Tigers Play at Omaha After Long Layoff
Colorado College plays its first game in 19 days and opens a two-game series against 10th-ranked Omaha on Friday, Feb. 12, at Baxter Arena, beginning at 7:07 p.m. (CT). The game will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM, 1240 AM and 92.5 FM and streamed live on NCHC.tv.

Schedule Changes
The Tigers have not played since Sunday, Jan. 24 at North Dakota. Upon returning from Grand Forks, the travel party was placed in quarantine following a positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing within the program. CC's games against Denver on Jan. 29-30 were postponed and have not been rescheduled. The Tigers were originally scheduled to play the Mavericks in Omaha on Feb. 4-5, but those games were moved to this weekend due to the quarantine.   

Last Time Out
Shane Pinto scored a pair of goals and Adam Scheel had 15 saves to lead third-ranked North Dakota to a 5-0 victory over Colorado College on Jan. 24 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Collin Adams added a goal and an assist, while Matt Kierstad and Jake Sanderson each collected a pair of helpers for the Fighting Hawks, who improved to 12-3-1. Pinto put UND on the board 4:06 into the first period. He rushed up the left boards, cut in towards the crease and tucked a shot past CC goalie Dominic Basse. North Dakota pulled away with three goals in the second period. Adams scored on a breakaway at the 3:42 mark, then Pinto notched his second of the game with a shot from the slot at 5:47. Judd Caulfield made it 4-0 just before the midway point of the frame when he poked his own rebound shot past Basse. Basse kept the Tigers  within reach with another outstanding save on a breakaway, this time stopping Caulfield's shorthanded attempt with 8:25 left in the period and the Tigers gained some momentum heading into the second intermission after killing off Connor Mayer's five-minute major for slashing as the second period came to a close. Grant Mismash closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:25 of the third period. Basse finished the game with 27 saves.

Up Next
The Tigers wrap up the weekend series against the Mavericks on Saturday, Feb. 13, beginning at 6:07 p.m. (CT).  

Tiger Tales
CC's 15 shots against North Dakota on Jan. 24 equalled the fewest in a game this season (Dec. 18 vs. St. Cloud State) ... Senior co-captain Zach Berzolla leads the country in blocked shots per game (3.25) and is No. 2 in blocks (52) ... Freshman Matthew Gleason is eligible to play for the Tigers this weekend after joining the team last month.  

For the Record
Colorado College is 3-11-2 after falling twice at No. 3 North Dakota on Jan. 23-24 ... Omaha is 11-6-1 after splitting a pair of games at Denver last weekend.   

Previous Meetings
The Tigers and Omaha have met 37 times, with Omaha holding a 22-10-5 advantage in the series. The Mavericks defeated CC twice, 6-1 and 3-0, at the NCHC Pod, then swept the Tigers last month at the Broadmoor World Arena.

Scouting the Mavericks
Chayse Primeau (7g,13a) leads the Mavericks and is fifth in the NCHC with 20 points, followed by Tyler Weiss (5g,11a) with 16 and Taylor Ward (9g,6a) with 15. Isaiah Saville has appeared in 16 of the team's 18 games this season with a 2.63 goals-against average and .918 saves pct.  

The Coaches
Mike Haviland (Elmira College, '90) is in his seventh season at the helm of the Tigers. He came to Colorado College after serving one year as head coach of the Hershey Bears (AHL). Haviland was an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2008-12, helping the team win the Stanley Cup in 2010 … Mike Gabinet (Omaha, '04) is in his fourth 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.

Another Tough Schedule
The Tigers' 2020-21 schedule includes 14 of their 24 regular-season games against teams that are ranked in the Top 10 of this week's USCHO.com Poll. Colorado College also has six games scheduled against teams that received votes and 12 contests against the last four national champions (North Dakota, Denver and Minnesota Duluth (x2)).

Balanced Scoring
CC has 16 players with at least one point in the first 16 games. Josiah Slavin (5g,6a) and Ben Copeland (4g,7a) lead the team with 11 points apiece, followed by Grant Cruikshank with eight (6g,2a), Jack Millar with six (2g,4a) and Patrick Cozzi with five (1g,4a).

Robson Arena Coming October of 2021
Never in the storied 80-plus years history of Colorado College Tiger Hockey has the team played its home games on campus. Thanks to the generosity of donors, including former CC hockey player Ed Robson '54, P'79, G'11, along with the vision of former President Jill Tiefenthaler and the Board of Trustees, that will change in 2021. The Ed Robson Arena will be a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose arena with a capacity of 3,400, including bar rail and club level seating.

On the Air
All CC games in 2020-21, 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. Both of this weekend's pre-game shows start 30 minutes before faceoff. The broadcasts also can be heard worldwide via the internet.

Cruikshank, Berzolla Wearing the "C"
Junior forward Grant Cruikshank and senior defenseman Zach Berzolla will serve as team captains in 2020-21. Cruikshank, who will be a captain for the second straight year, was the first sophomore in program history to wear the "C". Berzolla was an assistant captain in 2019-20.

Matthew Gleason Joins Program
Matthew Gleason, a finalist for the Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award in 2020, has been added to Colorado College's 2020-21 hockey roster. A native of St. Paul, Minn., Gleason opened the 2020-21 campaign with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (3g,3a in 13 games) following a stellar high school career. As a senior captain at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Gleason tallied 78 points (36g,42a) in 27 games during the 2019-20 season and was named the Star Tribune's Metro Player of the year, joining former Tiger and 2005 Hobey Baker winner Marty Sertich on that list of recipients. Gleason tallied 225 points (123g,102) in 107 career high school games and led Cretin-Derham Hall in scoring all four years. He also played 57 games in the Upper Midwest HS Elite Hockey League and 13 games over three years in the USA Select Festival.

Tigers Opened the Season At The "NCHC Pod"
Due to the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCHC opened the 2020-21 season with all eight teams playing in Omaha, Neb. With the focus on the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, staff, and officials, the conference has intentionally attempted to limit team travel. Because of this, NCHC teams have been divided into two divisions based on geography for 2020-21 scheduling purposes: East and West. The East Division consists of Miami, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The West Division consists of Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota and Omaha. CC arrived to the Pod late due to a postiive COVID-19 test within the program and subsequent 14-day quarantine for the entire team. The Tigers played eight games within a span of 12 days, and will make up games against St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth during the second half of the season.

Berzolla Named NCHC Defenseman of the Week
Zach Berzolla was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week by the league office Wednesday. Berzolla played a big role at both ends of the ice for Colorado College in its series against No. 11 Omaha. The team co-captain scored his first goal of the season, and only the fourth of his career in 123 career games, late in the third period in Monday's series opener to bring CC within one in a 3-2 loss. The goal was also his first point of the season. He then added the lone assist on the Tigers' first goal Tuesday that tied the game at 1-1 in an eventual 3-2 overtime loss as CC picked up one point in the standings. Defensively, Berzolla blocked four shots in Monday's game and two more on Tuesday, while helping CC go 4-for-5 on the penalty kill in the series. He finished the weekend with a goal and an assist for his first two points of the season, while blocking six shots, firing four shots on goal and finishing with an even plus/minus.