No. 10 Colorado College plays its first postseason games at home since 2012 this weekend in the first round of the 2024 NCHC Playoffs. The Tigers, seeded fourth, will face No. 5-seed and 12th-ranked Omaha in a best-of-three series at Ed Robson Arena, beginning on Friday, March 15, at 7 p.m. (MT). Live streaming and live stats links for the game can be found at CCTigers.com.

How To Listen / Watch
This weekend's game 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.

Last Time Out
The Tigers split a home-and-home series with No. 4 Denver ... On Friday, Noah Laba scored twice to lead CC to a 4-3 victory on Senior Night at Robson Arena. The game started with a bang as Jack Devine put the Pioneers on the board just 17 seconds into the contest. Laba took a tripping penalty 12 seconds later, but the Tigers killed it off and Drew Montgomery sprung Laba right out of the box and the sophomore beat DU goalie Matt Davis to even the score at the 2:38 mark. The game settled a bit until Gleb Veremyev took a pass from Zaccharya Wisdom and beat Davis with a backhander right in front of the net at 13:25 of the opening frame. Laba notched his second of the game, and his third shorthanded goal of the season, at 9:54 of the second period. Max Burkholder made it 4-1 with his third goal in the last two games. Stanley Cooley took the puck down the left side and behind the net before finding Burkholder in the slot. The freshman deposited his seventh goal of the season. The Tigers had a golden opportunity to increase the lead when DU's Boston Buckberger was whistled for a five-minute boarding major with 1:52 remaining in the second, but the Pioneers killed the penalty and Riger Lorenz closed the gap to 4-2 at 13:36 of the final frame. Denver pulled Davis for an extra attacker with just under four minutes to play and it paid off when Tristan Broz sent a slapshot past CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko with 1:30 to play. Davis returned to the ice then went to the bench once again for the final 1:20, but the Tigers held their ground to post the first 20-win season since winning 23 games in 2010-11. On Saturday, Sam Harris scored twice and Jared Wright scored the game-winning goal in the third period to lead Denver to a 4-3 victory at Magness Arena. Montgomery opened the scoring with his first career shorthanded goal just 5:35 into the game. Laba stole the puck at center ice and sent a pass to Montgomery, who completed a 2-on-1 rush with a shot from the bottom of the left circle that eluded Davis. Harris took advantage of a lucky break and evened the score later in the period. CC 's Jack Millar was attempting a cross-ice pass in front of his net, but his stick broke and Harris grabbed the puck and scored on a backhander. The Pioneers took their first lead of the game at the 4:14 mark of the second period when Rieger Lorenz took a pass from Wright and placed a backhander past Mbereko. CC took advantage of its first power-play opportunity as Evan Werner fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that cleanly beat Davis to tie the game at 7:31 of the middle frame. Harris notched his second of the game to give DU a 3-2 advantage at 15:13 of the second, then Ethan Straky scored his second goal of the season to make it 3-3 with 20 seconds left in the frame. Wright scored the game-winner at the 11:44 mark of the third period, poking in a shot after Lorenz hit the post from the slot.
 
First Home Ice Series in 12 Years
Colorado College secured its first post-season playoff series at home since the 2011-12 season, when the Tigers were members of the WCHA. CC's last home playoff series was March 9-10, 2012, when it was swept by Michigan Tech. The last home playoff victory was March 13, 2011, a 2-1 win over Wisconsin.
    
First Winning Record Since '12  
Colorado College's victory over North Dakota on Feb. 17 clinched its first winning season since the 2011-12 campaign. CC's 20 wins are the most in a season since 2010-11, when it won 23 games.    

Best Regular-Season Record in 16 Years  
Colorado College's 20-11-3 record after 34 overall games and 14-8-2 mark after 24  conference games are the best since the 2007-08 season (24-9-1 and 18-5-1). The Tigers are tied for 12th in the nation with 20 wins.   

Still in the Top 10  
Colorado College remains in the Top 10 this week. The Tigers are No. 10 in the USCHO.com poll and No. 12 the USA Hockey / The Rink Live poll. CC is 11th in the latest Pairwise rankings.

NCHC Playoff First-Round Matchups
Best-of-Three Series
(8) Miami at (1) North Dakota
(7) Minnesota Duluth at (2) Denver
(6) Western Michigan at (3) St. Cloud State
(5) Omaha at (4) Colorado College

Up Next
The winner of this weekend's quarterfinal series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn., March 22-23.

Conference Postseason History
Colorado College is 64-91 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 from 1988-2013), and are 6-14 in the NCHC, including a two-game sweep at Western Michigan last season. That is just the second first-round series win for the Tigers, who also beat Western Michigan in three games in 2019. The Tigers blanked Denver, 1-0, in the senifinals of the 2023 Frozen Faceoff before falling to St. Cloud State, 3-0, in the championship game.

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 … Mike Gabinet is in his seventh 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.

Previous Meetings
The Tigers and Omaha have met 49 times, with the Mavericks holding a 28-14-7 advantage in the series, including a 12-9-1 mark in Colorado Springs. The teams played just twice this season, with Omaha winning 3-0 and the teams tying, 1-1, in Omaha. This weekend marks the first postseason games between the teams.

Tiger Tales
CC has lost just three times in regulation in its last 19 games ... The Tigers finished the regular season 11-6-2 at home, the most wins in one season since 2011-12 (11); and 9-5-1 on the road, the most wins since the 2007-08 season (9) ... Colorado College has played 10 overtime games this season, the most since 2013-14 (11) ... CC's seven sweeps this season are the most since the 2007-08 campaign (10) ... The Tigers lead the nation with a .556 faceoff winning percentage ...  Noah Laba is third in the nation with seven game-winning goals, the most by a Tiger in one season since Brett Sterling had eight during the 2005-06 campaign ... Laba is the first Tiger to record 35 points in a season since 2017-18 (Nick Halloran - 45; Mason Bergh - 40) ... Logan Will is fourth in the NCHC in faceoff win percentage (.599) ... Eight Tigers have at least 10 assists this season, the most since 2018-19 (8) ... Freshmen and sophomores have combined for 74 of the team's 105 goals and 170 of the 270 points. In addition, 34 of CC's last 43 goals have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.

Mbereko, Laba Named First-Team All-NCHC
Sophomores Kaidan Mbereko and Noah Laba were named to the All-NCHC First Team by league coaches and media. Mbereko, a second-team pick last year, was a unanimous selection this year as the goalie, while Laba collected 39 of a possible 45 points. They are the first Tigers to be selected First-Team All-NCHC since Nick Halloran in 2017-18, and this marks the first time multiple CC players are on the conference's First Team since 2007-08, when Richard Bachman, Jack Hillen and Chad Rau were selected in the WCHA. Mbereko led the NCHC with a 2.15 goals-against average, a .927 save percentage and 14 wins in league games only. Laba, meanwhile, led the league with 16 goals, six game-winning goals and a +19 rating in league games only.

First-Team All-NCHC
F: Jackson Blake, So., North Dakota – 45 points (15 first-team votes) – unanimous
F: Noah Laba, So., Colorado College – 39 (12)
F: Jack Devine, Jr., Denver – 38 (12)
D: Zeev Buium, Fr., Denver – 45 (15) - unanimous
D: Dylan Anhorn, 5th, St. Cloud State – 35 (10)
G: Kaidan Mbereko, So., Colorado College – 45 (15) – unanimous

Three is the Number
Saturday's loss at Denver was just the second this season when CC scored three or more goals. The Tigers are 17-2 this season when scoring three or more goals. The only other loss was a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Augustana. CC is 19-5-3 when it allows three goals or less.

Tigers Picked Seventh in NCHC Preseason Poll
Colorado College was picked seventh in the 2023-24 NCHC Preseason Poll. The Tigers made the biggest jump from preseason poll to regular-season finish of any team in the NCHC (picked 7th, finished tied for 3rd).

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