This Weekend
Colorado College opens the 2022 calendar year with a weekend series against Miami University, Jan. 7-8, in Oxford, Ohio. The puck drops at Goggin Ice Center on Friday, Jan. 7, at 5 p.m. (MT), and on Saturday, Jan. 8, at 3 p.m. (MT). Both games with be broadcast on KRDO Newsradio 105.5 FM /1240 AM and NCHC.tv.

Last Time Out
The Tigers and Arizona State split a series at Robson Arena, Dec. 17-18 ... On Friday, Ty Murchison scored two goals and Ben Kraws had 23 saves to lead Arizona State to a 5-2 victory. Murchison opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal 5:59 into the contest. The puck took an awkward bounce off a CC player behind the Tiger net and floated into the slot. Benji Eckerle collected it and found Murchison, who placed it past CC goalie Matt Vernon. The Tigers evened things up at 1-1 when Hunter McKown scored his fourth goal of the season at the 6:57 mark of the second period. McKown sent a pass from behind the net to a streaking Matthew Gleason. Gleason got a stick on the puck, and as it sailed towards the net, McKown knocked it out of midair past Kraws. Ethan Szmagaj gave the Sun Devils the lead for good at the 12:34 mark of the middle frame, then  Murchison took advantage of another CC turnover in its defensive zone and scored an unassisted goal from the high slot with 3:30 left in the second period to make it 3-1. The Tigers cut the lead to one when Logan Will took a pass from Danny Weight and scored a power-play goal from the high slot at the 7:41 mark of the third period. Colin Theisen scored a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute for Arizona State. Vernon finished with a season-high 31 saves, while McKown equaled his career high with six shots ... On Saturday, McKown, Tyler Coffey and Stanley Cooley each had a goal and an assist to lead the Tigers past ASU, 4-2. For the second consecutive night, Arizona State opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal. Thiesen stole the puck in the CC zone, skated down the right boards for a clean breakaway and beat Dominic Basse (27 saves) just eight seconds after Sean Dhooge was called for hooking and 1:19 into the contest. Brian Hawkinson, playing his 100th career game, evened things up with his fourth goal of the season at the 5:37 mark of the opening frame. Connor Mayer sent a shot that hit off the end boards and glanced off Hawkinson's stick before hitting off the end boards and glancing off Kraws' pad into the net. The puck barely cleared the goal line, and after a review, the officials deemed it a good goal. The Tigers grabbed their first lead of the weekend when Coffey fired a wrister from the high slot that beat Kraws high on his glove side 3:03 into the second period. McKown then scored the game-winner and made it 3-1 just 1:11 later with a spectacular wrist shot if his own from the left circle that snuck just inside the far post and chased Kraws (nine saves) from the game. Eckerle cut the CC lead to 3-2 at the 7:04 mark when he deflected a shot by Jack Judson past Basse, then Cooley put the game away with an empty-net goal with 1:41 left in the contest.

Up Next
The Tigers return to action at Robson Arena with a weekend series against No. 3-ranked Western Michigan, Jan. 14-15. Friday's game begins at 7:30 p.m., and will be televised on AT&T SportsNet, while Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 6 p.m. puck drop.

For The Record
Colorado College is 4-11-3 overall and 1-6-1 in the NCHC, good for seventh place in the league ... Miami University is 4-13-1 overall after falling to Mercyhurst, 5-4 in overtime, Tuesday night. The RedHawks are 1-7-0 in league play and in eighth place in the NCHC.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Miami have met 26 times, with CC holding a 12-11-3 advantage in the series. The Tigers are 4-1-1 in the last six games against the RedHawks, including a 4-1 victory and 1-1 tie last season in the "NCHC Pod" in Omaha.

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 … Chris Bergeron is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater. He served as head coach at Bowling Green for the previous nine seasons after 10 years as an assistant coach at Miami.

Mayotte Coached Again at World Juniors
Kris Mayotte served as an assistant coach with Team USA at the 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships. The tournament was canceled on  Dec. 29. Team USA was attempting to win secure back-to-back gold medals after defeating Canada in the 2021 final. Mayotte, who was on the staff in 2021, also won gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018 as an assistant coach with Team USA.

Tiger Tales
Tyler Coffey equaled his career high with two points (1g,1a) vs. Arizona State on Dec. 18 ... Connor Mayer tied his career highs with two assists and +3 vs. ASU (12-18) ... Hunter McKown tied his career high with six shots against the Sun Devils on Dec. 17 ... The Tigers are 1-8 on Friday this season and 3-3-3 on Saturday ... Matthew Gleason leads the Tigers in scoring with 13 points (5g,8a), followed by Logan Will (5g,6a) and Stanley Cooley (2g,9a) with 11 apiece.

Scouting the RedHawks
Derek Daschke leads the RedHawks with 14 points (2g,12a), followed by Matthew      Barbolini with 12 (7g,5a) and P.J. Fletcher with 11 (4g,7a). Goalie Ludwig Persson has started 13 games, with a 3.75 goals-against average and .883 saves  percentage.  

Youngsters Continue to Score
All but six of Colorado College's 42 goals this year have been scored by freshmen or sophomores. Brian Hawkinson (4), Patrick Cozzi (1) and Noah Prokop (1) are the only  upperclassmen to score for the Tigers in '21-22. Sophomores have scored 30 times this season, including 26 of the team's last 36 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 DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll. Following this weekend's series at Miami, Colorado College will play 10 of its last 14 games of the regular season against teams ranked in the Top 10.

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 represented the United States at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championships. Mbereko, currently a   goalie for the Lincoln Stars of the USHL, was one of three goalies on Team USA.  

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.