Fifty-four years after Reggie Baker — now Reggie Robbins — founded Cornell’s first women’s hockey team, the Red will open up its 53rd Varsity campaign against another program that traces its founding back to a Baker. Boston College’s first women’s hockey team was founded by Reggie’s younger sister, Reenie. Now, five decades after the Baker sisters first matched up against one another at Lynah Rink, their two respective alma maters will resume a rivalry they created.
“There is a connection even from the very beginning,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “So it’s kind of fun to have them back here again and get that rivalry going again.”
The last time the Eagles (3-2, 2-0 Hockey East) faced off against Cornell was in 2015, with the Red similarly hosting BC to begin its season. In that series, then-No. 2 Boston College dominated an unranked Cornell, sweeping the weekend with a combined score of 12-1. This year, the Red hope to flip the script.
Cornell enters its opening weekend ranked fifth in the country coming off its fourth Frozen Four appearance in program history. While Cornell’s roster looks different from last season’s ECAC and Ivy League championship team from a season ago, key pieces remain. Reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Year junior Annelies Bergmann, ECAC Rookie of the Year forward Lindzi Avar, senior forward Avi Adam and senior defender Grace Dwyer are all set to return in key roles for Cornell.
Joining the impressive returning cast is a freshman class of six. With the Red’s roster down to 21 (the lowest since 2018), all five rookie skaters will immediately be asked to contribute. For Derraugh, getting the freshman and the rest of the Red up to speed quickly is key.
“You can try to create game-like situations in practice, but it’s always different,” Derraugh said. “So, we’re going to have to weather that first period. I think early on in the year, keeping things pretty simple, making sure that we’re communicating out there and helping each other because getting up to game speed [is important].”
Compounding the difficulties of opening weekend for the Red is the fact that Boston College already has played five games this season. Since the Ivy League hockey season starts later than the rest of Division I, Cornell always begins its season a step behind.
“It is a challenge in that the other teams have played games already and we’ve practiced and done all that, but it’s always a little bit different when you get into games,” Derraugh said. “So we’re hoping that we have done a good job in practice to get our team ready.”
Last year, Cornell’s late start contributed to its worst stretch of the season. The Red opened on the road with a tie and a loss to Mercyhurst, a team which finished 7-11-1 in out-of-conference play. Cornell then split a weekend series against ranked teams, before falling to Union in the Red’s home opener.
“I think that our group recognizes that we didn’t have a great start last year,” Derraugh said. “They understand that we need to be better, but you never really know what you're going to have until you get going.”
Scouting Boston College
After knocking off Maine, Boston College lost a heartbreaking double-overtime conference tournament semifinal matchup versus rival Boston University to its 2024-2025 season. The Eagles spent much of last year ranked top-15 in the nation and finished third in the Hockey East regular season standings.
While the Eagles enter their fourth weekend of the current season on a three game win streak, the team was clobbered in its only matchups against a ranked opponent when it fell 7-1 and 11-0 to No. 3 University of Minnesota. Last weekend, Boston College opened its conference play with wins over Holy Cross and Providence.
“Watching them on video, they’ve got a well rounded team, their first line is really dangerous,” Derraugh said. “They’ve got forwards that can score [and] their D get involved in the offense.”
Rookie forward Ava Thomas leads the Eagles offense and arrives in Ithaca scorching hot, tallying 10 points in her last three games. On the other end of the ice, senior goaltender Grace Cambell has started all five games for Boston College after leading Hockey East in saves last season.
Hall of Fame Inductions
In addition to opening Cornell’s season, Oct. 17-18 will also serve as alumni weekend for the women’s hockey program. The team will honor recent Cornell Hall of Fame inductees Jill Saulnier ’15 and Brianne Jenner ’15, who both now play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Both Saulnier and Jenner will be available after Saturday’s game to sign autographs.
“We have a lot of alumni coming back, so that’s exciting,” Derraugh said. “There is lots of stuff going on around these games, but hopefully we can remain focused on what we need to do during the games.”
Cornell will face off against Boston College at Lynah Rink at 4 p.m. Friday and at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Red will unveil its 2024-2025 Ivy League, ECAC and Frozen Four banners before Saturday’s game. Both contests will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Eli Fastiff is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2026 in the College of Arts and Sciences. You can follow him on X @Eli_Fastiff and reach him at efastiff@cornellsun.com.
