This Weekend
Colorado College returns to the ice for the first time in three weeks with a weekend series against 10th-ranked Omaha at Baxter Arena. Both games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. (MT), and broadcast on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM/1240 AM in the Pikes Peak Region and NCHC.tv.

Last Time Out
Despite not scoring a goal in two two games at Minnesota Duluth, Nov. 12-13, the Tigers earned one point against the fourth-ranked Bulldogs ... On Friday, UMD scored three times on the power play and handed Colorado College its second shutout of the season with a 5-0 victory at Amsoil Arena. Noah Cates and Blake Biondi each had a goal and an assist and Ryan Fanti stopped all 23 shots he faced. Quinn Olson and Wyatt Kaiser each collected a pair of assists. UMD jumped out to a 1-0 lead with an early power-play goal. Just 16 seconds after Connor Mayer was whistled for interference, Koby Bender took a feed from Cates at the left post and put the puck in an open net past CC goalie Dominic Basse. The Tigers couldn't take advantage of a UMD penalty that happened at the end of the first period, then the Bulldogs scored four times, including two more on the power play, in the second period to put the game out of reach. Cates recorded his own power-play goal when he deflected the puck past Basse from the slot for a 2-0 advantage at the 3:36 mark. By the middle of the period, UMD had a 4-0 lead after an even-strength goal from Casey Gilling and a power-play tally by Owen Gallatin. After Matt Vernon replaced Basse just past the midway point of the game for his first action of the season, Blake Biondi scored at 15:15 of the middle frame to make it 5-0. Each team had 23 shots in the game, and UMD converted on three of its five power-play opportunities. Colorado College finished the game 0-for-5 with a man advantage. Jordan Biro led all players with four shots on goal. Basse had 10 saves before giving way to Vernon, who finished with eight ... On Saturday, the Tigers and Bulldogs skated to a 0-0 draw, with UMD picking up the extra point in the standings by winning the three-player shootout, 1-0. Noah Cates put the only puck in the net during the first round of the shootout against CC's Matt Vernon, who got his first start of the 2021-22 campaign. Kobe Roth sent his shootout attempt wide and Vernon stopped Carter Loney, while UMD goalie Ryan Fanti stopped shots from Jordan Biro, Matthew Gleason and Stanley Cooley in the shootout. Vernon was outstanding in posting the first shutout of his career. He saved all 30 shots during regulation and overtime, including a pair of spectacular stops late in the second period with UMD on the power play. The Tigers had a couple of good looks during a power play in the first period, including a shot from Biro that clanged off the crossbar.

Up Next
The Tigers return home for a weekend series against the seventh-ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Dec. 10-11, at Ed Robson Arena. Friday's game will begin at 7:30 p.m., and will be televised by AT&T SportsNet. Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 6 p.m. puck drop.

For the Record
Colorado College is 2-7-3 overall and 0-3-1 in the NCHC ... Omaha enters the weekend with an 11-3-0 overall record and 2-2-0 mark in league play.  

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Omaha have met 39 times, with the Mavericks holding a 24-10-5 advantage in the series. The Mavericks won all six games last season, including four in Omaha. Two of those games came during the "NCHC Pod" in December.

The Coaches
Kris Mayotte (Union College, '06) is in his first season at the helm of the Tigers. He came to Colorado College after serving two years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan. Mayotte was an assistant coach for Providence College when the Friars won the NCAA Division I title in 2015 … Mike Gabinet (Omaha, '04) is in his fifth season as head coach at Omaha after serving as the team's associate head coach during the 2016-17 season. Prior to that, he was the head coach of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2015-16.

Tiger Tales
On Saturday, Nov. 13 at Minnesota Duluth, the Tigers played a game that finished with a 0-0 score for the first time in the 83-year history of the program ... Matt Vernon posted the first shutout of his career in his first start of the 2021-22 season ... The last time CC was shutout during a weekend series was Feb. 26-27, 2016 at Miami (3-0 and 4-0) ... Colorado College is outshooting its opponents, 127-90, in the third period this season ... Matthew Gleason leads the Tigers in scoring with nine points (3g,6a), followed by three players, Jordan Biro (5g,2a), Logan Will (3g,4a) and Stanley Cooley (1g,6a), with seven points apiece.

Scouting the Mavericks
Taylor Ward leads the Mavericks and is third in the NCHC with 21 points (12g,9a), followed by Tyler Weiss with 16 (5g,11a) and Brandon Scanlon with 14 (1g,13a). Goalie Isaiah Saville has played in 10 of the team's 14 games, with a 2.06 goals-against average and .910 saves percentage.  

Another Tough Schedule
The Tigers are scheduled to play 22 of their 34 regular season games, including their next six, against teams that that are ranked in this week's USCHO.com Top 20 poll. In addition, Colorado College is scheduled to play 10 games versus four of the last five national champions (Minn. Duluth (2), Denver and North Dakota).

Prokop Returns to Omaha
Junior Noah Prokop makes his return to Omaha this weekend. Prokop transferred to Colorado College prior to this season after spending two seasons with Omaha. He had two goals and two assists in 51 games for the Mavericks and is a two-time NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete.

Mayotte Coaching World Juniors Again
Kris Mayotte, who collected his first win as a collegiate head coach on Friday, Oct. 22, when the Tigers upset 10th-ranked Boston College, will take some time off from his duties at Colorado College to serve as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships, Dec. 26 - Jan. 5, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. Mayotte has won a pair of gold medals (2017 and '21) and a bronze (2018) in three stints as an assistant coach with Team USA at the World Junior Championships.

Youngsters On Fire
All but one of Colorado College's 26 goals this year have been scored by freshmen or sophomores. Patrick Cozzi is the only junior or senior to score for the Tigers in '21-22. Sophomores have scored 17 of the team's last 20 goals. In addition, sophomore Dominic Basse has played in 11 of the team's 12 games in the net this season.

On the Air
All CC games in 2021-22, home and away, will be broadcast live throughout Southern Colorado on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 and 92.5 FM and 1240 AM, featuring Ken Landau with the play-by-play. The broadcasts also can be heard worldwide via the internet.

CC to Televise 13 Games This Season
Colorado College will televise more games during the 2021-22 hockey season than any other season in program history. The season-opener on Oct. 8 against St. Lawrence University was shown in Colorado Springs and throughout the Southern Colorado region on KRDO NewsChannel 13. Eleven other games will be televised live on AT&T SportsNet, including nine from CC's new home, Ed Robson Arena, while the contest against Omaha on Jan. 28 will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.

Yoon and Hawkinson Named Captains for 2021-22 Season
Seniors Bryan Yoon and Brian Hawkinson will serve as co-captains of the Colorado College hockey team for the 2021-22 season. Yoon, a defenseman from Parker, Colo., is the team's active scoring leader with 49 points (5g,44a) in 105 career games. He was selected to the all-College Hockey News Rookie Team and NCHC all-Rookie Team as a freshman after finishing second in the NCHC and third in nation among freshmen with 23 assists. His 26 points (3g,26a) that season were the most by a CC freshman defenseman since Scott Swanson had 48 in 1995-96. Yoon finished second on the team with 16 assists as a sophomore and posted a goal and an assist in 19 games last season. Hawkinson, meanwhile, appeared in 23 games and notched two goals and one assist last season, his first as a Tiger after spending two years at Miami University. The forward from Centennial, Colo., scored 18 points (3g,15a) in 60 games for the RedHawks, including 16 as a freshman, the second-most by a rookie on the team in '18-19.

Three Tigers Have Stanley Cup Genes
Three current CC players, Matt Vernon, Brett Chorske and Danny Weight, each have a father that played in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup. Mike Vernon won a pair of titles with Calgary ('89) and Detroit ('97), while Tom Chorske won with New Jersey in 1995 and Doug Weight with Carolina in 2006.