ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red women’s hockey team raise awareness for a great cause this weekend and also raised its position in the ECAC Hockey standings with another victory on Saturday evening.
In the second game of the Do It For Daron Series, No. 5 Cornell came away with a 3-1 victory in a physical contest against Rensselaer at Lynah Rink.
With more than 900 fans in the stands to cheer on the team, players from Cornell wore purple on their jerseys to promote youth mental health while also putting on a show with the puck. Cassandra Poudrier had a goal and two assists, Brianne Jenner notched a goal and an assist and Jessica Campbell had a huge insurance goal in the third period to seal the win.
“It’s unreal to see the Lynah Faithful come out for our team,” said Campbell, wearing her purple D.I.F.D. shirt. “We love playing for the big crowd. It gets us pumped up. Especially in the second half of the season as it starts getting down to crunch time, having that fan support is just going to make us that much stronger.”
Besides the win over Rensselaer (9-16-3, 7-8-1 ECAC Hockey), Cornell (19-4, 14-2) also got great news from the North Country as St. Lawrence defeated Clarkson 3-2. That win puts Cornell’s own postseason fate in its hands, as it is all alone in second place in the conference standings. Cornell is one point behind Harvard and still has a game against the Crimson in two weeks to jump ahead of them.
“We’re happy obviously, and it helps us right now, but St. Lawrence is a tough team and like last year they seem to get better as the season goes on,” coach Doug Derraugh said. “We’re just reminding [the players] it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, where you’re playing, when you’re playing. It’s going to be a battle all the way.”
The Big Red got another terrific performance from goalie Lauren Slebodnick, who stopped 17 shots for her 16th victory of the season. She gave up just two goals in three games this week as Cornell is now on an eight-game winning streak. The team has also claimed its last 10 contests against the Engineers and is 12-0 in Lynah Rink this season.
Just as she did on Friday night against Union, Jenner got the Big Red offense going early on Saturday. Jillian Saulniertook the puck on a pass off the boards by Poudrier, and she and Jenner entered the zone together. Saulnier passed to Jenner, who gave it right back as they got closer to the goal. At the last moment, Saulnier centered to Jenner for the game-opening goal. It was the 26th of the season for Jenner and Saulnier’s 30th assist.
Twelve minutes later, the Big Red struck on the power play to make it 2-0. After terrific movement through the offensive zone, Poudrier had the puck on her stick at the center of the blue line. She fired the puck through traffic, and it took a deflection off an Engineers’ stick into the net. Jenner got the primary assist – her 50th point of the year – and Taylor Woods earned the secondary assist.
“I tried to put it to the net, and for some reason it deflected off a stick and went into the net,” Poudrier said. “We took the goal. Every goal we’re going to take no matter what.”
The second period was a defensive battle for both sides that started with multiple penalties in the first three minutes. That resulted in a brief period of three-on-three hockey that was followed by four-on-four, and the Engineers converted with the extra space on the ice.
Cornell had a poor pass in its own defensive zone, and the puck went right to Rensselaer’s Eleeza Cox. The sophomore had the puck a few feet from goal, and she fired high over Slebodnick to bring her team within one.
But the third-period goal from Campbell shut things down for the Engineers. In a strong offensive set, Poudrier passed left to right across the blue line to Hayleigh Cudmore. The junior fired a slapshot, and Campbell redirected the puck past O’Brien to give Cornell a 3-1 lead.
“I just saw Cudmore get the puck on the point, and I was trying to get in front of the net for a screen,” Campbell said. “I saw the puck go wide so I tried to get a tip on it, and luckily it bounced right into the net.”
From there, the Big Red’s defense stymied Rensselaer at every turn. The Big Red took three consecutive penalties after the goal, but it killed off each of them. Slebodnick saved eight shots in the period – the most she faced all game – and RPI went to an empty net with four minutes left.
The threat ended when Jordan Smelker took a high-sticking penalty and then a 10-minute misconduct for arguing the call. That put the Engineers back to a five-on-five even with their goalie pulled, and Cornell held on from there.
“The way we play our game is really physical in the first place,” Poudrier said. “Every practice we battle hard just between our teammates, so when games are tough we are ready to battle right away.”
Cornell has five days off before its next contest when it heads to Connecticut for a 7 p.m. Friday game at Quinnipiac. Cornell then plays at Princeton at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
