With head coach Doug Derraugh’s return and its roster completely restored, women’s hockey will continue their hunt for victory this weekend as they travel to to take on two rival conference competitors, the Quinnipiac Bobcats (3-5-2) and the Princeton Tigers (4-2-2).
For the past two weeks, Derraugh and three Cornell players competed with Team Canada in the Four Nations Cup, one of the most important international women’s hockey competitions. Even though Cornell (4-1-2) adapted somewhat well to the absences of their coach and fellow teammates — the team tied its last two games against Mercyhurst — the Red will have to make adjustments with the full squad back in action.
“The assistant coaches were pleased with how the team responded while our three players were gone and … I hope that the team that was here continues to respond in that fashion this weekend,” Derraugh said. “But it’s always tough when a team splits up and they come back together. You don’t have a whole lot of time to get everything clicking again.”
Last year, the Red experienced split results against their upcoming opponents. Against Quinnipiac, the Red matched one win with one loss, while in its five matchups with Princeton, Cornell defeated the Tigers three times and suffered two defeats.
Quinnipiac and Princeton continue remain fierce conference challengers in the 2018 season.
“Quinnipiac has always been very disciplined both in their systems and they don’t take a lot of penalties … they have a solid team from top to bottom,” Derraugh said. “They are really tough and they have some really skilled forwards who can score whenever they get the opportunity so we are going to have to limit their chances.”
Princeton currently stands atop the ECAC standings, while Quinnipiac, in fourth place, just barely trails third-ranked Cornell.
While the Red realizes that its upcoming games against such elite competition will be difficult, the team welcomes the challenge.
“The most important thing for us is consistency, both in our efforts and our execution,” Derraugh said. “I know there will be mistakes that are going to be made but I just want to see consistency in the effort all weekend.”
The Red will hit the ice against the Bobcats and the Tigers back-to-back away from the comfort of Lynah Rink on Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 3 p.m.