ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell continues a long road stretch when it travels to the North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence this weekend. These contests will be the team's last until mid-January, so it will be looking to end the winter on a strong note against the Knights and Saints.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell had its toughest conference challenge of the season last weekend, winning in exciting fashion against Dartmouth before falling to Harvard the next day. The Big Red got a goal from Erin Barley-Maloney – her first of the season – against the Big Green to send the game into overtime. Once there, Cornell got the game-winner from Jillian Saulnier on the power play, moving to 7-1 in ECAC Hockey competition. Less than 24 hours later, though, Harvard's defense kept the Big Red to just one goal in 60 minutes, and the Crimson got the game-winning during four-on-four action in the third period. An empty netter made it a 3-1 Crimson victory. Cornell, though, remains atop the league standings and has played two games more than second-place Clarkson and third-place Harvard.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now in his eighth season directing the Cornell women's hockey program, Doug Derraugh has quickly brought the Big Red women to their current 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-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012, 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 his 120th career win at Boston University on Oct. 20 and is seven wins away from the school record for victories as a women's hockey coach (Bill Duthie, 135).

ABOUT CLARKSON
The Knights, based in Potsdam, N.Y., are having an excellent season. Clarkson is currently ranked No. X in the country, has a 12-2 record and is just behind Cornell in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Knights are led on offense by Jaime Lee Rattray, a junior with 13 goals and 12 assists in 14 games. Junior Carly Mercer is also right behind her with 21 total points, and three other Knights players have double-digit points on the season. In goal for Clarkson is Erica Howe, the reigning ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year. She has a 1.31 goals against average in 13 games this season.
Clarkson is led by co-head coaches Matt and Shannon Desrosiers.

THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
The Big Red holds the lifetime advantage against Clarkson, holding a 18-10-2 record all-time versus the Knights. The teams split their series last year with Clarkson winning a wild 5-3 game in Cheel Arena before the Big Red emerged with a 2-1 overtime victory in Lynah. That game-winner, scored by Jillian Saulnier, was followed by the team celebrating its ECAC Hockey regular season championship with the trophy on the ice.

A WIN AGAINST CLARKSON WOULD…
…improve the Big Red's record to 10-2, keeping it on top of the league standings…be the second consecutive win against the Knights…move Cornell to 5-0 on Fridays…be the 94th consecutive game with a goal for Cornell.

ABOUT ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints, from Canton, N.Y., hold a 7-6-1 record overall on the year and a 5-1-0 record in league play. After a bad start to the year that saw the team go 0-5 against very difficult competition, the Saints' record has improved dramatically. They went on a seven-game winning streak following that 0-5 start and are now fourth in the league behind Cornell, Clarkson and Harvard. The defending ECAC Hockey Tournament Champions, St. Lawrence is led on offense this season by Kelly Sabatine's 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists. Amanda Boulier also has 15 assists and 17 points. St. Lawrence has used three goalies this season, but Carmen MacDonald is the overwhelming leader in minutes played. She has a 2.52 goals against average.
St. Lawrence is coached by Chris Wells, now in his fifth year with the team.

THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints and Big Red have already met once this season in a game that resulted in a 5-1 victory for the Big Red. Still, St. Lawrence leads the all-time series 32-26-4. In that game, a non-league contest back in October, Cornell got two goals from Emily Fulton and one each from Anna Zorn, Alyssa Gaglardi and Brianne Jenner, chasing MacDonald from goal after just 16 minutes. The Big Red lost to the Saints in the ECAC Hockey Tournament final last year after beating them twice during the regular season.

A WIN AGAINST ST. LAWRENCE WOULD…
…give Cornell its second consecutive victory in the series…improve Cornell to 5-1 on Saturdays this season.

NATIONAL POLLS
Cornell dropped in the national polls for the first time this season, moving down to No. 3 after losing to Harvard. Clarkson, one of the Big Red's opponents this weekend, moved ahead of Cornell up to No. 2, while Harvard shot up to No. 6. Minnesota remains the country's top team and is undefeated at 16-0.

MECO CUP
Seven Big Red players were named to the Canada Under-22 roster for the Meco Cup in early January. Laura Fortino, Lauriane Rougeau, Hayleigh Cudmore, Cassandra Poudrier, Jillian Saulnier, Brianne Jenner and Jessica Campbell will all be making the trip to Germany to compete for their country.

ROAD STRETCH
After a six-game home streak, Cornell started a seven-game road swing with a 9-2 win at Colgate on Nov. 17. After the Harvard and Dartmouth games last weekend, the Big Red will now play four more games in a row away from before returning to Lynah Rink on Jan. 15.

HOME COOKING
Cornell remains undefeated this season in Lynah Rink and is currently on a seven-game undefeated run in Ithaca dating back to last season's NCAA Tournament win against Boston University. The team's last home defeated was in the ECAC Hockey Tournament final against St. Lawrence in March. Cornell has not lost a regular-season home game since Nov. 11, 2011.

NEW YORK STATE OPPONENTS
Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Big Red has dominated competition against New York State rivals. Holding a combined 40-6-3 record against its seven foes from New York – Clarkson, Colgate, Niagara, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Syracuse and Union, Cornell has a winning percentage of .847 against those teams in the last three plus seasons.

EARLY BIRDS
Before last weekend, the Big Red had yet to play a Friday game at 7 p.m. and a Saturday game at 4 p.m. like a normal ECAC Hockey weekend, mostly due to time conflicts with men's hockey games at Lynah Rink. Cornell played six consecutive games at 3 p.m. and won all of them. This weekend will be the Big Red's second weekend of the year at its normal 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday schedule.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Brianne Jenner, who racked up a career-high six points on Nov. 16 and added three more on Nov. 17 was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Nov. 20. Freshman Taylor Woods, who had five points in those two games against Colgate, was named the league's Rookie of the Week. Jenner is the first Cornell Player of the Week this season while Woods is the second Rookie of the Week (Cassandra Poudrier, Nov. 6).

IVY LEAGUE LEADERS
With victories against Brown, Yale and Princeton, and Dartmouth, Cornell remains near the top of the Ivy League standings. Harvard, with a 4-0 Ivy record, is in first place with eight points and a head-to-head win against the Big Red. Cornell is second, also with eight points, and Dartmouth is in third with six.

MARKERS FOR MADISON
Brianne Jenner is participating in a charity this year for a young girl with brain cancer, Madison Primeau. For every goal Jenner scores, Jenner's sponsors will donate money to a charity to help pay Madison's medical bills. Jenner has eight goals on the year, and her sponsors are now donating a combined $680 to Primeau so far. To sponsor Jenner's charity, e-mail her at bj72@cornell.edu.

NO SHUTOUTS
Cornell scored a goal in every game last year, something only it can say. Cornell was also the only team playing a full Division I schedule to not have a tie last year. The Big Red's streak of scoring at least one goal in a game is now 93 games long, dating back all the way to a 0-0 tie against Quinnipiac on Feb. 5, 2010.

REPRESENTING HER COUNTRY
Brianne Jenner missed the Princeton and Quinnipiac games last month as she competed with the Canadian National Women's Team at the 4 Nations Cup in Finland. Jenner and Rebecca Johnston '12 each had an assist in Canada's four games as the Canadians wound up losing 3-0 to the United States in the gold medal game. Jenner returns to Ithaca with a silver medal from one of the top women's hockey competitions in the world.

HOLDING A LEAD
The Big Red is now undefeated in its last 62 games when holding a lead after two periods. This streak dates all the way back to the national title game in 2010, which Cornell was leading 1-0 in the third period but lost 2-1 in triple overtime. The Big Red was 28-0 in 2010-11, 27-0 in 2011-12 and is 5-0 this season when leading after two periods.

GAME-SAVER
Sophomore goalie Katelyn Pippy was on a roll in November, starting her first career games and coming away with three victories. After playing only 10 minutes her entire freshman season, Pippy has racked up 153 minutes over the last three weeks. She earned her first career shutout against Colgate on Nov. 16.

FRESHMEN SCORERS
All seven of the Big Red's freshmen forwards and defensemen have at least one collegiate point. Taylor Woods is the team's third-leading scorer with 10 points, while Victoria Pittens got her first point when she scored a goal at Colgate on Nov. 17.

TUESDAY SUCCESS
With the victory against St. Lawrence on Oct. 23, Cornell has now claimed eight consecutive contests on Tuesday nights. Cornell's last loss Tuesday night came on Nov. 2, 2010 against Mercyhurst in a 4-3 overtime defeat.

SHORT-HANDED OFFENSE
The Big Red scored two shorthanded goals against Boston University on Oct. 20, marking the first time the team has tallied two short-handed goals in a game in at least nine years. Taylor Woods scored the first to tie the game at 2-2, and Emily Fulton struck about a minute later to give Cornell a 3-2 lead it would hold for a 5-2 victory.

HELPING GLOVE
Goalie Lauren Slebodnick got her first career assist on Oct. 20, passing the puck to Hayleigh Cudmore who found Emily Fulton for Cornell's third goal. The assist was Cornell's first from a goalie in more than three years. Jenny Niesluchowski had the last goalie assist on Jan. 4, 2009 against Providence College.

OUTRANKING THE COMPETITION
In its last 24 games against ranked opponents from the start of the 2009-10 season until now, the Big Red holds a 16-9 record. Cornell was a very impressive 9-3 against ranked opponents in 2011-12.

NATIONAL NUMBERS
Cornell has multiple players near the top of the country in many categories. Brianne Jenner has the nation's seventh-best points per game total with 1.91, while Jillian Saulnier is at No. 16 with her 1.55 points per game. Jenner's 0.89 goals per game also puts her 10th in the country while Saulnier is 10th with 1.09 assists per game. Freshman Taylor Woods is excelling on special teams, sitting at 10th in the nation with four power play goals and second with two shorthanded goals. Saulnier is tied for seventh in the country with three game-winners, and Lauriane Rougeau is ninth in points per game by defenseman (0.91).

As a team, the Big Red's 4.09 goals per game ranks it fourth in the country, and its 1.73 goals allowed per game is eighth-best. Cornell has the nation's eighth-best power play (22.9 percent) and the sixth-best penalty kill (91.1 percent).

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Over the weekend:
• Lauriane Rougeau tied for eighth all-time in team history in assists (79).
• Laura Fortino scored her 120th career point.
• Taylor Woods got her 10th career point.
• Jessica Campbell played in her 75th game.
Approaching career numbers:
• Jessica Campbell's next goal will be her 20th.
• Alyssa Gagliardi's next assist will be her 40th.
• Laura Fortino is three assists away from a tie for sixth in team history (90).
• Lauriane Rougeau is one point away from 100 and one assist away from 80.

UP NEXT
The Big Red has all the rest of December off, but the team will return to the ice in 2013 when it travels to top-10 teams Boston College and Northeastern on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13.