Briefs

Mastodons and CU on TV: Cornell students, faculty and staff members who helped excavate and analyze11,000-year-old mastodon bones last year in Hyde Park, N.Y., are featured in the Discovery Channel program, "Mastodon in Your Backyard: An Ultimate Guide," which premieres on the cable network Sunday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. Students from Cornell and Vassar College did much of the hands-on work in the mastodon excavation, which was under the direction of Ithaca's Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), and some of the subsequent analyses were performed in Cornell laboratories. Among the Cornellians featured in the hour-long television program are Warren Allmon, adjunct professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and director of PRI; Carol Griggs, graduate student and researcher in the Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology; undergraduate student Amanda Erwin; Nerissa Russell, associate professor of anthropology; and Charles Aquadro, professor of molecular biology and genetics.

U.S. hockey team plays here: Cornell Athletics and the Tompkins Girls' Hockey Association (TGHA) has announced that the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team will be making a stop in Ithaca Sunday, Oct. 28, as part of its VISA Skate to Salt Lake Tour. During the tour, the team will travel throughout the nation in preparation for the XIX Olympic Winter Games to be held Feb. 8-24, 2002, in Salt Lake City. The Oct. 28 appearance will be the team's only stop in Central New York. The U.S. team will play a game at Lynah Rink against the Eastern College Athletic Conference All-Stars starting at 1 p.m. that day. Select players from all 13 ECAC teams will make up the all-stars squad. Tickets already are available through the Cornell ticket office (254-BEAR) located in Bartels Hall on Campus Road. Ticket prices range from $5 (youth) to $11 (adult).

"We are thrilled to have the National Team come to Ithaca and to play at Lynah Rink," Cornell women's ice hockey coach Carol Mullins said. "Ithaca is a hockey town, and to see Cornell, the TGHA and the Ithaca community come together to support this type of event is great. We are going to do all that we can to fill Lynah Rink for this event."

The Cornell women's hockey program and the TGHA are both celebrating 30 years of existence during the 2001-02 season. The strong ties between ice hockey and girls in the Ithaca area was an appealing aspect in bringing the U.S. team to Ithaca.

For more information, contact Mullins at 255-6675, ccm11@cornell.edu, or TGHA vice president Mary Grainger at 257-3268, mmg7@cornell.edu.