Always tough Minnesota Duluth and its special teams prowess pose big challenge for Tigers

By Joe Paisley

Unranked Minnesota Duluth may not be in the hunt for home playoff ice like No. 11 Colorado College, but the proud Bulldogs are more than capable of ruining another weekend for the Tigers.

The Bulldogs come into this weekend’s home series at Ed Robson Arena with a league-leading power play (league-leading 27.4 percent), paced by sophomore forward Ben Steeves’ 12 man-advantage goals, and an NCHC-second-best penalty kill (82.9 percent).

With a good goalie tandem and the usual hard-nosed UMD style of play, the fourth-place Tigers (18-10-2, 12-7-1-5-2-0, 34 standings points), will have their hands full in a series that will likely resemble playoff hockey, which starts in a little more than two weeks.

The power play is geared toward Steeves, who stepped forward as the go-to scorer for the Bulldogs (10-17-4, 6-13-1-2-3-1, 21 points) all season due to injuries and an academic disqualification.

“They are not a one-and done power play,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “We watched a clip against us where Steeves shoot sit, they retrieve it, he shoots it again and they retrieve it. It was like four or five shots right away. That’s the recipe. They have a dynamic scorer (Steeves, 22 goals, one hat trick) and they have four other good players who retrieve pucks well and get back into their sets with poise.”

The penalty kill is simple and direct. The Bulldogs will come at you and any hesitation may cost the Tigers, whose power play (58th out of 64 teams, 13.6 percent).

It will be difficult for CC and its fans to be patient when the Tigers regroup as the clock ticks down.

“They pressure pucks pretty well more than most teams (in the UMD zone) so that takes some time to get used to,” Mayotte said. “Then they are good up ice. If they get a clear, it is hard to get reset in their zone. Faceoffs are crucial. Your ability to have poise against their pressure knowing you may spend the first 10-15 seconds just breaking their pressure.

“It forces you to be patent and attack all at the same time.”

The Omaha weekend provided a reminder that like this home series, there are no easy games in the NCHC.

Fortunately for CC, they have sophomore Kaidan Mbereko in net. He received his third NCHC Goaltender of the Month in a row on Tuesday in part because his performance has stolen some points for the Tigers and kept them in the top half of the league. Mayotte noted his excellence in Saturday games at Western Michigan (38 saves), home against North Dakota (career-high 43) and at Omaha (41).

“We end up with six points from those three games where if we don’t have him, we don’t have any,” Mayotte said. “And that’s just in the last month or so. He has been that consistent for us and that good for us.”

It will be a good weekend for scoreboard watching with fifth-place Western Michigan at league-leading North Dakota and third-place Denver, possibly without centers Massimo Rizzo and Carter King, at second-place St. Cloud State. CC trails DU by two points and leads WMU by three to put home playoff ice within reach depending on league results, including sixth-place Omaha at Miami, which is assured of last place.

Don’t expect the Tigers to be watching too closely.

“We got to take care of Friday night and make sure that is our focus,” Mayotte said. “You can’t put more pressure on these games than there already is. It’s an NCHC game against Minnesota-Duluth. That’s enough.”

Colorado College’s Kaidan Mbereko wins third-straight league Goaltender of the Month award

Colorado College sophomore Kaidan Mbereko became only the second goalie in National Collegiate Hockey Conference history to garner his third straight NCHC Goaltender of the Month award on Tuesday.

The first to do so was North Dakota goalie Adam Scheel (January-March/April 2021). Mbereko has won the award five times in his career and one Rookie of the Month honor.

The Aspen native led the NCHC with a .939 save percentage and 168 saves in February, averaging 28 saves per game. His 1.79 goals-against average was second in the NCHC in February, while he allowed two goals or fewer in five of his six starts and no more than three in any game, with all six games coming against ranked competition.

That run included a career-high 43 saves in a 6-2 win over North Dakota and recording 58 saves last weekend while giving up only three goals in a 0-1-1 weekend at Omaha.

On the season, Mbereko leads the NCHC with a .920 save percentage, which ties for 11th nationally, while ranking second in the NCHC with a 2.37 GAA. His 814 saves on the year are also tops in the NCHC. Mbereko has compiled an 18-10-2 record in net this year, with the 18 wins tied for second in the conference.

Tigers drop in both national polls, in Pairwise rankings after 0-1-1 road series

The 0-1-1 weekend at then-No. 19 Omaha only cost Colorado College one spot in the USCHO.com national poll by dropping from No. 10 to 11th in men’s Division 1 hockey.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference remains well represented with No. 3 North Dakota (no change), No. 5 Denver (none), No. 11 CC (down one), No. 12 Western Michigan (up one), No. 15 St. Cloud State (same) and No. 18 Omaha (up one).

The Tigers (18-10-2) dropped to 14th in the USA Hockey poll.

CC hosts seventh-place Minnesota Duluth, which was eliminated from home playoff ice contention las weekend with two losses at league-leading North Dakota, this weekend. The Tigers are two standings points behind third-place DU and three ahead of fifth-place WMU.

The 0-1-1 series result in Omaha dropped CC from 11th in the Pairwise to 15th and on the NCAA Tournament bubble with the 16th berth going to the Atlantic Hockey postseason champion automatic qualifier (AQ).

The 14th and 15th spots might be claimed by other league playoff champion AQs. The Pairwise is used by the NCAA to determine the 16-team field.

No. 19 Omaha prevails in shootout after No. 10 Colorado College musters up only one goal in weekend road series

By Joe Paisley

No. 10 Colorado College entered the weekend flying high and No. 19 Omaha brought them back down to earth despite a strong performance from Tigers sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko.

The sixth-place Mavericks dominated the final two periods to eventually force overtime and later prevailed in the shootout to garner five out of a possible six standings points in a 1-1 tie Saturday to conclude the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series.

After scoring 13 goals in a home sweep of North Dakota, the fourth-place Tigers (18-10-2, 12-7-5-2-0, 34 points) were held to one goal on the weekend in Omaha, a Bret Link wrister just 3:25 into Saturday game. Ryan Beck and Jack Millar picked up the assists.

Mbereko almost made 1-0 lead hold up, making 41 saves on the night, until Omaha’s Nolan Sullivan scored with 2:55 left in regulation to tie the game at 1-1. Mbereko gave up only three goals in 123-plus minutes this weekend to go 0-1-1 despite a superb effort.

“We are lucky we have him, especially with how he played tonight,” CC coach Kris Mayotte told KRDO Radio. “He didn’t get many breathers. The puck was in our zone for two straight periods.”

Like Friday, Omaha swarmed the Tigers over the final 45 minutes. CC was unable to get the puck behind the UNO defenders and set up a forecheck that generates the offensive-zone turnovers that spark the Tigers.

“It is not a good feeling when they are on their toes and winning battles and hunting,” Mayotte said. “We kept putting (the puck) in spots where they won the first touch.”

CC, which entered the weekend as the best faceoff team in men’s Division 1, lost that stats battle 32-25 on Saturday and chased the puck most of the game.

“You end up spending so much time chasing the puck in your own zone,” Mayotte said. “I give them a lot of credit. We didn’t have our mojo this weekend and that’s a shame because we had an opportunity after last weekend.”

Colorado College returns home next weekend to take on seventh-place Minnesota Duluth, which was swept 6-0 and 4-2 this weekend in Grand Forks by league-leading North Dakota.

Second-place St. Cloud State garnered a home split with fifth-place Western Michigan to keep pace with UND and keep CC three points ahead of the Broncos (30 points) with four regular-season games remaining and home playoff to be determined for the Tigers.

The 0-1-1 weekend dropped the Tigers from 11^th in the Pairwise rankings down to 15^th and on the NCAA Tournament bubble with the 16th berth slated for the Atlantic Hockey postseason champion.

Third-place Denver overtook CC in the standings with an 8-1 home win over last-place Miami to garner five standings points, pulling ahead by two points (35-33) with a home-and-home series to end the regular season that may determine home playoff ice for one of both teams.

No. 19 Omaha defense stymies No. 10 Tigers

In a battle of two defensive-minded teams, it was No. 19 Omaha that delivered on defense and scored clutch goals against No. 10 Colorado College in a 3-0 shutout of the Tigers on Friday night.

The Mavericks scored in the first period and with 13:05 left in the third period to pull away from the Tigers, who are now tied with Denver for third place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings after the Pioneers squandered a 3-1 third-period lead before winning the shootout against last-place Miami later Friday.

“It was hard to find time and space,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte told KRDO Radio. “We kept turning over pucks over in the neutral zone. We just had a hard time playing fast off the puck and hunting.”

Fifth-place Western Michigan rallied to upend second-place St. Cloud State 4-3 in overtime and draw within three standings points of CC (18-10-1, 12-7-0-5-2-0, 33 league points) with five regular-season games remaining.

Sixth-place Omaha (16-10-3, 9-8-2-5-0-2, 26 points) was paced by Jack Randl’s early goal and the second by Ty Mueller along with a 24-save shutout for Simon Latkoczy, who benefited from a stifling defense effort by the Maverick skaters who swarmed the Tigers, who scored 13 goals last weekend. It was the Slovakian’s second shutout this season.

CC sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko (17 saves) was pulled with 3:15 remaining until UNO captain Nolan Sullivan scored an empty-netter with 2:19 left for the final margin. The setback ended a 12-league game run (Nov. 18) with no regulation losses for the Tigers.

The Tigers will try to get back on track in Saturday’s series finale.

“We need to find a way to get the puck behind them and set up a forecheck,” Mayotte said. “Omaha is playing good hockey (5-1-1 in league last seven games).”

League-leading North Dakota routed seventh-place Minnesota Duluth 6-0 in Grand Forks to pull three points ahead of the second-place Huskies.

Excited Colorado College fans should pump the brakes on NCAA Tournament talk for now

By Joe Paisley

Colorado College fans making travel plans to the NCAA regionals better make sure it’s refundable.

The Tigers fan base is understandably excited after a historic four-game season sweep of North Dakota last weekend and the subsequent rise to No. 11 in the Pairwise rankings.

But do keep in mind that this regular season is far from over, let alone the NCHC playoffs.

“There is too much volatility right now for you to feel good or bad about the number next to your name,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “We just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing and focusing on our daily process. I know that is coach speak but if we were a lock, I would tell our guys we are a lock, but we are not.”

For example, two losses in regulation at Omaha this weekend – a very real possibility — would drop the Tigers from 11^th and a No. 3 seed down to 16^th and out of the NCAA Tournament due to the automatic berth from Atlantic Hockey taking that spot.

A win and loss, both in regulation would keep the Tigers in 11^th according to the College Hockey News Pairwise customizer which allows you to forecast the rankings based on projected results.

If 18-9-1 CC goes .500 the rest of the way, third or fourth place and home playoff ice for the first round is likely, putting the Tigers at 20-plus wins and in good position to advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul. Without going down the rabbit hole that is the Pairwise customizer, it is a safe bet CC would be an NCAA bubble team at worst and probably in as an at-large team.

Most likely, an at-large team needs to be 13^th or higher entering the league semifinals to feel confident they will qualify with other automatic berths up for grabs in other league finals.

And yes, while being ranked 10^th is exciting for fans, the national polls are subjective and have no bearing on the NCAAs as the CC coaches reminded the team on Monday and Mayotte the media at Wednesday’s weekly conference.

Three Tigers garner weekly league awards; Colorado College ranked 10th in polls, highest since February 6, 2012

A historic weekend for Colorado College did not go unnoticed by the voters, who ranked the Tigers at No. 10 in the nation in both national polls, the program’s best ranking since eighth on Feb. 6, 2012.

The Tigers were ranked most of that season, reaching as high as No. 2 on Oct. 31, 2011 with five first-place votes in the USCHO.com poll.

In addition to the ranking, three players garnered weekly honors from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with freshman Zaccharya Wisdom winning Forward of the Week, sophomore Kaidan Mbereko Goalie of the Week and forward Klavs Veinbergs the rookie honor.

The awards are firsts for Veinbergs and Wisdom while this is Mbereko’s fifth this season and eighth in his college career. Here are more details.

The Tigers remain ranked 11th in the Pairwise, which helps the NCAA Selection committee to determine the 16-team tournament field in March.

Notes from Saturday’s historic season sweep

By Joe Paisley

Since I covered the game for the Gazette, that article is not available here, but here are some notes from Saturday’s historic win that were cut due to space.

Ice chips

CC had swept North Dakota in two-game season series during  the 1950s and 60s but not since the schedule switched to four-game series during the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association days. 

CC sophomore Kaidan Mbereko’s 43 saves was the third-most by an NCHC netminder this season.

The Tigers have scored 18 goals in their last three games (2-1 record) after scoring 24 since Dec. 8 (11 games, 9-2 record).

UND owns a 173-88-12 all-time series lead against CC with 173 victories the most against any one program in North Dakota history.  CC now leads the all-time series in Colorado Springs by a 62-61-4 margin

The 18-9-1 Tigers matched their best season win total since going 18-19-5 during the 2012-13 season when CC lost in the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five league championship game, falling one win shy of an automatic NCAA Tournament berth as playoff champion.

Friday’s 7-1 win was the first time since Oct. 20, 2001 when three Tigers – freshmen Klavs Veinbergs and Zaccharya Wisdom and sophomore Ryan Beck —  recorded four or more points in a single game (7-1 win over Massachusetts). Veinbergs finished with five points (four assists), Beck four points (all Friday) and Wisdom recorded seven points on the weekend with two assists Saturday. Wisdom seems a shoo-in for either NCHC forward or rookie of the week honors with Mbereko likely to garner another goalie accolade.

Noah Laba is the first Tiger to record at least 22 points in his first two seasons since Seattle Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz (2010-11, 2011-12).

CC is now 15-1 this season when scoring three or more goals including 4-3 home loss to Augustana.

Tigers freshman Zaccharya Wisdom scores four goals, three on power play, to lead rout of No. 2 North Dakota

By Joe Paisley

The only person happier than Tigers freshman Zaccharya Wisdom and the Colorado College fans might have been his mother, Mairri McConnell, who was at Ed Robson Arena to witness a special night for her son and the Tigers.

Wisdom scored four times, three while on the power play, to propel 15^th-ranked Colorado College to a 7-1 home rout of No. 2 North Dakota Friday night.

 “It feels good to make her proud,” said the first-year winger, who credits his mother’s example while growing up in a rough part of Toronto.

“Four goals … He is just around the net whether he was planted there or driving there, it was going for him tonight,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “You are not surprised. When he is getting those types of looks, he is going to score.  That is what he does.”

“To put together a performance like he did was absolutely incredible and was obviously a huge lift for us.”

The win moved CC up from No. 16 to 15 in the Pairwise rankings which help determine NCAA Tournament seeding.

Wisdom scored twice with the man advantage during a decisive three-goal second period that put CC ahead 5-1 entering the third, with his third man-advantage goal and hat trick coming with 15:25 left in Game 1 of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series opener.

He scored his fourth goal about eight minutes later, knocking in his own rebound for one more joyous salute from the home fans. Wisdom scored the final three goals of the game.

The Toronto native, who had six goals entering Friday’s contest, also set up the eventual game-winner by sophomore Gleb Veremyev, who scored with 1:58 left in the first period. A forechecking Wisdom forced a UND turnover in the far corner and found the sophomore power forward alone in front of the Fighting Hawks net for a 2-1 lead.

“The confidence went up, getting a turnover like that and a scoring chance like that feels good and I felt good the rest of the game,” Wisdom said.

“He is a worker,” Mayotte said. “That line in general was really good for us tonight.”

The win secured the season series for CC (17-9-1, 11-6-0-5-2-0, 30 points) after a historic road sweep in December in Grand Forks, and moved the Tigers into third place past idle No. 13 Western Michigan. Fifth-ranked Denver downed Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in overtime Friday to stay in fifth (28 points) behind the fourth-place Broncos (29 points).

The win assured the Tigers of their first winning regular season record since the 2011-12 campaign.

The four power-play goals by the Tigers, which entered the game among the worst of the 64 Division 1 teams while on the man advantage, were the most since recording four in an 8-0 home win over Air Force on Oct. 28, 2022.

“We kind of got sick and tired of not putting anything in the back of the net,” Wisdom said. “We were like at what 10 percent at one point? The guys got sick and tired and we are just that much more motivated.”

Wisdom played a large role in the power play’s success. While not the biggest, the 175-pounder made room for himself to work down low.

“He is so good on the goal line on the power play,” Mayotte said. “He is very comfortable there. He wins retrievals. He breaks pressure and again he is really good around the net.”

CC freshman Klavs Veinbergs scored the opening goal while on the power play about eight minutes into the game, in which the Tigers never trailed against league-leading North Dakota (20-7-2, 11-5-1-1-4-0, 37 points)

UND would answer just 1:28 later when Riese Gaber scored his 15th to make it 1-1 and set up a strong of two more UND power plays. A quick whistle negated another power-play goal for UND that kept it tied until Wisdom forced that turnover.

After that North Dakota spurt, CC dominated play. CC sophomore Ryan Beck recorded a career-high four assists while Veinbergs added a career-best four points, including three assists.

“It was a big-time effort,” Mayotte said. “He wasn’t the only guy who had a big-time night. Becker had a big-time night. Klavs had a big-time night. We had a lot of guys have a big-time night.” 

“We were moving our feet tonight,” Mayotte said. “We got a little bit away from that when they made their push in the first. We were reaching a little bit but when (Wisdom) is going, he is electric.”

Tyler Coffey scored during the three-goal second period for CC off an assist by Noah Laba.

Ice chips

Wisdom’s four goals is the most by a Tiger against North Dakota since Eric Walsky on Nov. 8, 2008 (7-4 CC victory). That was the last time CC scored seven against UND. … Wisdom’s four goals in league play were the only the seventh time in NCHC history and first time this season. … Wisdom is the first Tiger with four goals in a game since Feb. 23, 2019 (Ben Copeland vs. Western Michigan) and his five points were the most since Noah Serdachny on Dec. 30, 2022 vs. Princeton. … The six-goal margin was the largest against UND since the Tigers won 8-2 and 6-0 Oct. 29-30, 1994. … It is only the fourth time in program history that CC has won three-straight games against North Dakota since Thanksgiving weekend 1995. … It was UND’s first regulation loss in league play this season and ended a 21-game streak dating back to Nov. 3. … The Tigers won three in a row against UND in 1991, 1993 and 1995. … UND owns a 173-87-12 all-time series lead against CC with 173 victories the most against any one program in North Dakota history.  … UND is now 61-61-4 all-time in Colorado Springs. … The Tigers matched their best season win total since going 17-20-4 during the 2018-19 campaign . 

Surging Hawks, Tigers back for rematch of pivotal December series as playoff race heats up

By Joe Paisley

The December National Collegiate Hockey Conference series between Colorado College and North Dakota could be viewed as the turning point for both programs’ seasons as they jockey for playoff position entering this weekend’s rematch.

The Tigers pulled off a historic road sweep, the school’s first at Ralph Engelstad Arena and the first since Thanksgiving 1993 in Grand Forks, to reinvigorate the team, winners of nine of their last 12 games (8-2 league), that pushed them into fourth place in the NCHC and the NCAA Tournament hunt.

It cemented a growing team confidence, further solidified by a subsequent road win at Minnesota when the second half of the season began. In short, this year’s CC team is a good one and they garnered the results to prove it to themselves and others.

“That weekend definitely added something to us,” said sophomore Gleb Veremyev. “Coming out of there with two wins gave us the belief that we can win those hard games and win against anyone.”

“Every win you get reconfirms and allows you to believe in it a little more,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “The way we played Saturday (against North Dakota) showed that (confidence) was growing. College hockey is so good, winning one game somewhere happens all the time. Your ability to stack wins is really about belief, confidence and good play.”

Which sets the stage for a highly anticipated league series between two teams playing good hockey when the second-ranked Fighting Hawks take on the No. 15 Tigers (16-9-1) this weekend at Ed Robson Arena.

That December series result, hard as it was to swallow for the team and its fans, proved beneficial for North Dakota (20-6-2), judging from subsequent results, with an 8-1-1 record since to vault into first place in the league.

“That was a good punch in the face. That’s something we needed,” defenseman Bennett Zmolek said during UND’s weekly media conference.

“We learned a lot as far as ourselves and a lot about what (CC) brings to the table as well,” said coach Brad Berry who recorded his 200^th win at UND earlier this month. “They are a patient team. They try to capitalize on miscues or errors. Puck management (will) be a key. You have to force them into bad situations.”

The series pits strength against strength with a fast-skating Hawks offense looking to punch holes though CC’s frustrating defensive structure, which has it as the top-ranked defensive team in NCHC play (2.44 goals per game) with just 12 allowed in the last seven games.

A major reason behind CC’s surge is the foundation of that team defense — sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko, who became the NCHC’s lone semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award on Wednesday. The Aspen native stopped 54 of 58 shots (.931 saves percentage) against UND in December and is now 16-9-1 (2.52 goals against, .912 saves) overall and even better in NCHC play (2.25 goals, .924 saves).

He has more offensive support this season thanks to sophomore center Noah Laba’s breakout season (24 points, 15 goals, 7 game-winners) and linemate Veremyev (18, nine goals), who ended an eight-game scoreless streak in a home series split against second-place St. Cloud State two weeks ago.

Overtime bodes well for CC. Laba has four of the team’s five OT game winners with Veremyev collecting the fifth at UND in December. UND has gone 21-straight games without a loss in regulation (Nov. 3 at Boston University) but own a 3-5 record when playing the extra period.

To get there, the Tigers will need their secondary scorers to produce timely goals. That group is led by senior captain Logan Will (17, 11 assists), sophomore Ryan Beck (15, team-high 12 assists) and 12 points each from junior Stanley Cooley (eight assists) and freshman Evan Werner (eight assists).

The CC defenseman corps is producing as well, led by freshman Max Burkholder (11, three power-play goals) and seniors Nicklas Andrews (11, eight assists) and Jack Millar (10, seven assists). Freshman forward Bret Link is the 10th Tiger in double figures with 11 points (eight assists).

The Fighting Hawks are paced by Jackson Blake with team-highs in Points (39), goals (17) and assists (22) as part of a 10-game points. UND also has 29 points each from Cameron Berg (15 goals) and Owen McLaughlin (20 assists) and a solid goaltender in Miami transfer Ludvig Persson (17-6-2, 2.38 goals, .907 saves), especially behind an improved defensive corps paced by Alaska transfer Garrett Pyke (22, 19 assists).

Ice chips

UND owns a 173-86-12 all-time series lead against CC with 173 victories the most against any one program in North Dakota history.  … UND is 61-60-4 all-time in Colorado Springs. … The Tigers are one victory away from matching their best season win total since going 17-20-4 during the 2018-19 season. Those 16 wins are the best after 26 games since the 2007-08 season (started 18-7-1). … CC’s five OT wins are the most since the 1979-80 season (six).