The Colorado College Tigers play their first road game of the season on Saturday, Oct. 11, against Air Force at Cadet Ice Arena. The annual Battle for the Pikes Peak Trophy will begin at 5 p.m. The Tigers defeated Bentley, 5-2, while Air Force tied Denver, 1-1, in its season opener on Friday. Live stats link can be found on the CC Hockey schedule page at CCTigers.com.

87 Years of Tiger Hockey
This season marks the 87th year of varsity ice hockey at Colorado College and 13th 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
Tonight'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. 
 
Last Time Out
Wilson Bjorck scored the first goal of his career and added two assists and Kaidan Mbereko stopped 25 shots to lead Colorado College past Bentley, 5-2, Friday night at Ed Robson Arena. Klavs Veinbergs and Gavin Lindberg each collected a goal and an assist and Colton Roberts had a couple helpers as the Tigers improved to 2-1 this season. Veinbergs opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 6:06 mark of the first period when he tipped a shot by Bjorck in front of the net past Bentley goalie Easton Hesse. The Falcons (0-1) evened the score at 11:17 with a PPG of their own. The Tigers pulled away in the second period with a pair of goals. Bret Link notched his second of the season 7:54 into the middle frame. Link was parked in front of the net and Nick Baer found him from the right side for an easy deflection. Baer and Matteo Mann each collected his first career point on the play. At 10:49 of the second period, Veinbergs feathered a pass to Lindberg, who was streaking through the slot and beat Hesse top shelf for his first tally of the campaign. Bjorck started the play for his second helper of the contest. Bentley's Jake Black cut the deficit to one in the final minute of the second period. Bjorck put the Tigers back up by two goals with the first tally of his career at 1:26 of the third period. Colton Roberts (two assists), fed Lindberg and he found Bjorck for a 2-on-1 with Lindberg. Bjorck fired a wrister from the left circle that went top shelf over Hesse's right shoulder. Brayden Schuurman made it 5-2 at the 3:47 mark of the third with his second goal of the season. Drew Montgomery forced a turnover in the Bentley zone and passed back and forth with Schuurman, who then cleanly beat Hesse from the slot.
 
The Pikes Peak Trophy 
In 2013, Colorado College and Air Force established the Pikes Peak Trophy in memory of former CC and Falcons head coach John Matchefts. The winner of the season series between the two teams captures the trophy. The Tigers have held the trophy since 2018. 

The Coaches 
Kris Mayotte is in his fifth 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, and was an assistant coach for Providence College when the Friars won the NCAA Division I title in 2015. Mayotte was the NCHC Coach of the Year following the 2023-24 campaign … Frank Serratore is in his 29th season with Air Force. He previously coached at Denver and has head coaching experience in the USHL and the IHL.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Air Force have met 85 times, with the Tigers holding a 68-15-2 advantage in the series, including a 30-10-1 lead at USAFA.      

Another Tough Schedule  
The Tigers are scheduled to play 11 of their 34 regular season games aginst teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Division I Tournament, including UConn and Bentley, and 14 against eight of the last 10 national champions (Minn. Duluth, Denver, North Dakota, Providence and Western Michigan). CC will also play 16 games against teams ranked in the preseason USCHO.com Top 20 poll.  

2025-26 Leadership
Senior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko and junior defenseman Max Burkholder have been named team captains of the Colorado College hockey team for the 2025-26 season, while junior forward Drew Montgomery and sophomore forward Owen Beckner will serve as assistant captains. Mbereko, a 2024 First-Team All-American, posted a 15-15-1 record last season with a .905 save percentage and 2.65 goals-against average. Burkholder was a second-teamm all-NCHC pick last season after tying for the the team lead with 20 assists and tied for second with 26 points. Montgomery tied for the team lead with 10 goals in '24-25 and finished with a career-high 18 points in 34 contests. Beckner led the team in scoring with 27 points, the most by a CC freshman since Scott Swanson had 48 in 1996-97.

Most NHL Draft Picks on Roster in Two Decades
The 2025-26 roster has nine players that have been drafted by the NHL. That ties for the third-most on a roster in program history. The 2003-04 and '04-05 rosters each had 10 draft picks, while there were nine on the 2002-03 and '24-25 rosters. 

The Incoming Class
14 newcomers join the Tiger hockey program for the 2025-26 season.The class consists of 12 incoming freshmen and two transfers. The incoming class consists of Ryan Alexander (Arizona State - NCHC), Wilson Björck (Djurgardens IF), Seth Constance (Northeastern Univ. - HEA), Beckham Dempsey (Boston Jr. Rangers - NCDC), Connor Hvidston (Calgary Hitmen - WHL), Shane Kozlina (Maine Nordiques - NAHL), Brandon Lisowsky (Victoria Royals - WHL), Matteo Mann (St. John Sea Dogs - QMJHL), Mateo Mrsic (Chiiliwack Chiefs - BCHL), Tomas Mrsic (Prince Albert Raiders - WHL), Colton Roberts (Vancouver Giants - WHL), Brayden Schuurman (Seattle Thunderbirds - WHL), Merril Steenari (Fargo Force - USHL) and Jackson Unger (Lethbridge Hurricanes - WHL). Six of the players (Björck, Hvidston, Lisowsky, Mann, T. Mrsic and Roberts) have been drafted by NHL franchises, making a total of nine draft picks on the 2025-26 roster.

Tigers Picked Fifth in NCHC Preseason Poll
Colorado College was picked fifth in the 2025-26 NCHC Preseason Poll. 

1.    Western Michigan - 252 (19 first-place votes)
2.    Denver – 225 points (4)
3.    North Dakota – 220 (5)
4.     Arizona State - 180 (2)
5.    Colorado College – 128
6.    Minnesota Duluth – 120
5.    Omaha - 110
8.    St. Cloud State – 80 
9.    Miami - 35

Oh Brother
Freshmen Tomas and Mateo Mrsic are the 21st set of brothers to play hockey together at Colorado College and the first since Cody (2012-16) and Trey Bradley (2015-19) during the 2015-16 season. Other prominent brothers to lace their skates up at the same time in Colorado Springs include the only two NHL first-round draft picks from CC, Jaden (St. Louis, 2010) and Rylan Schwartz played together from 2010-12, while Mark Stuart (Boston, 2003) played two years with each of his older brothers, Mike from 2000-02 and Colin from 2002-04. Marty Sertich, the 2005 Hobey Baker winner, and his brother, Mike, played together at CC during the '04-05 campaign.

Season Five 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 the school's 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 was one of nine Division I teams to surpass capacity on a per game basis last season at 106.7 percent. The capacity of Robson Arena is 3,407 and CC averaged an attendance of 3,634 in its 17 home games.