Hockey Game Central

HAMILTON, N.Y. (10/24/11) – The Colgate women's hockey team will open ECAC Hockey play this week when it hosts No. 3/3 Cornell on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. in Starr Rink.
 
The Raiders, who are on a three-game winning streak and are undefeated at home, are coming off a 3-1 win over Syracuse last week. Junior Brittany Phillips scored the team's opening goal while sophomores Taylor Volpe and Caroline Potolicchio scored the other two. Volpe also had an assist in the game while freshman Melissa Kueber had two points from two assists.

POINT LEADERS
Phillips, who is tied for first in the league in goals and is second in power play goals, points and assists, continues to lead the team with 11 points from five goals and six assists. The junior is followed by Kueber who has five goals and three assists for eight points, and is also tied for first in the league in goals and is third in points. Behind them are sophomore Jocelyn Simpson and freshman Miriam Drubel who both have six points apiece from one goal and five assists each, and are ranked third in the league in assists.
 
The Raiders, who currently have a total of 51 points, have fourteen players with at least one point and eight with three or more.
 
RAIDERS MAKE MARK IN NATIONAL STATISTICS
Colgate has several players ranked in the top-15 of the national statistics early in the season. Brittany Phillips is currently ranked fifth in the country in power play goals with three, is 12th in points per game (2.20) and goals per game (1.00), and is 14th in assists per game (1.20). Melissa Kueber, who is third in the country in points per game for a rookie (1.60), is also ranked 12th overall in points per game, while rookie Miriam Drubel is eighth in the country amongst other freshmen in points per game with 1.20.
 
As a team, the Raiders are ranked 11th in the nation in scoring offense, 14th in scoring defense, 12th in scoring margin, and 13th in penalty kill. They are also 14th in the country in team winning percentage.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Senior Kimberly Sass continues to have a stellar performance in net for Colgate. The goaltender has a 2.61 goals against average and a total of 136 saves for a .913 save percentage. She now has a total of 1,762 career saves, which is fourth in program history. Sass is also ranked 14th in the nation in winning percentage, 16th in save percentage and is 18th in goals against average.
 
SERIES
Colgate leads the all-time series against Cornell, owning an 11-8-3 record since the teams first met in the 2001-02 season. The Raiders have a 6-3-1 winning record at Starr Rink with the only tie coming in the 2009-10 season, 3-3 in overtime. The Big Red has won the last five meetings in the series including both matchups in the 2010-11 season.
 
SCOUTING No. 3/3 CORNELL
The Big Red will open its 2011-12 season with its matchup against the Raiders on Tuesday before hosting Yale and Brown over the weekend. The team, which was picked to finish first in the league's preseason poll, completed the 2010-11 season with a 31-3-1 overall record and a 20-1-1 conference mark. The team defeated Dartmouth in the ECAC Hockey Championship game to win the title but then fell to Boston University in the Frozen Four.
 
Cornell returns three of its top-four point leaders from last season including senior Rebecca Johnston, sophomore Brianne Jenner and senior Catherine White. Johnston and Jenner finished the season with a team-high 50 points each. Johnston, who led the nation with four hat tricks and won a gold medal with Canada in the 2010 Olympics, had a team-best 26 goals and 24 assists while Jenner, a member of Team Canada, had 23 goals and a team-high 27 assists. White was fourth on the team with 21 goals and 24 assists for 45 points. Defending the net is senior Amanda Mazzotta who completed the season with a total of 324 saves, five shut outs and a .945 save percentage. The goaltender finished the season with a 1.11 goals against average, which was the country's lowest goals against average.
 
ECAC PRESEASON POLL
The Colgate women's ice hockey team was picked to finish ninth in the 2011-12 ECAC Hockey Preseason Poll that was released on Sept. 15. The Raiders received 41 points for ninth place above Yale, Brown and Union. Two-time defending regular-season and tournament champion Cornell was picked to finish first with 121 votes and 11 first-place votes.