The Colorado College Tigers, ranked No. 19 in the latest USCHO.com poll, travel to Marquette, Mich., for a weekend series against Northern Michigan at the Berry Events Center. The series opener on Friday, Oct, 17, will begin at 7 p.m. (ET). The Tigers defeated Bentley, 5-2, and Air Force, 4-2, last weekend, while NMU dropped a pair of contests at Ohio State. Live streaming and stats links 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
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. 
 
Last Time Out
The Tigers swept a pair of Atlantic Hockey teams last weekend, beating Bentley, 5-2, at home on Friday and Air Force, 4-2, Saturday at Cadet Ice Arena ... On Friday, Wilson Björck scored the first goal of his career and added two assists to lead Colorado College past Bentley. Klavs Veinbergs and Gavin Lindberg each collected a goal and an assist and Colton Roberts had a couple helpers. 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 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, with Nick Baer and Matteo Mann each collecting 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. Bentley's Jake Black cut the deficit to one in the final minute of the second period, but 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 Björck for a 2-on-1 with Lindberg. Björck fired a wrister from the left circle that went top shelf. Brayden Schuurman made it 5-2 at the 3:47 mark of the third with his second goal of the season ... On Saturday, Owen Beckner scored twice and added a pair of assists to help Colorado College retain the Pikes Peak Trophy.Bret Link notched a goal and two assists and Ryan Alexander had a goal and a helper as CC holds on to the inter-city trophy for the eighth straight season. Following a scoreless first period, Link opened the scoring just 1:12 into the second period with his team-leading third goal of the season. After Kaidan Mbereko saved a shot from the left boards, Beckner sprung Link and he beat Air Force goalie Carter Clafton with a backhander. Air Force's Will Staring tied things up with a power-play goal at the 12:58 mark of the middle frame, then the Falcons took the lead with 5.3 seconds remaining in the second. Beckner, who set a career high with two goals and tied his career high with four points, sparked the Tiger rally with both of his goals coming in the third period. He evened the game at 2-2 with his second goal of the season at the 4:20 mark, then scored the game winner at 12:49 of the final frame. Ryan Alexander notched his first point as a Tiger with the secondary assist, then scored into an empty net with 2:52 remining in the contest.
 
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 … Dave Shyiak is in his second season at his alma mater. He spent the previous four seasons as the associate head coach at St. Cloud State, helping the program to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including an NCAA runner-up finish in 2020-21. Shyiak served as head coach at Alaska Anchorage from 2005-13.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College and Northern Michigan have met 56 times, with the Wildcats holding a 31-24-1 advantage in the series, including a 22-5-1 mark in Marquette. The Tigers have not played in Marquette since October of 1996.
    
Tiger Tales  
Colorado College returned to the Top 20 in the national polls this week. The Tigers are #19 in the USCHO.com poll and #20 in the USA Hockey poll ... CC's second line of Björck, Veinbergs and Linberg combined for seven points on Friday, while the top line of Beckner, Link and Tomas Mrsic did the same on Saturday ... The TIgers are tied for seventh in the country with 14 goals this season ... Beckner has the last two four-point games for CC (last Saturday and Jan. 17 vs. Minn. Duluth) ... Veinbergs is third in the NCHC with 46 faceoff wins ... Link has tied his career high with a three-game point streak.

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-team 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 (Chilliwack 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.