PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When women’s hockey reached winter break, the team was at a low point. The squad’s 7-0 start to the season seemed like a distant memory, and a point-less weekend at home put the finishing touches on a 1-3-1 stretch to end the first semester.
But after a 3-1 win over Brown on Friday to bring Cornell’s second half record to 2-1-1, it’s now the ugly first semester stretch that’s beginning to feel like old news.
“I think it’s been sort of a tale of three seasons,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 “I think since we’ve come back from break, we’ve been rebuilding that form that we had at the start of the year. And I think we're starting to get there.”
Out on the ice, the sentiment is the same.
“It feels like we’re a different team coming into the second half,” said junior goaltender Annelies Bergmann. “It’s just fun to play.”
Friday’s 3-1 win over Brown was by no means perfect. The Red committed five penalties, the majority of which Derraugh dubbed “not smart,” and was outshot 36-28. But smart goaltending, an experienced and motivated penalty kill, and balanced scoring fueled the win and the continued sense of momentum.
“The biggest thing for me that I noticed was how much fun we were having,” Bergmann said. “I think from top to bottom, everyone just wanted to be [here], and we were having so much fun.”
Cornell controlled the opening minutes of play — forcing Brown goaltender Rory Edwards to make the opening two saves of the game — before senior defender Sarah MacEachern was whistled for the first penalty of the evening 3:29 into the first period.
Despite being down a player, the best chance of the Brown skater-advantage came for Cornell when senior forward Mckenna Van Gelder outskated a Bear defender to create a one-on-none chance with Edwards.
While it might seem counterintuitive, Bergmann expressed an attraction to being on the penalty kill.
“I like it,” she said. “I get more shots, so I think it’s more fun.”
While the Brown netminder denied Van Gelder’s shorthanded bid, the captain would find the back of the net three minutes later when she corralled a rebound in front of the net off a senior forward Avi Adam shot. The assist was Adam’s 75th point as a Cornellian.
The first period was marked by the Red’s dominant physicality. Brown skaters constantly found themselves pinned against the boards, pushed away from either netfront and frequently icing the puck. However, this physicality resulted in a second Cornell penalty, this time on senior defender Grace Dwyer. The Red’s penalty kill did its job for the second time, and Cornell entered the first intermission leading by a goal.
Still, Derraugh was not happy with how his team opened the road trip.
“I didn’t like our first period, I thought we lacked the energy we had at home,” Derraugh said. “So I just talked about playing the same way we play at home on the road.”
The second frame opened with the biggest scare of the contest thus far for the Red, when Bergmann was called upon to deny a one one none Brown rush. Bergmann, who was named to the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association Goaltender of the Year Watch List earlier in the week, was dominant in the period, helping keep Brown off the board despite the Red committing a pair of penalties three minutes apart.
“I thought [Bergmann] was really good tonight,” Derraugh said. “She seemed confident. She seemed in charge of things.”
Cornell took a 2-0 lead 1:58 into the stanza when sophomore forward Lindzi Avar sauced a pass to a wide-open junior forward Karel Prefontaine between the offensive zone faceoff circles. Prefontaine’s one-time slapshot found the body of Edwards, but a trio of freshman forward Nora Curtis pokes at the goal line pushed the puck under the outstretched Brown goaltender. The goal was Curtis’ 15th point of the season, the most of any Cornell freshman this season.
The first of the pair of Cornell second period penalties came with just under six minutes on the clock, and began with Brown sending a wrist shot off the top bar eliciting groans from around Meehan Auditorium. Bergmann made four, then two saves on the pair of penalty kills to remain perfect.
“We weren’t happy with our penalty killing last week, and just in general it’s been off a little bit in the last couple weeks,” Derraugh said. “We did spend some time on it this week, just reiterating habits and details of it, I thought it was better today.”
Grace Dwyer — who had committed two of Cornell’s four penalties — found the back of the net 3:37 into the third stanza when a low angle shot deflected off Edwards.
However, five minutes later and while on their fifth power-play chance of the game, the Bears ended Bergmann’s shutout bid on a deflected shot. Cornell’s struggles continued for the remaining 12 minutes of the final period, tallying five fewer shots than Brown overall in the frame, but Bergmann remained up to the challenge.
A rare seven-player too many skaters on the ice penalty cut short Brown’s attempt to jump-start a late comeback by pulling Edwards, and Cornell held on to its two-goal victory.
With the win and a Colgate loss, the Red took sole possession of fourth in the ECAC standings, the final position which guarantees home ice advantage in the playoffs until championship weekend.
“I think it’s obvious we kind of have our mojo back,” Bergmann said. “It’s nice to see the team come together”
Tomorrow afternoon’s opponent, Yale, sits in second place, but has played two more games than the Red.
“I think [it’s] the same mindset as today, going in having fun,” Bergmann said when asked about her attitude going into Saturday’s matchup. “These are two tough games, especially on the road, but we’re just excited to play again.”
Cornell will take on No. 13 Yale Saturday at 3 p.m. in New Haven, Connecticut. Action 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.
