best Defensive Defenseman - Friday, February 26
Best Defensive Forward - Monday, March 1
Rookie of the Year - Tuesday, March 2
Student-Athlete of the Year - Wednesday, March 3
Goaltender of the Year - Wednesday, March 3
Player of the Year - Thursday, March 4