The No. 8 men’s hockey team will be competing against every ECAC team within the next five weeks, beginning with this weekend. The Red will face the St. Lawrence Saints tonight at 7 p.m., followed by the Clarkson Golden Knights 24 hours later, both at Lynah Rink. With the home advantage, the Red hopes to come back from its last game’s loss to North Dakota and gain two conference wins.

The women’s hockey team travels to St. Lawrence and then Clarkson this weekend for two crucial ECAC games. The Red (10-7-4 overall, 9-1-4 ECAC) currently sits in second place in the ECAC, one point behind leader Clarkson (17-5-3 overall, 11-1-1 ECAC).

After suffering its first losing streak of the season in a two-game sweep at the Florida College Classic, No. 9 the men’s hockey team rebounded with a convincing 5-2 win over the University of New Hampshire on Jan. 3.

Men's basketball 82, Clarkson 37

The women’s hockey team, fresh off of four straight wins versus ECAC Hockey opponents, faces another test this weekend when league foes Clarkson and St. Lawrence come to town. The Red (4-2-0 overall, 4-0-0 ECACH) will play Clarkson (11-1-1, 5-0-0) tonight at 7 p.m. at Lynah Rink. The Golden Knights are currently first in the ECACH and rank No. 2 nationally.

After a tough loss to the No. 4 ranked team, St. Lawrence, on Friday, the women’s hockey team rebounded and defeated Clarkson 4-1. This decisive win, with the first three goals coming in the first eight minutes of the game, allowed Cornell (7-7-2 ECAC, 11-10-2) to move up in ECAC rankings and become tied for seventh place.

“Both games we played really well. Especially, even though we lost against St. Lawrence, we came together as a team despite them scoring in the last minute to win it, so it was disappointing there,” said sophomore Rebecca Johnston.

Show me your moves: Sophomore defender Sam Wauer clashes with a Golden Knight in the Red’s 4-1 win over Clarkson on Saturday.

After relinquishing a season-high eight goals Friday night to St. Lawrence, the Cornell defense put the rest of ECAC Hockey on notice that this defensive debacle was just a fluke with the Red’s sixth shutout of the year on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Red, leading the nation in this category does not guarantee a victory when the offense takes the weekend off. This is exactly what transpired Saturday evening at Cheel Arena as Cornell and Clarkson skated to a lackluster 0-0 overtime tie.

Saturday night marks the first time this year that the Red was unable to rebound with a victory following a loss in its previous outing.

After splitting last weekend’s games and dropping one spot in the rankings to No. 4 in the country, the men’s hockey team heads north this weekend to square off against St. Lawrence (12-10-2, 4-6-2 ECAC) and Clarkson (7-13-4, 5-6-1).

The Red (14-2-3, 9-1-2) will be in Canton, N.Y. tonight to take on St. Lawrence at 7 p.m. in Appleton Arena. The Saints have struggled for the most part in ECAC play and are currently ninth in the conference standings. Cornell and St. Lawrence have already met once earlier this season, with the Red registering a 1-0 victory on December 6 at Lynah Rink.

Snapping its three-game losing streak with last Sunday’s victory, the women’s hockey team (5-5-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) is trying to regain its momentum heading out on the road to face Clarkson today and St. Lawrence tomorrow.

“Every game in the league this year has been tough and this weekend is certainly no exception. St. Lawrence and Clarkson are in the top-10 right now,” said assistant coach Danielle Bilodeau ’01. “They are both teams that can beat anyone in the country; very disciplined teams with a lot of talent.”

Listening to head coach Mike Schafer ’86 speak about the Clarkson Golden Knights, you cannot tell whether he is referring to last year’s team, which finished atop the ECAC Hockey standings, or this year’s club, which currently shares a spot in the conference basement with three other squads. Nevertheless, for its final two home games of 2008, the Red will host Clarkson tonight and St. Lawrence tomorrow evening. Both games are slated for a 7 p.m. faceoff at Lynah Rink.