This Weekend
Colorado College plays its final non-conference games of the season against Arizona State, Dec. 17-18, at Ed Robson Arena. Friday's game begins at 7:30 p.m., and will be televised by AT&T SportsNet and shown on TSN2 in Canada. Saturday's contest, meanwhile, is scheduled for a 6 p.m. puck drop.

Last Time Out
Seventh-ranked North Dakota swept the Tigers at Robson Arena last weekend ... On Friday, North Dakota notched four consecutive goals after giving up an early score to Colorado College and defeated the Tigers, 5-2. Junior transfer Noah Prokop opened the scoring with his first goal as a Tiger just 3:08 into the contest. Tommy Middleton sent Prokop a pass from behind the net and Prokop deposited it past UND goalie Zach Driscoll. The Tigers kept the momentum through the first half of the first period, but Driscoll kept it a one goal game until Louis Jamernik evened things up at the 14:09 mark. Cooper Moore sent a shot from the point that was saved by CC goalie Dominic Basse, but Jamernik found the puck in the slot and beat Basse. North Dakota then took advantage of a pair of CC penalties to take a two-goal lead. Following a roughing call to Jordan Biro with 2:15 left in the opening frame, Matteo Costantini scored from the left circle after Riese Gaber's shot from the right circle was saved by Basse to take the lead for good. The Fighting Hawks extended the lead to a pair just 1:04 into the second period with another power-play goal. Gaber sent a cross-ice pass to Jake Schmaltz, who placed a wrister past Basse from the top of the left circle. UND's Nick Portz put the Fighting Hawks up 4-1 at the 7:43 mark of the third period, but CC captain Brian Hawkinson notched his third goal in the last two games to cut the deficit to two with 4:55 remaining. Jordan Biro sliced through center ice and flipped a pass to Hawkinson, who beat Driscoll from the right circle. Gavin Hain closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left on the clock ... On Saturday, Louis Jamernik scored two goals and Jakob Hellsten had 23 saves in his first career start as North Dakota completed the sweep with a 4-1 victory. The Tigers opened the scoring for the second straight night as Matthew Gleason took a beautiful pass from Tyler Coffey and notched a power-play goal at the 7:55 mark of the opening period. Stanley Cooley started the play at the end boards, getting the puck to Coffey, who sent a pass across the crease to a wide open Gleason at the far post. Unfortunately, also for the second consecutive game, North Dakota struck quickly to even the score at 1-1. Jamernik took the puck from his own end through center ice and put a shot from the high slot past Colorado College goalie Matt Vernon at the 8:42 mark. Vernon (25 saves) was spectacular in keeping the game tied late in the first period, making six saves, including one on a 2-on-1 rush, in the final 1:20 of the frame. UND took a 2-1 lead at the 8:59 mark of the second period with a power-play goal by Gavin Hain. Connor Ford took a shot from the right circle that was saved by Vernon, but Hain cleaned up the rebound and put it through Vernon's legs. The Tigers found themselves on the penalty kill for much of the second period, taking five penalties during the middle 20 minutes. CC killed off the other four penalties during the frame, but couldn't find the equalizer. The Fighting Hawks put the game away with empty-net goals by Tyler Kleven and Jamernik in the final minute.

Up Next
The Tigers return to action in 2022 with a weekend series against Miami University, Jan. 7-8, at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio. Friday's game begins at 5 p.m. (MT), while Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 3 p.m. (MT) puck drop.

For The Record
Colorado College is 3-10-3 overall and 1-6-1 in the NCHC, good for seventh place in the league ... Arizona State is 9-9-0 after sweeping Clarkson, 4-3 and 4-1, at home last weekend.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Arizona State have met four times, with ASU holding a 2-1-1 advantage in the series. The Sun Devils swept a series in December of 2018 (4-2 and 4-0) in Tempe. The previous season, the Tigers won, 4-0, and the teams tied, 4-4, in Colorado Springs.  

The Coaches
Kris Mayotte 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 … Greg Powers is in his 14th overall season on the Sun Devil coaching staff and his seventh as head coach of ASU's NCAA Division I hockey program. He was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Spencer Penrose Award, which is awarded to the Division I Coach of the Year. The 2018-19 season was a historical campaign, as the Sun Devils became the fastest start-up program to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in NCAA Division I history.

Mayotte Coaching at World Juniors This Weekend
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 not be behind the Colorado College bench this weekend as he is serving 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, who will be in Detroit this week for the team's training camp, 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. Assistant coach Peter Mannino will serve as the Tigers' acting head coach against Arizona State.

Acting Head Coach Peter Mannino
Peter Mannino joined the CC coaching staff after spending two seasons as head coach of the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers. Prior to joining the Des Moines franchise, he spent two seasons coaching in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Mannino served as an assistant coach at Omaha during the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach, working as the primary scout and recruiter while coaching and developing Omaha's goaltenders.
The following season, he was hired as the associate head coach at Miami University and was heavily involved in Miami's recruiting efforts. Mannino accumulated an impressive playing career, including four years as a goaltender with the University of Denver, leading the Pioneers to the NCAA Division I National Championship as a freshman in 2005. Mannino was named the MVP of the Frozen Four that season, posting a .966 save percentage during the tournament.

Tiger Tales
Brian Hawkinson scored his third goal in the last two games on Friday ... Noah Prokop scored his first goal as a Tiger since transferring from Omaha ... The Tigers have outscored their opponents, 16-11, in the third period this season ... Matthew Gleason leads the Tigers in scoring with 12 points (4g,8a), followed by Logan Will with 10 (4g,6a) and Jordan Biro (5g,4a) and Stanley Cooley (1g,8a) with nine apiece.

Scouting the Sun Devils
Matthew Kopperud leads the Sun Devils with 23 points (11g,12a), followed by Colin Theisen with 21 (9g,12a) and Josh Doan with 19 (5g,14a). Goalie Ben Kraws has started 10 of the team's 18 games, with a 3.38 goals-against average and .889 save percentage.  

Recent Signee Named to Team USA For World Juniors
Kaidan Mberko, who recently signed a National Letter of Intent to attend and play hockey at Colorado College, was named one of the 25 players that will represent the United States at the 2002 IIHF World Junior Championships. Mbereko, currently a  goalie for the Lincoln Stars of the USHL, is one of three goalies on Team USA.  

Youngsters Continue to Score
All but five of Colorado College's 36 goals this year have been scored by freshmen or sophomores. Brian Hawkinson (3), Patrick Cozzi (1) and Noah Prokop (1) are the only  upperclassmen to score for the Tigers in '21-22. Sophomores have scored 22 of the team's last 30 goals.

Another Tough Schedule
The Tigers are scheduled to play 22 of their 34 regular season games against teams that that are ranked in this week's USCHO.com Top 20 poll. CC's last eight games were against teams ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the game. In addition, floowing the Miami series on Jan. 7-8, Colorado College will play 12 of its last 14 games of the regular season against ranked teams.

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.

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.