Team Notes: No. 3 Cornell Faces Challenges at No. 9 Harvard, No. 10 Dartmouth

ITHACA, N.Y. – After taking a trip to Syracuse in the middle of the week, No. 3 Cornell is in for what could be its toughest road weekend the rest of the year as it visits No. 9 Harvard and No. 10 Dartmouth on back-to-back days.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #19: No. 3 Cornell at No. 9 Harvard
GAME TIME: Friday, Jan. 20, 7 p.m.
GAME SITE: Bright Hockey Center (Cambridge, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Harvard leads 50-22-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 5-3 on Nov. 12, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (16-2, 11-1 ECAC Hockey); Harvard (11-5-1, 8-3-1 ECAC Hockey)
LIVE STATS: Harvard Athletics
LIVE AUDIO: Redcast
LIVE VIDEO:  Harvard Athletics (subscription required)

GAME 20: No. 3 Cornell vs. No. 10 Dartmouth
GAME TIME: Saturday, Jan. 21, 4 p.m.
GAME SITE: Thompson Arena (Hanover, N.H.)
SERIES RECORD: Dartmouth leads 41-25-6
LAST MEETING: Dartmouth won 5-4 on Nov. 11, 2011
2011-12 RECORDS: Cornell (16-2, 11-1 ECAC Hockey); Dartmouth (11-5-2, 7-3-2 ECAC Hockey)*
LIVE STATS: Dartmouth Athletics
E AUDIO: Redcast
LIVE VIDEO:  Dartmouth Athletics
*Records before games on Jan. 20

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Winter break lasted more than a month for the Big Red, but the team has emerged in 2012 with six consecutive wins, three shutouts and just five goals allowed. After a weekend sweep at Union and Rensselaer to start the month, Cornell knocked off Colgate midweek and then took care of Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend. A midweek victory at Syracuse made it six in a row. Lauren Slebodnick is on fire in net, improving her record to 8-0 with three shutouts, Amanda Mazzotta earned a shutout in her first appearance of the calendar year, and the Big Red offense continues to lead the country in goals per game (5.28).

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now in his seventh season directing the Cornell women's hockey program, Doug Derraugh has quickly brought the Big Red women to their place among the nation's elite. Taking a program that won just four games in the season prior to his arrival, Derraugh guided the Big Red to the national title game in his fifth season and back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2010 and 2011, completely turning around the culture of the women's hockey program at Cornell. Derraugh, a 1991 graduate of Cornell, was the last Big Red men's hockey player to score 30 goals in a season. He earned the 100th win in his career at Union on Jan. 6.

ABOUT HARVARD
The Crimson, based in Cambridge, Mass., enters the weekend on a two-game winning streak. Harvard defeated Union and Rensselaer last weekend, coming back from a 3-0 deficit against the Engineers to win 5-3. Harvard, now at No. 9 in the USCHO.com national poll, lost back-to-back games against No. 2 Minnesota. Jillian Dempsey leads all Crimson players with 22 points on 11 goals and 11 assists. Goalkeeper Laura Bellamy has played every minute of every game and has a 2.05 goals against average.
The Crimson is coached by Katey Stone, who is in her 18th year of leading Harvard after graduating from New Hampshire in 1989.

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
Though Harvard has a large advantage in the teams' history, the Big Red have owned recent meetings. Harvard's last victory against Cornell came at the end of the 2008-09 season, and Cornell now holds a five-game winning streak in the series. When the teams last met in November, Cornell won 5-3 at Lynah Rink on the strength of two goals from Jillian Saulnier as well as goals from Catherine White, Chelsea Karpenko and Emily Fulton.

A WIN AGAINST HARVARD WOULD…
…extend the team's winning streak against the Crimson to five games…put Cornell in first place in the Ivy League standings…give the Big Red its seventh consecutive victory…be Cornell's 16th straight win in the month of January dating back to Jan. 7, 2011…keep the Big Red atop the ECAC Hockey standings...sweep the regular season series from the Crimson.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green, based in Hanover, N.H., are on a seven-game unbeaten record coming into the weekend. Dartmouth has won its last three games, tied a game at Princeton and won three games before that. Most recently, Dartmouth knocked off Rensselaer and Union. The Big Green also defeated Providence at Fenway Park in Boston last Tuesday. Camille Dumais is the team's leading scorer, notching nine goals and 13 assists. Top goalie Lindsay Holdcroft has a 2.06 goals against average.
The Big Green is coached by Mark Hudak, a 1989 graduate of Army, who is now in his eighth year with the team.

THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
Like Harvard, Dartmouth has a decent-sized advantage over Cornell historically, and the Big Green increased that gap with a 5-4 victory in Ithaca on Nov. 11. During that game – Cornell's only ECAC Hockey loss this season – the Big Red was missing four players because of the 4 Nations Cup in Sweden. Leading scorer Brianne Jenner, third-leading scorer Rebecca Johnston and top defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau will all be present for this weekend's game. In the Nov. 11 contest, Dartmouth held a 3-1 before Cornell fought back to tie the game at 3-3 and 4-4. Ali Winkel scored the fifth goal for the Big Green, completing her hat trick and getting her school the victory.

A WIN AGAINST DARTMOUTH WOULD…
…be the Big Red's third win against Dartmouth in the team's last four meetings...split the regular-season series with the Big Green.

PROFESSIONAL KILLERS
The Big Red went into its game against Syracuse on a streak of having killed 22 consecutive penalties. Cornell increased that number to 26 before the Orange scored a power play goal. Since Jan. 6, the Big Red has moved its penalty killing from 82.8 percent and 22nd in the country to 87.0 percent and seventh in the country.

SUCCESSFUL HOMECOMING
Last Tuesday's win against Colgate was the Big Red's first game in Lynah Rink since the weekend after Thanksgiving when it swept then-No. 5 Boston University by a combined 10-2 margin. With the 3-0 victory against the Raiders followed by two more victories last weekend at home, Cornell improved to 9-1 in Ithaca this season. Cornell is also now 7-1 on the road.

MEAN STREAK
Sophomore forward Brianne Jenner has played in 16 games this season and has earned a point in a stellar 15 of them. She leads the team with 24 assists and 33 total points and is currently on an 11-game point-scoring streak. She also is averaging more than one assist per game (1.04) over her career.

MAKING A POINT
Six current members of the Cornell roster are averaging more than a point per game over their career. Freshman Jillian Saulnier, with the smallest sample size, has a points-per-game average of 2.00. Brianne Jenner (1.69), Rebecca Johnston (1.57), Catherine White (1.36), Laura Fortino (1.16) and Chelsea Karpenko (1.05) are also on that list.

AWARD WINNERS
Since the beginning of this season, Cornell's players have been awarded with ECAC Hockey weekly honors eight times, more than any other team in the league. Discounting the first three weeks of the year – during which only the six ECAC Hockey teams not in the Ivy League were playing games – no team has more than five weekly awards.

Most recently, goalie Lauren Slebodnick was named ECAC Hockey's Goaltender of the week. Freshman Jillian Saulnier won Rookie of the Week twice, while freshmen Emily Fulton and Monika Leck each won that honor once. Senior Kendice Ogilvie and sophomore Brianne Jenner have earned Player of the Week honors, while Amanda Mazzotta took home Goaltender of the Week once.

OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 15 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 10-5 record. The team won two games against then-No. 5 Boston University in November and took one of two from then-No. 6 Mercyhurst in December. The Big Red also topped then-No. 10 Harvard in November. Both of Cornell's opponents this weekend are ranked.

NATIONAL PRIDE
Cornell saw six players participate in the Meco Cup in Germany in the first week of the year, playing for Canada's under-22 national team. All five Cornell skaters scored at least one point in the five-game tournament. Jillian Saulnier led the way with two goals and four assists, while Catherine White and Jessica Campbell notched three points each. Chelsea Karpenko had a goal and an assist, Hayleigh Cudmore earned an assist, and goalie Amanda Mazzotta got two wins and a shutout. Canada won the bronze.

NATIONAL POLLS
The Big Red are holding steady at No. 3 in this week's USCHO.com national poll but picked up two more first-place votes and now have four. The Big Red is just one point behind second-place Minnesota and 13 points back of No. 1 Wisconsin.

LOFTY NUMBERS
Forward Brianne Jenner currently sits at fifth in the nation in points per game (2.06), with Rebecca Johnston and Jillian Saulnier not far behind in eighth (2.00). Saulnier is best in points per game among freshmen. Jenner is second in the nation at assists per game (1.50), while Laura Fortino is No. 1 points per game for defensemen (1.25). Goalkeeper Lauren Slebodnick's 1.10 goals against average puts her atop the country, she is third in save percentage (.942) and her 8-0 record has her leading in winning percentage.

As a team, Cornell has the country's best offense (5.28 goals per game) and scoring margin (3.61 goals) to go along with the second-best power play (28.3 percent). Since last week's game against Colgate, the team has jumped from eighth in country to third in scoring defense (1.67 goals per game).

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Red traveled to Syracuse on Tuesday and came away with a hard-fought 6-3 victory. Cornell fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 but fought back each time and put the game away with three third-period goals. Jillian Saulnier had four assists, Rebecca Johnston had two goals and two assists, and Erin Barley-Maloney scored a goal on her birthday.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Syracuse:
• Rebecca Johnston is the fifth-best scorer in Cornell history, passing Amy Stanzin.
• Brianne Jenner got her 50th assist and 80th point.

Approaching career numbers:
• Hayleigh Cudmore needs just one assist to get to 20.
• Alyssa Gagliardi needs two points for her 30th.
• Amanda Mazzotta's next shutout will be her 20th.
• Kendice Ogilvie is one point away from 40 in her career.
• Lauriane Rougeau's next point will be her 80th.
• Amanda Young needs one assist for 40.

UP NEXT
Cornell finishes off its five-game road trip with a journey to St. Lawrence and Clarkson next weekend. The Big Red squares off with the Saints at 7 p.m. on Friday and then visits the Knights on Saturday at 4 p.m.