ITHACA, N.Y. – The wait is over, hockey fans. After a long off season, the No. 3 Cornell women's ice hockey team is back in action tonight at ECAC Hockey and local rival Colgate in Hamilton. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: No. 3 Cornell at Colgate
GAME TIME: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 7:00 p.m.
GAME SITE: Starr Rink (Hamilton, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 25-11-3
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 5-0 on Jan. 22, 2011
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey); Colgate (3-2, 0-0)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/colgate/whockey/index.htm
LIVE VIDEO:  None

ABOUT THE BIG RED
In the last two years, Cornell has evolved into one of the country's top teams. The 2010 season saw the Big Red advance to the NCAA championship game before losing in triple overtime to Minnesota-Duluth, and the team returned to the Frozen Four last year. With the core returning this season, hopes and expectations are again high for the Big Red. Last year's team went 31-3-1 and won its second consecutive ECAC Hockey tournament.

HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH
Now entering his seventh season directing the Cornell women's hockey program in 2011-12, 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.

ABOUT COLGATE
     The Raiders, based in Hamilton, enter Saturday's game with an offense that seems to be alternating between excellent and awful. The Raiders were shut out in back-to-back games against New Hampshire and Northeastern on Oct. 7 and 8, but then Colgate exploded for 15 goals in two games against Lindenwood the next weekend. The Raiders most recently won a midweek contest 3-1 against Syracuse in the Orange's home stadium. Junior Brittany Phillips leads the team with five goals and six assists for 11 points.
    Colgate is coached by Scott Wiley, a 1993 graduate of St. Lawrence, who is now in his 10th year of leading the Raiders.

THE SERIES WITH COLGATE
Cornell and Colgate have clashed 39 times over the years, with the first meeting coming in the 1973-74 season. Cornell holds a 25-11-3 edge in the series and won both games last year by a combined 11-1 margin. Cornell has won the last five meetings between the teams, including two games in the ECAC Hockey Tournament quarterfinals in 2010. Colgate's last victory against the Big Red came seven games ago on Jan. 11, 2009.

A WIN WOULD…
...open the season with a win for the second year in a row…begin conference play with a victory for the third consecutive year…extend the Big Red's winning streak over Colgate to six games…be the 90th career victory for head coach Doug Derraugh.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION
The Big Red opened the season ranked No. 3 in the USCHO.com national poll. After four weeks of the season, Wisconsin is ranked No. 1 and Minnesota sits at No. 2. The Big Red ended the 2010-11 season at No. 4.

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAINS
Four players have been named captains for the 2011-12 women's hockey season. Seniors Rebecca Johnston, Catherine White, Chelsea Karpenko and Amanda Young will all be wearing 'C's on their uniforms this year.

OH, CANADA
Four Cornell women's ice hockey players have been selected to the roster of Canada's National Women's Team for the upcoming 4 Nations Cup. Junior defensemen Laura Fortino and Lauriane Rougeau, sophomore forward Brianne Jenner and senior forward Rebecca Johnston will all make the trip to Nykoping, Sweden, for the six-day tournament from Nov. 9-14. Big Red head coach Doug Derraugh has also been named an assistant for the competition.
    All told, 15 of the team's 21 players call Canada home.

PRESEASON HONORS
Cornell was picked by the ECAC Hockey coaches to once again finish first in the league this season. The Big Red received 11 of the 12 first-place votes — coach Derraugh was not allowed to vote for his own team — for a total of 121 points.
ECAC Hockey also put out its Preseason All-League Team in September, and four Cornell student-athletes made the list. Jenner and Johnston join an all-Big Red blue line of Fortino and Rougeau on the All-League Team. Cornell's players are joined by Quinnipiac goalie Victoria Vigilanti and forward Kelly Babstock.

GREAT GOALIES
Calling senior Amanda Mazzotta and sophomore Lauren Slebodnick the best goaltending tandem in the country last season is not a stretch. They had the stats to back it up. Mazzotta, during her fantastic junior campaign, recorded the country's lowest goals against average of 1.12. Right behind her? Slebodnick, who rocketed onto the scene as a freshman with a 1.15 goals against average. Both are back this year, and Cornell should have a solid netminder every night.

EXHIBITION VICTORY
Coming off back-to-back Frozen Four appearances, the Cornell women's ice hockey team looked right back in form in its season-opening exhibition on Oct. 14 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red scored two goals in the first period, added one more in the second and broke out for three in the third for a resounding 6-0 victory against Brampton of the Women's Canadian Hockey League. Freshman Jillian Saulnier started her Cornell career on the right foot, scoring two goals to lead the team. Johnston, Laura Fortino and Brianne Jenner each had two assists.

BRING IN THE YOUNG GUNS
The 2011 Cornell team features five new players including four freshmen and one transfer. Freshmen forwards Jillian Saulnier, Monika Leck and Emily Fulton are joined by goalkeeper Katelyn Pippy and senior transfer Erin Barley-Maloney. Barley-Maloney, also a forward, is a senior coming from the University of Vermont.

UP NEXT
With the road opener out of the way, Cornell will come back to Ithaca where it has a 17-game winning streak on the line. The Big Red will face ECAC Hockey competition in Yale and Brown on Friday and Saturday.