The No. 17/18 Colorado College Tigers resume NCHC action this weekend with a series against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Jan. 12-13, in Duluth, Minn. Each game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. (MT). The Tigers are coming off a split at nationally-ranked Minnesota last Sunday and Monday. Live streaming and live stats links can be found at CCTigers.com.

85 Years of CC Hockey
This season marks the 85th year of varsity ice hockey at Colorado College and 11th season as a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. CC was a charter member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (1951-52) for 62 seasons before joining the NCHC with seven other schools prior to the 2013-14 campaign.

How To Listen / Watch
Both games this weekend will be broadcast live in the Colorado Springs area and Southern Colorado on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM / 95.5 FM / 1240 AM with the 'Voice of the Tigers' Ken Landau, and streamed on NCHC.tv. Friday's contest will be televised live on SOCO CW in the Southern Colorado region.  

Last Time Out
Colorado College split a pair of games at Minnesota ... On Sunday, Bret Link scored a career-high two goals and Kaidan Mbereko had 33 saves to lead the 20th-ranked Tigers to a 6-4 victory over No. 10 Minnesota. Noah Laba added a goal and an assist, while Logan Will collected two helpers as the Tigers produced their third consecutive road win over a Top 10 team. Minnesota's Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring at the 3:41 mark of the second period, but the Tigers roared back with three unanswered goals. Link evened the score at the 4:45 mark when he flipped the puck from the left side into the net for his second goal of the season. Gleb Veremyev put the Tigers ahead for good with his eighth goal of the season at the 9:20 mark, and Tyer Coffey made it 3-1 with 3:15 remaining in the middle frame with a power-play goal. After combining for four goals in the second period, each team put three on the board in the third. John Middelstadt scored from the right circle to cut the lead to 3-2 at the 7:12 mark, but Link put in his second of the game and made it 4-2 when he flipped a shot over UM goalie Justen Close's shoulder after a save off a shot by Connor Mayer. That two-goal advantage only lasted 37 seconds as Snuggerud notched his second of the contest and it was 4-3. Zachharya Wisdom took advantage of a turnover in the Minnesota offensive end and converted a breakaway with 2:34 remaining, but the Gophers' Brody Lamb scored 17 seconds later and it was 5-4 with 2:17 remaining. Following Lamb's goal, the Tigers held the puck in the Minnesota zone for a full minute, and Close could not leave the ice for an extra skater until there were just 58 seconds remaining. Noah Laba sealed the game with an empty-net goal with eight second remaining to give the Tigers ... On Monday, Snuggerud had three goals and an assist and Rhett Pitlick scored twice and collected an assist in a 6-2 Minnesota victory. Logan Will opened the scoring just 1:20 into the contest. He fired a shot from the top of the slot that caromed off the back board right to back to him and he placed a backhander over the shoulder of Close. Charlie Strobel tied the game at the 3:22 mark of the opening frame with a wrister from the left circle that beat Mbereko just inside the far post. It appeared the Tigers took a 2-1 lead late in the period when Gleb Veremyev put in a shot from the slot on the power play, but Minnesota challenged the play for offside and the call on the ice was overturned. Less than a minute later, Will fired a shot off the pipe and it was 1-1 at the first intermission. Snuggerud put a pair on the board in the second period Monday to give the Gophers a 3-1 lead. He made it 2-1 just 19 seconds into the middle frame by completing a 2-on-1 pass from Pitlick, then fired a wrister past Mbereko from the top of the right circle at the 8:07 mark. Ryan Beck closed the gap to 3-2 with a wrister from the top of the left circle at 5:28 of the third off an assist from Will, and Veremyev clanged a shot off the pipe 20 seconds later that would have tied the game, but Pitlick scored at 8:34 and 10:05 and Snuggerud completed his hat trick at 11:43 of the final frame.

Highest Ranking in 11 Years  
Following the 6-4 victory over Minnesota last Sunday, Colorado College is ranked 17th in the USCHO.com poll, its highest ranking in that poll since Nov. 19, 2012 (14th). Meanwhile, The Tigers are also ranked 18th in the USA Hockey / The Rick Live poll, their highest in that poll since Nov. 12, 2012 (also 14th).  

Historic Sweep  
On Dec. 8-9, Colorado College posted its first sweep at North Dakota since Nov. 26-27, 1993, and the first over a No. 1-ranked team since Jan. 8-9, 2005, at Minnesota.

Best Start in 12 Years  
Colorado College's 10-7-1 record after 18 games is the best since the 2011-12 season (started 12-6). The Tigers are tied for 16th in the country with 10 victories. Jan. 7 is the earliest date CC has reached 10 victories since the 2011-12 campaign (Dec. 16, 2011).   

The Coaches
Kris Mayotte is in his third 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. In addition, he has won a pair of gold medals and a bronze in four stints as an assistant coach with Team USA at the World Junior Championships … Scott Sandelin is in his 24th season at Minnesota Duluth. He led the Bulldogs to the 2011, 2018 and 2019 national championships and won the Spencer Penrose Award (Division I Coach of the Year) in 2004.

Previous Meetings
The Tigers and Minnesota Duluth have met 206 times, with the Bulldogs holding a 109-86-11 advantage in the series, including a 58-37-5 mark in Duluth. The teams split four games last season, winning once at each other's arena. Colorado College posted two of its six shutouts against the Bulldogs. The Tigers are 4-3-1 in the last eight games against UMD and haven't swept a weekend series against the Bulldogs since Feb. 22-23, 2008, winning 3-0 and 4-0, respectively, in Duluth.

Mbereko Named NCHC Goaltender of the Month
Colorado College sophomore Kaidan Mbereko was named the NCHC Goaltender of the Month. Mbereko started all four Colorado College games in December, posting a 2-1-1 record. He ranked third in the NCHC with a .926 save percentage and a 1.95 goals-against average during the month. Mbereko compiled 46 saves in a series with future NCHC member Arizona State to start the month. He racked up 34 stops, including 19 in the first period, in a 2-2 overtime tie on Dec. 1 for his second-highest save total of the season. His best outings came a week later, when he backstopped CC to a pair of 3-2 overtime wins at then-No. 1 North Dakota. Mbereko compiled 32 saves in the series opener on Dec. 8 before making 22 more stops in another overtime win a night later.

Youngsters Scoring  
Freshmen and sophomores have combined for 39 of the team's 57 goals and 87 of the 145 points. 18 of CC's last 25 goals have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.  

Up Next
The Tigers return home to face Miami University, Jan. 19-20, at Ed Robson Arena.

Tiger Tales
CC's 6-2 record on the road is the best after eight games since the 2002-03 season  (5-1-2) ... The last time Colorado College won three consecutive true road games against ranked teams was during the 2007-08 season ... This is the first season since 2019-20 that the Tigers have two road sweeps in one campaign (St. Cloud State and Princeton) ... The last time CC had two road sweeps in conference play was 2010-11 (Michigan Tech and St. Cloud State) ... Prior to Monday's loss at Minnesota, CC had won five consecutive road games for the first time since the 2010-11 season ... Colorado College is fourth in the NCHC and tied for 19th in the nation in goals per game, averaging 3.2 per contest (57 in 18 games) ... The Tigers are second in the NCHC and tied for seventh in the country with a .540 faceoff winning percentage.

Link Named NCHC Rookie of the Week
Colorado College freshman forward Bret Link has been named the KJ Branding NCHC Rookie of the Week after helping the Tigers split a pair of games at nationally-ranked Minnesota. Link racked up three points against the Gophers and is now riding a career-long three-game point streak. In Sunday's series opener against the 10th-ranked Gophers, Link scored two even strength goals for his first career multi-goal game, after entering with one goal all season. His first goal was CC's first goal and tied the game at 1-1, while his second tally put the Tigers up 4-2 in an eventual 6-4 victory. Link earned First Star of the Game in Sunday's win. In Monday's series finale, the Anchorage, Alaska, native dished out the primary assist on the game's first goal in an eventual 6-2 defeat.

Three Future Tigers Sign National Letter of Intent
Three future Tigers recently signed a National Letter of Intent to attend and play hockey at Colorado College. The players are forwards Jordan Brisson (Chicago Steel – USHL),  Cooper Conway (Omaha Lancers - USHL) and Coy Pighin (Drumheller Dragons - AJHL). This group joins six players, forwards Owen Beckner and Gavin Lindberg, defensemen Philippe Blais-Savoie, Ryan Koering and Fisher Scott, and goaltender Carsen Musser, who previously signed an NLI with Colorado College.

16 Televised Games This Season
Colorado College is excited to announce a new partnership with SOCO CW, which will televise 14 games during the upcoming 2023-24 season. SOCO CW is available to viewers throughout Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Southern Colorado. CBS Sports Network will televise two games nationally, Jan. 19 vs. Miami and March 8 vs. Denver.

Tigers Picked Seventh in NCHC Preseason Poll
Colorado College was picked seventh in the 2023-24 NCHC Preseason Poll.

1.    Denver – 199 points (11 first-place votes)
2.    North Dakota – 175 (12)
3.    St. Cloud State – 155 (2)
4.    Western Michigan - 126 (2)
5.    Minnesota Duluth – 123 (1)
6.    Omaha - 113
7.    Colorado College – 89
8.    Miami - 28