The No. 11 Colorado College Tigers open the Pikes Peak Trophy rivalry against the Air Force Falcons with a home-and-home series this weekend. Friday's contest is at Robson Arena, while Saturday's game will be at Cadet Ice Arena. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. 

Live streaming and live stats links can be found on the CC Hockey schedule page at CCTigers.com.

88 Years of Tiger Hockey
This season marks the 88th year of varsity ice hockey at Colorado College and 14th 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 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. Friday's contest will be streamed live on NCHC.tv.
  
100th Game at Robson Arena
Friday's game with be the 100th played at Ed Robson Arena. The first game was an exhibition contest vs. Air Force on Oct. 2, 2021, while the first regular-season game was Oct. 8, 2021, vs. St. Lawrence.
  
Last Time Out
The Tigers split a pair of games at No. 17 UConn last weekend. The Huskies captured a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday, but CC rebounded for a convincing, 4-1 win on Saturday. Connor Hvidston scored twice in Saturday's win and freshman Zach Olsen posted the first goal of his career. On Friday, Jackson Unger tied his career high with 33 saves. 

Movin' On Up
The Tigers moved up two spots to No. 11 in this week's USA Hockey national poll and stayed at No. 12 in the USCHO.com poll.  

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 sixth 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 30th and final 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 86 times, with the Tigers holding a 69-15-2 advantage in the series, including a 38-5-1 lead at home.

Most NHL Draft Picks on Roster in Program History
With the addition of freshmen Zach Olsen and Michal Pradel, the 2026-27 roster has 11 players that have been drafted by the NHL, the most on a roster in program history. 

Another Tough Schedule  
The Tigers are scheduled to play 18 of their 36 regular-season games against teams that 
were ranked in the Top 15 in the USCHO.com national preseason poll. In addition, CC has 16 games scheduled against nine of the last 10 national champions (UMass, Minn. Duluth, Denver, North Dakota, and Western Michigan).  

2026-27 Leadership
Senior defenseman Max Burkholder has been named team captain of the Colorado College hockey team for the 2026-27 season, while junior forward Owen Beckner and senior forwards Drew Montgomery, Bret Link and Riley Stuart will serve as assistant captains. Burkholder will wear the 'C' for the second consecutive year after playing just three games last season. Beckner tied for the team lead with 27 points and 15 assists in 2025-26, while Montgomery had 16 points (8g,8a) and tied for second on the team with eight goals. Link is the team's career active leading scorer with 53 points (18g,35a), including 17 (7g,10a) last season and Stuart posted career highs of four goals, four assists, eight points and 33 games played last season as a junior.
 
Tiger Tales 
Connor Hvidston scored a career-high two goals on Saturday at #17 UConn ... Jackson Unger tied his career high with 33 saves on Friday vs. the Huskies ... Freshman Zach Olsen scored the first goal of his career with the game-winner on Saturday ... Klavs Veinbergs, who led the NCHC and finished second in the country in faceoff percentage (61.1%) last season, has won 46 of 65 faceoffs (70.9%) this season; He is the nation's top returner in faceoff percentage.

Tigers Picked Sixth in NCHC Preseason Poll
Colorado College was picked sixth in the 2026-27 NCHC Preseason Poll. 

1.    Denver, 304 points (14 first-place votes)
2.    North Dakota, 302 (12)
3.    Minnesota Duluth, 273 (7)
4.    Western Michigan, 237
5.    Miami, 175
6.    Colorado College, 159
7.    St. Cloud State, 121
8.    St. Thomas, 102
9.    Arizona State, 73
10.  Omaha, 69

The Incoming Class
Six newcomers join the Tiger hockey program for the 2026-27 season; Carmelo Crandell (Arizona State - NCHC), Ty Halaburda (Kelowna Rockets - WHL), Blake Jones (Nanaimo Clippers - BCHL), Zach Olsen (Saskatoon Blades - WHL), Michal Pradel (Tri-City Storm - USHL) and Sebastian Vitali (New Jersey Jr. Titans - NAHL). The six newcomers ties Princeton and Harvard for the fewest in the country. 

Two New Assistant Coaches
Head coach Kris Mayotte welcomes two new faces to the staff this season, Dana Borges (assistant coach) and David Powlowski (assistant coach / director of operations). Borges comes to Colorado Springs after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Arizona State, where he focused on player development as well as recruiting. He helped recruit and develop an All-American, five NCHC all-conference selections, five NHL draft picks and three players on the 2026 Central Scouting List for this year's draft. Borges, played collegiately at Stonehill College. Powlowski, meanwhile, spent the last three seasons as an assistant general manager and assistant coach for the Rochester Jr. Americans of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). He worked primarily with the team's defensive unit and focused on scouting and recruiting, including the organization's draft day operations. Powlowski played college hockey and golf at Nazareth College.

Oh Brother
Sophomores 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.

13 Games Televised This Season 
Colorado College will have 13 games broadcast live on television this season, including 10 games by partner SOCO CW. SOCO CW is available to viewers throughout Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Southern Colorado and televised Friday's game vs. #10 UMass. In addition, KRDO-13 (ABC) in Colorado Springs will televise both home games against Denver in The Gold Pan rivalry. The Feb. 26 game at Denver will be televised on Altitude. 

Season Six 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 seven Division I teams to surpass capacity on a per game basis last season at 102.7 percent.