Complete weekly press release

Colorado College is itching to get after it again.

Tied for first place in the early National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings, CC resumes league play his week when it takes on Western Michigan University in a two-game series in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Faceoff on the NHL-size sheet at WMU's Lawson Ice Arena (3,667 seating capacity) is 7:07 p.m. ET Friday and Saturday.

While it marks CC's first-ever appearance in Kalamazoo, the Tigers have experienced a lot of success in the Great Lakes State during Scott Owens' reign as head coach, posting a 18-7-3 (.696) record in Michigan over the course of the last 14 seasons.

They're 1-3 overall and 1-1 in NCHC play so far in 2013-14 after splitting a pair of league decisions with Minnesota Duluth two weekends ago and suffering a pair of close non-conference losses at Clarkson last week. 

Western Michigan, which was idle last weekend, brings a 1-2-1 overall mark into its first-ever NCHC series.

While experiencing some key injuries and early offensive struggles, Colorado College currently ranks ninth nationwide in penalty killing with a 90-percent (18 for 20) success ratio through its first four games. CC also is 13th in scoring defense, giving up only 2.25 goals per game so far.

With his glittering saves percentage of .939, second best in the NCHC, senior goaltender Josh Thorimbert is tied for 13th nationally among all NCAA Division I goaltenders. On Monday he was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week after stopping 70 of 73 shots in the series at Clarkson.

Top scorer for the Tigers heading into this week's action, with a goal and two assists for three points, is freshman defenseman Jaccob Slavin. He's one of four blue-line specialists, and five players overall, on this year's roster who have been drafted by NHL teams. Two other freshmen, forwards Zach Aman and Alex Roos, also have scored a goal apiece in the first two weeks of this 2013-14 season.