Despite disappointing end to season, this year’s Tigers garnered national respect, further set foundation for future championship aspirations

By Joe Paisley

This past season should be remembered for more than 0.0004, the Pairwise rankings margin that Massachusetts had over CC to secure the final at-large berth in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament.

Consider how Tigers fans and those around the program had to pay attention to the Pairwise rankings for the first time in more than decade. That’s telling when considering the progress made by this program in three seasons under coach Kris Mayotte and his staff.

“We got as close as we can to reaching our potential and I truly believe we became one of the best teams in the country,” Mayotte said during the season-ending media conference. “It’s always going to be a tough pill to swallow when you are that close and it doesn’t go your way. It cannot take away from the work that was done and the progress that was made.”

One step forward for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference program was a changed national perception of the 21-13-3 Tigers, who were ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since Feb. 2012 and will likely finish the season in the Top 20.

“The biggest thing we talked about with our guys is the respect they were able to bring to the program,” Mayotte said. “That is probably the hardest thing to get and it is certainly something that people don’t give freely. The way people will talk about this program moving forward is a lot different than it has been in recent memory and that is all due to their work.”

It showed as this season continued. which featured the 11^th most difficult schedule in the nation.

“It’s gotten the fans back,” Mayotte said. “We can all say the second half this this season had a completely different feel and energy playing games here. It was a true home-ice advantage.

That changed perception both locally and nationally should help in the future for a program that is well supported by the college and has a newer facility in Ed Robson Arena.

“I think it’s about when you talk about on the recruiting trail, we are a have program,” Mayotte said. “We are not a have-not program. We are not a middle-of-the-road program.

“We present a package on why you should come here that’s as good as anybody’s,” he added. “What we haven’t been able to show is recent success. So, the student athletes we have been recruiting have had to take a leap of faith that the success was going to come. The guys who are here right now have done that.

“It’s not going to be easier for the next guy but it’s not just us telling them why we think this will be successful. You can look around and see what we have built and how we have built it without using the transfer portal (heavily), investing in our recruits, investing in our player development.  They can see how it plays out instead of it just sounding like a pitch.”

The future

For next year’s team –about a third of the current roster will graduate, go pro or leave via the NCAA transfer portal – 0.0004 won’t provide additional motivation. The freshman class will be defenseman-heavy to balance out the roster after forward-laden classes in Mayotte’s first three years.

“It is going to be a good class, there just won’t be as much asked of it,” Mayotte said. “We don’t need to. We’ll see if that changes but as of right now, we don’t need a first-line center or a No 1 defenseman. We have that in our program. We think we have a lot of quality and depth coming in.”

Whether they or any possible transfers will be called on to replace NY Rangers draft pick Noah Laba or free-agent goalie Kaidan Mbereko remains to be seen. Both are rightfully getting scouts’ attention and they will spend the next several weeks considering whether leaving now for the pros would pave a path to the NHL.

The eight graduating seniors have one year’s eligibility remaining due to the pandemic so all might consider a return to CC or hit the transfer portal to start graduate school elsewhere. Six – Nicklaus Andrews, – Ray Christy, Tyler Coffey, Chase Foley, Danny Weight and captain Logan Will – have entered the portal.

Senior defenseman Jack Millar said he will either go pro or return to CC.

“It’s pretty much deciding whether I want to sign a contract and go somewhere or come back and play,” Millar said. “I am just weighing those options.”

And while the individual Tigers consider their futures, CC fans can look back on the 2023-24 season as another positive step towards becoming a program that can win a national title, something that seemed quite unlikely three short years ago.

“I have said it from the day I got this job,” Mayotte said. “This is a championship program. This is a top-five program in the country and I believe that as much today as I did then. But (now) I think it will be easier for others to see what we have been talking about for three years.”

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Most wins since 2011

First winning record since 2012

Tied for third in NCHC, best finish since joining league in 2013-14

Tied for NCAA lead with nine wins over 2024 NCAA Tournament teams

Ten wins versus ranked teams most since the 20078-08 season

Mayotte named NCHC Coach of the Year

Mbereko named NCHC Goaltender of the Year and finalist for Mike Richter Award as nation’s best

Laba named NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year

First four-game season sweep of North Dakota in program’s 85-year history-

Ranked in Top 20 for first time since December 2012 and first time in Top 10 since February 2012

Omaha clamps down in third, forces decisive Game 3 Sunday at Ed Robson Arena for Tigers

By Joe Paisley

There was no memorable Tigers rally Saturday. So, there will be a decisive Game 3 on Sunday.

Omaha converted on both its power-play chances and used a stifling defensive effort in the third period to down Colorado College, 3-1, and forced a best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal series finale at 6 p.m. Sunday at Ed Robson Arena.

Omaha never trailed after scoring a power-play goal just 3:13 into Game 2 on a snipe by Tanner Ludtke before an announced sellout crowd of 3,410.

“We didn’t handle them being a desperate hockey team well enough,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte said. “When you are trying to eliminate a team, you cannot give them that type of life. Unfortunately, we did. I liked our response but we never got a lead.”

Colorado College controlled most of the play, hemming in the Mavericks for extended stretches and peppering Mavs goalie Simon Latkoczy with shots, but the Tigers were unable to connect on the rebounds, which were there for the taking.

The Slovakian made 31 of his 39 saves through the first 40 minutes to keep Omaha ahead, 2-1, entering the third.

“You can’t let it frustrate you,” Mayotte said. “You start squeezing it and start trying to make something out of nothing. We have to recommit to what has worked for us for two games in terms of how we get possession and how we get O-zone time.”

“I think there are a lot more positive than negative coming out of this game,” he added, noting the 32-10 shots margin and lopsided time of possession. “That has to be our focus.”

With the loss and Western Michigan’s win over third-seeded St. Cloud State, there will be two Game 3s in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference quarterfinals with Western Michigan 11^th Omaha 12th, CC 13^th and the Huskies 17^th in the most recent Pairwise rankings, which help the NCAA Selection Committee determine the 16-team field. 

All four teams need to win and advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff next weekend to bolster their chances of garnering an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. The loser would no longer be playing and likely miss out on the NCAAs.

Omaha salted the win away when it converted its second power play in as many chances when Brock Bremer fired a wrister high stick side with 12:23 remaining in the game to pull ahead, 3-1.

By then, the 21-11-4 Mavericks were forcing CC to dump the puck in and chase. Omaha kept CC from setting up in the UNO zone over the final 20 minutes and the 21-12-3 Tigers were unable to mount a comeback even with an extra attacker over the final two-plus minutes.

“We were pressing,” Mayotte said. “We had a little more time and space than we thought sometimes and we just put pucks deep. I thought (Omaha) did a good job breaking pressure and then punting pucks out into the neutral zone, making us have to retrieve and go back at it.” 

In the first period, CC senior defenseman Chase Foley scored his second goal in as many games about four minutes after the opening goal to tie it at 1-1. Assists on Foley’s third career goal went to Evan Werner who collected the puck after defenseman Max Burkholder forced a UNO turnover in the Tigers’ zone.

It was the senior defenseman’s third career goal with his first being the inaugural goal recorded at Robson Arena back in October 2021. He was happy to start finding the net, but knows Sunday’s result is the real concern.

“We have to find a way to win on Sunday, that’s our focus right now,” Foley said. “When they had that lead, they did a good job locking us down. We have to find a way to get to the net better and get more pucks on net. That has to be our focus (Sunday).”

Omaha would go ahead 2-1 when Jimmy Glynn collected a rebound, spun and fired a backhander past a screened Kaidan Mbereko (18 saves) with 3:14 left in the first for the eventual game winner.

Ice chips

The Tigers are now 65-92 all-time in postseason play. …. CC’s 21 wins are the most since the 2010-11 squad that won 23 games and made the NCAA West Regional Final in St. Louis. That was the last time CC competed in the NCAA Tournament. … The Tigers are 18-2 this season when scoring three or more goals and 20-5-3 when allowing fewer than three. … CC’s 50 shots on Friday were the most by the Tigers on one game since Nov. 20, 2009 versus Robert Morris. … Friday’s 34-shot margin was the largest since 55-15 vs. Mercyhurst on Nov. 30, 2002. … The Tigers have lost just four times in regulation in the past 21 games. … Friday’s 4-3 playoff home OT victory was the first since 4-3 over Wisconsin on March 12, 2011. …  Noah Laba has seven game-winning goals, the most by a Tiger since Brett Sterling (8) during the 2005-06 season. … Nine Tigers have recorded at least 10 assists, the most since the 2012-13 squad (9). … UNO leads the all-time series 29-15-7 with a 13-10-1 mark in Colorado Springs.

NCHC Quarterfinals 

Best of three series, Game 3, 6 p.m. Sunday (if necessary)

Friday’s scores

St. Cloud State 5, Western Michigan 2

Denver 4, Minnesota Duluth 0

North Dakota 5, Miami 1

Colorado College 4, Omaha 3 (OT)

Saturday’s scores

North Dakota 7, Miami 1; No. 1 UND advances to NCHC semifinals

No. 6 Western Michigan 6, No. 3 St. Cloud State; series tied 1-1

Denver 5, Minnesota Duluth 2; No. 2 DU advances to NCHC semifinals

No. 5 Omaha 3, No. 4 Colorado College 1; series tied 1-1

Sunday games

No. 6 Western Michigan (21-14-1) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (16-15-5), series tied 1-1

No. 5 Omaha (20-11-4) at No. 4 Colorado College (21-11-3), CC leads 1-0

Familiar foe, similar styles sets stage for historic Omaha-Colorado College NCHC playoff series

By Joe Paisley

Omaha is going to look familiar to Colorado College fans, and not because the teams played each other just three weeks ago.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks are a physical team that uses in-your-face defense to create turnovers and generate transition offense with enough offensive talent to capitalize on those chances.

Omaha (20-10-4) is one of the better faceoff teams in men’s Division 1 and uses that to gain puck possession to build offensive pressure in the opposing zone or alleviate it in their own end.

Sound familiar, Tiger faithful? Those are some of the reasons this NCHC home quarterfinal playoff series for fourth-seeded CC (20-11-3) promises to be a tight one.

“They pressure pucks really well,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said “The physical attributes are much the same. Because we are similar, that is why it will be such a good battle.”

“They do a good job keeping three guys above you,” he added. “Their D corps is big, strong and mobile so you have to find a way to get inside the dots against them.”

One reason Omaha went 1-0-1 against the Tigers three weeks ago was by denying lanes to get the puck behind the Mavericks to set up the forecheck, a key to CC’s 200-foot defensive structure. As a result, UNO had CC hemmed in for five of that weekend’s seven periods (including Saturday’s overtime).

“We learned a lot from that series,” Mayotte said. “It is easier to take lessons sometimes when you lose. We didn’t have the right game plan, It’s a different game plan this weekend.”

It may be a different environment too for the first postseason games between the two teams.

The atmosphere for the first home playoff series for CC in 12 years and inaugural postseason games at Ed Robson Arena, which set a record of 3,912 (3,407 capacity) against Denver last Friday, could be electric. That would prove beneficial for the Tigers, who started taking advantage with a 11-6-2 home record this season after a 5-4-1 first half.

“Our guys have a real comfort factor with how our game plays at our rink,” Mayotte said. “It’s a place that can get really loud and that feeds how we play. We are a forechecking team. We are a hard-to-play-against team. It fits the identity of our building. We want to use that energy and apply that and play a style that makes a team feel like they have no time and space. That is crowded and things are happening fast. We have found that in the second half. Now we just have to go out and execute.”

This series also features some of the league’s best at key positions.

This weekend’s best-of-three playoff series features unanimous league first team goalie honoree and sophomore Kaidan Mbereko, a former Team USA netminder at the world junior championships, taking on former Slovakian world juniors and NCHC honorable mention sophomore goalie Simon Latkoczy.

“He’s a tremendous goalie,” Mbereko said. “He has accomplished a lot. You come here to compete against the best and that is the opportunity this weekend.”

“There’s never a dull moment in the NCHC,” he said. “You are going to get everyone’s best. It will be a good challenge for our group. Hopefully we can come out on top.”

Challenging Latkoczy will be the CC forward group, paced by leading scorer Noah Laba, a first-team NCHC honoree like Mbereko.  The NY Rangers draft pick is confident the Tigers will be ready.

“We have been playing playoff hockey here for the last 10 games or so, so not much is going to change this weekend but we have a special opportunity to secure our spot in the NCAA Tournament as well as play for the NCHC (tournament title) so we’re excited and looking forward to it,” Laba said.

The Tiger’s scoring depth, led by the now-experienced underclassmen, is paced by Laba (35 points, 19 goals), sophomores Gleb Veremyev (25, 14 goals) and Ryan Beck (20, team-high 17 assists), freshman Zaccharya Wisdom (18, 10 goals), senior captain Logan Will (18, 11 assists) and freshmen Max Burkholder (16, seven goals) and Evan Werner (16, 10 assists). Eight Tigers have at least 10 assists, the most since the 2018-19 season (eight).

Omaha has its own standout forward in all-rookie teamer Tanner Luedtke, a third-round Coyotes draft pick, who led the Mavs with 25 points (10 goals) in 34 league games, He led a strong supporting cast including graduate forward Jack Randl (24, 12 goals) and juniors Victor Mancini (plus-10 defenseman), Zach Urdahl (20, 10 goals) and Ty Mueller (24, 15 assists). That scoring depth is why Omaha enters this weekend on a 9-1-2 tear since Jan. 26, including a home sweep of NCHC regular-season champion North Dakota last weekend.

“We’re just trying to prepare the same way we have the last 2 1/2 months,” UNO coach Mike Gabinet said. “We have a lot of positivity to build on. The guys have built some confidence going into this weekend.”

The same can be said for the Tigers, who remember dropping five of six possible standings points that weekend in Omaha, making the path to home playoff ice that much more difficult.”

“Our guys are excited,’ Mayotte said “We remember how we felt leaving that place. It is still in our locker room. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

Ice chips

CC leads the nation by winning 55.6 percent of its faceoffs, led by Will’s 59.9 percent, while Omaha is at 54.7 percent, second in the NCHC and fifth in the nation. … The last time CC hosted a home playoff series was in March 2012 when the Tigers were swept by Michigan Tech at the Broadmoor World Arena in the former men’s WCHA. ,,, UNO leads the all-time series 28-14-7 with a 12-9-1 mark in Colorado Springs. … CC’s 11 home wins ties that 2011-12 team while the 9-5-1 road mark matches the nine recorded by the 2007-08 team, the last squad to have multiple first-team league honorees.

NCHC Playoffs 

Best of three series, 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday (if necessary)

No. 8 seed Miami (7-24-3) at No. 1 North Dakota (24-10-2)

No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (12-18-5) at No. 2 Denver (24-9-3)

No. 6 Western Michigan (20-13-1) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (15-14-5)

No. 5 Omaha (20-10-4) at No. 4 Colorado College (20-11-3)

Denver pulls ahead for good in third, drops Colorado College to fourth seed in next weekend’s NCHC quarterfinal playoff series

By Joe Paisley

Fourth-ranked Denver seized control in the third period and garnered second
place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with a 4-3 home win over No.
10 Colorado College to conclude the regular season.

The fourth-seeded Tigers (20-11-3) finished tied
for third in the NCHC standings, their best conference finish since a tie for
third in the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 2008-09. No.
17 St. Cloud State garnered the NCHC third seed on a tiebreaker.

CC will host fifth-seeded No. 16 Omaha (20-13-1) in a best-of-three NCHC
playoff series with Game 1 at 7 pm Friday and Game 2 at 6 Saturday. If
necessary, Game 3 would be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Ed Robson Arena.

UNO and CC are tied for 11th in the Pairwise rankings with Western Michigan 13th, Providence 14th and SCSU tied for 15th with Massachusetts. 

It is the first time the Mavericks and the Tigers will play each other in
the postseason. Tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. with some available
since the CC students will be on spring break.

Omaha won in regulation and in a shootout Feb. 23-24 in Nebraska in the two
team’s only games this season. The result was disappointing after a home sweep
of North Dakota the weekend prior.

“We’ll get to work on them and we’ll be ready,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte told
KRDO Radio. “We have a pretty good idea what their (game plan) is. They play
with a lot of confidence and they’re good. But our guys are looking for a
little redemption.”

The Pioneers out shot CC by a 12-5 margin in the third, capped when Jared
Wright knocked in a rebound off a Denver shot that clanged off a net post and
landed out in front for a tap-in tally with 8:16 left.

“They controlled for most of the game tonight like we did (Friday),” Mayotte
said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. We didn’t break up their speed enough.”

Momentum had turned in CC’s favor late in the second period when a Denver
power play goal was disallowed by an offsides call following a video review.
That kept it at 3-2 Pioneers with 3:34 left before Tigers sophomore defenseman Ethan
Straky scored with 19.6 seconds remaining in the middle frame to tie the
game at 3-3.

It was Straky’s second goal this season and his first since the Oct. 13 season-opener
– a span of 32 games. It started off a turnover forced by Drew Montgomery
and collected by Bret Link, who passed over to Straky as he skated
forward into the Pioneers slot for a one-timer that blew past Denver goalie Matt
Davis (22 saves).

Earlier, freshman winger Evan Werner popped in a power-play goal with
12:31 left in second on a toe-drag wrister from the right faceoff circle to tie
the game at 2-2. The assists went to senior Chase Foley and freshman Max
Burkholder.

Denver would answer with Sam Harris’ second goal of the game with 4:47
remaining and the disallowed power-play goal just 71 seconds later that would
have blown the game open. Instead, the resilient Tigers answered with Straky’s
tally, setting up the decisive third period.

In the first period, CC started off well when Noah Laba forced a
Denver turnover and sent the puck forward to Montgomery, who converted the shorthanded
breakaway to put the Tigers head 1-0 just 5:35 into the regular-season finale.

“I liked how we responded every time they took the lead,” Mayotte said. “We didn’t
keep enough momentum after that (shorthanded) goal. When you get the lead like
that you want to build on that.”

Harris took advantage of his good fortune when CC defenseman Jack Millar’s
stick broke while making a pass in the Tigers’ offensive zone, sending the puck
to a wide-open Harris for a goal with 6:20 left in the first period to tie the
game at 1-1.

Rieger Lorenz sparked the Pioneers when he stole the puck and raced ahead, firing
a wrist shot past CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko (34 saves) with 15:46 left in
the second period to put the Pioneers ahead 2-1.

Saturday’s scores 

No. 16 Omaha 4, No. 3 North Dakota 1 (Mavs home sweep)

No. 15 Western Michigan 6, Miami 1 (Broncos home sweep)

Minnesota Duluth 4, No. 17 St. Cloud State 2 (Bulldogs home sweep)

NCHC Playoffs 

Best of three series, 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday
(if necessary)

No. 8 seed Miami (7-24-3) at No. 1 North Dakota (24-10-2)

No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (12-18-5) at No. 2 Denver (24-9-3)

No. 6 Western Michigan (20-13-1) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (15-14-5)

No. 5 Omaha (20-10-4) at No. 4 Colorado College (20-11-3)

Ice chips

CC recorded two shorthanded goals against the Pioneers this weekend, the
only ones allowed by DU in 36 games this regular season. Laba scored the first
Friday and set up the other on Saturday. … The Tigers’ 20 wins are the most
since 23 recorded during the 2010-11 season, the last time CC played in the
NCAA Tournament.  … … The 75^thanniversary of the first
game in this rivalry series will be in January 2025. … DU holds a 197-123-21
lead in the all-time series including 113-52-11 in Denver. The last Tigers win
at Magness Arena was the last time CC swept DU to close out the regular season,
March 8, 2019 (2-1). … The 341 games between the rivals ties Michigan-Michigan
State (341) for the most games played in a rivalry series.  … The last time CC hosted a home playoff series
was in March 2012 when the Tigers were swept by Michigan Tech at the Broadmoor
World Arena.

 

Friday’s ceremony provides chance to reflect on CC program’s progress thanks to senior class

By Joe Paisley

Every team enters a season with goals. In Colorado College’s case, 20 wins and a hosting best-of-three NCHC playoff series were some they met Friday night with a 4-3 home win over No. 4 Denver.

And while the season for the 10^th-ranked Tigers continues, the nine older players leaving the program this spring can do so knowing the hurdles they overcame staying in a rebuilding program instead of fleeing via the NCAA transfer portal said much about them.

During Saturday night’s postgame ceremony, senior defenseman Nicklas Andrews said this class wanted to make sure they left the program in better shape than when he arrived.

There’s no question that graduate defenseman Connor Mayer and seniors Andrews, Jake Begley, Ray Christy, Tyler Coffey, Chase Foley, Jack Millar, Danny Weight and captain Logan Will accomplished that.

“You are so proud when it pays off,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte said. “The toughest thing not just in sports but in life is you lose a lot. You have to give everything, and you might get nothing. That’s not easy to do. You win nine games your first year. We finished last (regular) season 0-11-2. There were a lot of opportunities to say ‘You know what? Maybe it is not in the cards here.

“Every time something came up, they got tougher and tougher and learned how to do it better and better,” he added. “They did it together and that’s the coolest thing.”

While the Tigers can reflect how far they have come later, they know the story of this season is not over with an ending that remains partly up to them.

“There have been a lot of years of work and people who came before us that made efforts to get us to this point,” Millar said recently. “To see it come to fruition is pretty incredible, but we are not done yet.”

Tigers down No. 4 Denver, clinch home playoff ice for first time in NCHC and since 2011-12 season

By Joe Paisley

Thanks to a superb performance by sophomore Noah Laba, Colorado College did not play its final home game Friday night.

The sophomore center scored twice as the Tigers held on to defeat No. 4 Denver, 4-3. The victory clinched home playoff ice for the first time in 12 years for CC and as a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The victory for the 10^th-ranked Tigers avenged two earlier losses to the second-place Pioneers that kept the Gold Pan Trophy in Denver for the fifth-straight season.

But that didn’t matter much to a record crowd of 3,912 at Ed Robson Arena (3,407 capacity) Friday as the 20-10-3 Tigers, enjoying their best season in 16 years, secured at least fourth place in the NCHC headed into Saturday’s regular-season finale. 

“We are excited to give this to our fans,” CC coach Kris Mayotte said. “We have to keep pushing because we still have a job to do. To get this out of the way tonight was huge because now we can just focus on our execution (Saturday at Denver).”

CC’s foe and final seeding for the best-of-three playoff series will be determined Saturday night. Tickets go on sale at cctigers.com at 10 a.m. Monday.

Colorado College could not have started the nationally-televised game worse, but fortunately for a rambunctious Tigers fanbase, it didn’t last thanks to Laba.

Laba scored just nine seconds after leaving the penalty box to tie the game at 1-1 with 17:22 left in the first period and Gleb Veremyev scored off a pass from Zaccharya Wisdom about 11 minutes later to pull ahead, 2-1.

DU had jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 17 seconds in when Jack Devine knocked in a rebound past CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko (20 saves) and the Pioneers looked primed to take complete control when Laba was called for tripping just 12 seconds later.

“In that moment, and I give a ton of credit to our penalty kill,” Mayotte said. “That’s a huge part of why we were able to be successful. When you execute that way, you build belief in your bench. The resiliency that we have talked about all year and the ability to get back to it and get back to work was impressive.”

The Tigers penalty kill (4 for 4) would stymie the Pioneers all night long and Drew Montgomery found a streaking Laba for a breakaway goal to jumpstart the Tigers. 

It was all CC until an extra-attacker goal by Tristan Broz with 1:30 left cut the Tigers lead to 4-3.

Laba scored his second with a tremendous individual effort, stealing the puck from a Denver defender at the DU blue line and fending off the Pioneer as he skated forward, eventually lifting a backhander in under the cross bar past goalie Matt Davis (27 saves) to make it 3-1 on a shorthanded goal midway through the second period.

“He was phenomenal,” Mayotte said. “He was doing all the little things too. He won 71 percent (15 of 21) of the (faceoff) draws tonight. He is a true 200-foot player. He has that explosion. If you give him a couple feet of space he will get after it.”

A goal by CC freshman Max Burkholder, his second game-winner in as many games, gave CC a 4-1 lead entering the third period.

Colorado College now sits at No. 11 in the Pairwise rankings, which are used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine the 16-team tournament field’s at-large berths.

One key for the Tigers was how they stayed calm during a rivalry game and did not panic after Denver’s quick start. It showed a maturity that started with the team’s leadership, Mayotte said.

“This had the potential to be an incredibly emotional game and the crowd was awesome,” Mayotte said. “It can unravel and our guys didn’t let that happen.”

That calm was impressive on the Tigers bench considering how raucous Robson was. The home-ice advantage publicized during the construction of the on-campus arena was loud and clear Friday.

“The energy tonight was absolutely incredible,” Mayotte said. “That was one of the loudest buildings I have ever been part of. We couldn’t talk on the bench. A guy standing two feet away from you, you had to scream at him because it was that loud.”

Friday scores 

Omaha 3, North Dakota 2

Western Michigan 3, Miami 2

Minnesota Duluth 6, St. Cloud State 5 (OT)

NCHC Playoff Pairings 

as of 11:30 p.m. Mtn Friday

*No. 8 Miami (seven points) at *No. 1 North Dakota (49)

*No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (25) at No. 2 Denver (42)

No. 6 Western Michigan (34) at No. 3 St. Cloud State (41)

No. 5 Omaha (37) at No. 4 Colorado College (41)

* seeds already determined

Ice chips

The Tigers’ 20 wins are the most since 23 recorded during the 2010-11 season, the last time CC played in the NCAA Tournament.  … The last Tigers win before Friday against the Pioneers was 4-3 on Jan. 1, 2021 with graduate defenseman Connor Mayer scoring the game-winner early in the third period. … The 75^thanniversary of the first game in this rivalry series will be in January 2025. … Denver holds a 196-123-21 lead in the all-time series including a 78-69-10 record in Colorado Springs. … The 340 games between the rivals trails only Michigan-Michigan State (341).  The NCHC schools will tie the Big Ten programs Saturday at Magness Arena. … Seven Tigers have recorded at least 10 assists this season, the most since eight did so during the 2018-19 season.

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.”

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.

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).

Tigers miss on too many chances, fall 2-1 in overtime to second-place St. Cloud State Huskies

Photo courtesy Center Ice View

By Joe Paisley

This game had everything but the result Tigers fans wanted.

St. Cloud State’s Verner Miettinen scored with 12.7 seconds left in overtime and Huskies goalie Dom Basse recorded a career-high 44 saves to down the 14^th-ranked Colorado College, 2-1, Friday night.

It was a night of missed opportunities for both teams but the ones that went awry for Colorado College had the announced sellout crowd of 3,640 at Ed Robson Arena groaning as the Tigers out shot SCSU 45-24.

“We had a lot (of chances), including a 5 on 3 at the end of the game and in overtime but we weren’t able to get it,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte said. “We had some bouncing pucks where we kind of had empty nets that just didn’t go our way. But that is hockey sometimes.”

“We talked about our Saturday game at Western (Michigan) and at that one maybe we didn’t deserve the extra point and we got it. Tonight, we probably deserved the extra point and didn’t get it.”

Two SCSU penalties in the final 36.4 seconds of the third period put the No. 16 Huskies down two men for the first 1:24 of overtime, but the Tigers were unable to capitalize.

It got even more frustrating for CC fans when Tigers sophomore Noah Laba, who has four OT game-winners this season, including two last weekend, broke free on a breakaway but fired his backhanded attempt over the Huskies net with 1:39 left to keep the Huskies alive.

They took advantage when Miettinen fired a shot past CC sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko’s glove attempt to win it. 

The OT loss, alongside Denver’s win over WMU Friday, dropped CC into fourth place. But the Tigers were not hanging their heads.

“I liked how we played,” Mayotte said. “I like especially that we built momentum through the second period and we stayed on it through the third period which I really liked. We have to rest up and be ready for tomorrow.”

A second-period goal by Stanley Cooley was negated by a goalie interference after a SCSU coach’s challenge with 4:33 left that would have tied it. But that sustained midgame surge by the Tigers who dominated the final 6:54 of the second period and continued to play well in the third.

“That line sparked it for us and we got to work after that,” Mayotte said.

Colorado College would break through when freshman Zaccharya Wisdom tied it with a power-play goal.

Wisdom, who plays bigger than his 175 pounds might suggest, stopped, fended off a Huskies defender and forced the puck in under Basse to tie the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series opener with a short-range tally with 11:28 remaining. It was a surprising way to tie the game, if only because CC came into the game with clicking at a paltry 10.9 percent (10 for 92) success rate with the man advantage.

Ryan Beck and Chase Foley picked up the assists, giving Beck a career-high and team-leading 12 assists.

“(Wisdom) is good in that area,” Mayotte said. “Him and (Bret) Link know how to hang out there. It was great for our power play to get one. He is consistent emotionally so I pulled him off the top line (for Evan Werner) for a couple shifts and he goes right back to work. That is a huge goal for us and big for him.”

Kyler Kupka opened the scoring for the second-place Huskies (12-8-5, 8-3-4-1-1-2 NCHC, 30 points) on the first shot of the game for the visitors, wristing a waist-high shot past a screened Mbereko for a 1-0 lead with 16:39 left in the opening period. It spoiled what had been a good start to the first period by the Tigers (15-9-1, 9-6-0-5-2-0, 24 points) which included a shot off the SCSU goal post by Werner just 23 seconds before Kupka’s tally.

The win snapped a 0-3-3 league run for the Huskies, who have not lost in Colorado Springs since Feb. 22, 2013. The loss ended CC’s five-game winning streak.

Ice chips

Entering this weekend, CC’s 15-8-1 record is its best after 24 games since the 2007-08 season (18-6 start). … Jan. 27 was the earliest CC has reached 15 wins since that season (Jan. 11, 2008). … The Tigers are 12-1 when scoring three or more goals and 14-4-1 when allowing three or less. … The underclassmen have now accounted for 49 of the team’s 73 goals, including 28 of the last 39.