Tigers Travel to Grand Forks for NCHC Playoffs
Colorado College travels to Grand Forks, N.D., this weekend for the 2022 NCHC Playoffs. The Tigers, seeded seventh, will face No. 2-seed North Dakota in a best-of-three series at Engelstad Arena, beginning on Friday, March 11. All games this weekend will be broadcast on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and streamed live on NCHC.tv.

Last Time Out
The Tigers dropped a pair of games to third-ranked Denver in the regular-season series finale last weekend ... On Friday, Kyle Mayhew scored a goal and added an assist and Magnus Chrona posted 19 saves as the Pioneers spoiled Colorado College's senior night with a 5-0 victory over the Tigers at Robson Arena. Four Tigers, Bryan Yoon, Jackson Ross, Hugo Blixt and Brian Hawkinson, played their final home game in front of a season-high crowd of 3,891 to cap the inaugural season of Robson Arena. The NCHC's leading scorer, Bobby Brink, opened the scoring 3:45 into the contest. He took a pass from Carter Savoie, rushed down the left boards and placed a shot between the legs of CC goalie Dominic Basse. The Pioneers doubled the lead at the 11:04 mark of the opening frame when Cameron Wright scored into an open net from the right circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Massimo Rizzo. Mayhew made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal at 5:29 of the second, and Connor Caponi scored the Pioneers' fourth goal with 5:52 left in the middle frame. Carter Mazur closed out the scoring with 3.2 seconds remaining in the third period. Denver outshot the Tigers, 36-19, and held CC to only three shots four power-play opportunities, including a five-minute man advantage midway through the first period. Tommy Middleton led Colorado College with a career-high five shots, while Basse made 31 saves ... On Saturday, Carter Savoie scored twice and added an assist to lead Denver to a 5-2 victory in the 2021-22 regular-season finale Saturday night at Magness Arena. For the second consecutive night, Denver held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Savoie put the Pioneers on the board during a power play with a rocket from the high slot, then Stapley put a wrist shot past CC goalie Dominic Basse at the 12:25 mark. Less than one minute after Stapley's goal, CC's Stanley Cooley was hooked during a clean breakaway. However, Matt Davis saved Cooley's penalty shot to keep the Pioneers on top by two. Denver put two more goals on the board in the second period, including Savoie's second of the game with less than two minutes remaining in the frame. The Tigers got on the board for the first time this season against Denver when Marc Pasemko scored his first career goal 1:28 into the third period. Pasemko corralled a loose puck at the top of the right circle and beat Davis (24 saves) over his left shoulder. Cole Guttman closed out the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 5:05 of the final period. The Pioneers outshot CC, 35-26, for the game, but the Tigers held an 18-6 advantage in the third period. Each team converted one of five power plays. Basse finished with 30 saves and Nicklas Andrews, who assisted on Cooley's goal, posted a career-high five shots for the Tigers.
 
Up Next
The winner of this weekend's quarterfinal series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn., March 18-19.   

Conference Postseason History
Colorado College is 61-88 all-time in conference postseason play. The Tigers were 41-51-2 during first-round series' in the WCHA (a two-game, total-goal series was played prior to the 1987-88 season, best-of three series since then), and are 4-12 in the NCHC, including a three-game series win at Western Michigan in 2019. The 2020 postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year was a single-elimination tournament in Grand Forks. The Tigers lost to St. Cloud State, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.

For The Record
Colorado College finished the regular season with 9-22-3 overall record and 6-17-1 mark in the NCHC, good for seventh place ... North Dakota is 22-12-1 overall and 17-6-1 in league play. The Fighting Hawks tied with Denver for the Penrose Cup, but the Pioneers own the tiebreaker and claimed the No. 1 seed for the NCHC playoffs.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and North Dakota have met 265 times, with UND holding a 170-84-11 advantage in the series. The Fighting Hawks have won the last 11 games against the Tigers, including all four this season.

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 … Brad Berry is in his seventh season as head coach at UND. Berry was an assistant coach at the school for nine seasons before taking over the helm in May of 2015. He became the first person in the history of NCAA Division I men's hockey to lead his team to a national title in his first year as head coach.

Tiger Tales
Marc Pasemko scored his first career goal Saturday night ... Tommy Middleton attempted a career-high five shots Friday night, while Nicklas Andrews had a career-best five on Saturday ... Hunter McKown leads the Tigers with 20 points (13g,7a), followed by Logan Will with 18 (6g,12a) and Stanley Cooley with 16 (5g,11a) ... Dominic Basse has appeared in 24 and started 23 games this season, while Matt Vernon has played in 14 and started 11.

Scouting the Fighting Hawks
Riese Gaber leads the Fighting Hawks with 35 points (14g,21a), followed by Connor Ford with 27 (4g,23a) and Jake Sanderson with 24 (7g,17a). Goalie Zach Driscoll has started 29 games, with a 2.43 goals-against average and .905 saves percentage.  

Youngsters Continue to Score
All but 11 of Colorado College's 77 goals this year have been scored by freshmen or sophomores. Brian Hawkinson (5), Patrick Cozzi (2), Bryan Yoon (1), Noah Prokop (1), Connor Mayer (1) and Hugo Blixt (1) are the upperclassmen to score for the Tigers in '21-22. Sophomores have scored 53 times this season.

Another Tough Schedule
The Tigers played 21 of their 34 regular-season games against teams that are ranked in this week's DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll, including 16 ranked in the top 10. Colorado College has played 10 games against top 5 teawms at the time of the game.

Senior Night
Friday night was Senior Night at Robson Arena, with CC's four seniors, Bryan Yoon, Jackson Ross, Brian Hawkinson and Hugo Blixt, being honored in a post-game ceremony. Yoon and Ross have been with the Tigers all four years, while Hawkinson (Miami Univ.) and Blixt (Boston Univ.) tranferred to CC prior to their junior season.

Ironmen This Season
Three Tigers, senior defenseman Bryan Yoon, junior defenseman Jack Millar and freshman forward Stanley Cooley, played all 34 regular season games in '21-22.

Tigers Sign 11 to NLI
Colorado College has signed 11 players to a National Letter of Intent to attend and play hockey at the school in the future. They are: Cade Ahrenholz (F, Omaha Lancers - USHL), Max Burkholder (D, Dubuque Fighting Saints - USHL), Bret Link (F, Fargo Force - USHL), Kaidan Mbereko (G, Lincoln Stars - USHL), Drew Montgomery (F, Tri-City Storm - USHL), Noah Serdachny (F, Salmon Arm Silverbacks - BCHL), Ethan Straky (D, Green Bay Gamblers - USHL), Michael Valdez (F, Springfield Jr. Blues - NAHL), Gleb Veremyev (F, Lincoln Stars - USHL), Evan Werner (F, Youngstown Phantoms - USHL) and Zaccharya Wisdom (F, Cedar Rapids Roughriders - USHL).

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.  

Inaugural Season at Robson Arena
Never in the storied 80-plus years history of Colorado College Tiger Hockey had the team played its home games on campus. Thanks to the generosity of donors, including former CC hockey player Ed Robson '54, along with the vision of former President Jill Tiefenthaler and the Board of Trustees, that changed on October 8, 2021, when the Tigers and St. Lawrence battled in the first regular-season game at Ed Robson Arena. Colorado College ranks No. 1 in the nation with percentage of attendance vs. capacity, at 104.5 percent. The capacity of Robson Arena is 3,407 and CC averaged an attendance of 3,559 in its 17 regular-season games.

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.

CC to Televise 13 Games This Season
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 was televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.