This Weekend
Colorado College wraps up the 2021-22 regular season with a home-and-home series against 3rd-ranked Denver, March 4-5. Friday's game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.,  at Ed Robson Arena and will be broadcast on AT&T SportsNet and KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM/1240 AM. Saturday's contest is at Magness Arena and will start at 7 p.m.  

Last Time Out
The Tigers dropped a pair of games at No. 11 St. Cloud State last weekend ... On Friday, Sam Hentges scored a pair of power-play goals and added an assist to lead SCSU past Colorado College, 4-1, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The Huskies scored on three of their six power-play opportunities and David Hrenak made 21 saves as SCSU halted the Tigers' two-game winning streak. Logan Will scored and Matt Vernon had 28 saves for the Tigers, who couldn't stay out of the penalty box then had trouble handling the home team's man advantage unit. Following a tripping call to Stanley Cooley, the Huskies got on the board first with a power-play goal at 8:34 of the opening frame. Spencer Meier slid down the left side, took a pass from Kevin Fitzgerald across the crease and put the puck in the open net. Easton Brodzinski doubled SCSU's lead with 3:31 left in the first period. Hentges' shot from the high slot was blocked before getting to Vernon. Brodzinski collected the puck in front of the crease and put it home for a 2-0 lead. Hentges made it 3-0 with a power-play goal just 3:27 into the second period. The Tigers had a 5-on-3 opportunity for 59 seconds midway through the period, but the Huskies killed off the first penalty. CC capitalized during the 5-on-4 as Will cut the deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal of his own. He took a pass from Jordan Biro and place a wrist shot from the left dot over Hrenak's right shoulder for his sixth goal of the season. Hentges put the Huskies back up by three with another power-play goal, this time beating Vernon with a wrister from the left circle with 1:13 left in the middle frame ... On Saturday, Tyler Coffey and Stanley Cooley scored in the third period and Matt Vernon had 21 saves, but the Huskies completed a weekend sweep with a 6-2 victory. Veeti Miettinen, Sam Hentges and Micah Miller each posted a goal and an assist for the Huskies, while David Hrenak stopped 18 shots. After allowing three power-play goals in a 4-1 loss Friday night, the Tigers had trouble staying out of the penalty box early on Saturday, getting whistled for four penalties in the first period. Miettinen capitalized on one of them and opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 9:15 mark of the first. CC goalie Matt Vernon thought he had stopped Miettinen's shot from the right dot, but the puck squirted through Vernon's legs for the Huskies' fourth power-play tally of the weekend. Kevin Fitzgerald doubled the lead for St. Cloud State with a 4-on-4 goal at 15:12 of the first. His shot from the slot deflected off a CC defender's skate and into the net past Vernon. The Huskies added a pair of goals in the second period. Josh Luedtke took a drop pass from Miettinen and fired a wrist shot past Vernon 3:02 into the frame, then Miller deflected a shot from Kyler Kupka while moving in front of Vernon. The Tigers, who attempted nine shots through the first two periods, clawed back into the game with a pair of goals 26 seconds apart in the third period. Coffey started things by finishing off a 2-on-1 with Patrick Cozzi at 8:28 of the final frame for his 10th goal of the season. Cooley then scored his fourth of the year at the 8:54 mark to make it 4-2.

Senior Night
Friday night will be 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 year, while Hawkinson (Miami Univ.) and Blixt (Boston Univ.) tranferred to CC prior to their junior season.

Up Next
The Tigers will play in the NCHC best two-of-three quarterfinals, March 11-13. Matchups will be announced Saturday night.

For The Record
Colorado College is 9-20-3 overall and 6-15-1 in the NCHC, good for seventh place in the league standings ... Denver is 23-8-1 overall and 16-6-0 in league play. The Pioneers are in second place in the NCHC.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Denver have met 330 times, with the Pioneers holding a 188-121-21 advantage in the series. The 330 games played between CC and DU is the second-longest series among two schools in college hockey history. Michigan and Michigan State have played each other 331 times. Denver has won the last five meetings vs. the Tigers, including two earlier this season to retain The Gold Pan.
 
Tiger Tales
Tyler Coffey has three goals in his last three games ... Logan Will had a career-high three-game point streak snapped last Saturday at St. Cloud State ... Hunter McKown leads the Tigers with 20 points (13g,7a), followed by Logan Will with 18 (6g,12a) and Stanley Cooley with 15 (4g,11a).

Scouting the Pioneers
Bobby Brink leads the Pioneers and the NCHC with 50 points (13g,371a), followed by Carter Savoie (18,18a), Cole Guttman (14g,22a) and Brett Stapley (13g,23a) with 36 apiece. Goalie Magnus Chrona has started 29 games this season and has a 2.37 goals-against average and .901 saves percentage.  

Youngsters Continue to Score
All but 11 of Colorado College's 75 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 52 times this season.

Another Tough Schedule
The Tigers are will have played 21 of their 34 regular season games against teams that that are ranked in this week's DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll.

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).

Chorske Named NCHC Rookie of the Week
Freshman Brett Chorske was named the NCHC Rookie of the Week after collecting three points in the Tigers' two overtime victories against Miami last weekend at Robson Arena. In Friday's 4-3 extra-session win, he scored to tie the game at 2-2 in the third period and earned the Second Star of the Game. The next night, Chorske dished out assists on each of CC's two goals in regulation, with his second helper tying the game in the third period and forcing overtime in an eventual 3-2 victory. It was only his second career multi-point game with the two points tying a career high. Chorske ended the series with a goal, two assists, three shots on goal and a +3 plus/minus. He also blocked a shot in Friday's win. On the season, Chorske now has four goals and five assists for nine points in 18 games. This is Chorske's second Rookie of the Week honor this season.

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.

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.  

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.
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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.  

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.