Colorado College travels to Kalamazoo, Mich., for the quarterfinal round of the 2026 NCHC Playoffs. The Tigers, seeded sixth, will face No. 3-seed and 4th-ranked Western Michigan in a best-of-three series at Lawson Arena, beginning on Friday, March 6, at 7 p.m. (ET). 

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
This weekend's 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 and streamed live on NCHC.tv. 
  
Last Time Out
The Tigers won and tied at No. 9 Minnesota Duluth last weekend ... Kaidan Mbereko made a season-high 39 saves in Friday's 4-1 victory at Amsoil Arena. Owen Beckner collected a goal and an assist and Klavs Veinbergs added two helpers for the Tigers. Mats Lindgren opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season at the 9:36 mark of the first period. Lindgren took a pass from Wilson Björck at the top of the left circle, produced a toe drag and fired a wrister that beat UMD goalie Ethan Dahlmeir on CC's first shot of the game. UMD evened the score when Scout Truman scored at the 11:41 mark of the third period with a wrister from the bottom of the right circle. The Tigers regained the lead just 25 seconds later when Beckner sent the puck towards the net from the left circle and it deflected off a Bulldog defender right in front of Dahlmeir. Mbereko made sure UMD would not tie the game again, making six saves, including a spectacular stop on Zam Plante with two minutes remaining, before Drew Montgomery sealed it with an empty-net goal with 48.9 seconds left. Bret Link then did the same with 21 seconds remaining ... On Saturday, Brandon Lisowsky scored twice and Jackson Unger made 32 saves in a 2-2 tie. UMD won the shootout in seven rounds. The Tigers scored on their first shot of the game as Lisowsky gave CC a 1-0 lead just 1:50 into the contest. Connor Hvidston dropped a pass to Drew Montgomery, who sent a cross-ice pass to Lisowsky and he beat UMD goalie Adam Gajan from the left circle. Lisowsky scored his second of the game just 1:29 into the third period. Hvidston received a pass from Lisowsky and took the puck behind the net before finding Lisowsky, who beat Gajan from the bottom of the left circle for his second career two-goal game. Zam Plante scored twice in the final 11 minutes to even the game for UMD. He cut the Tiger lead to 2-1 at the 9:28 mark of the third period, then scored a power-play goal with 3:13 remaining in regulation.

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 … Pat Ferschweiler is in his fifth season as head coach at Western Michigan after spending two seasons as an associate head coach with the program. Prior to rejoining the WMU staff, he spent four years as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings. He led WMU to the Division I national title last season.

Previous Meetings
Western Michigan leads the all-time series against Colorado College, 27-14-8, including an 14-7-2 advantage in Kalamazoo. The teams tied, 1-1, and WMU won, 2-0, two weeks ago in Colorado Springs.

Conference Postseason History
Colorado College is 66-95 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 8-18 in the NCHC. The Tigers fell to Denver in three games in last year's quarterfinal series at Magness Arena. 

Conference Tournament History vs. WMU
Colorado College has won two NCHC quarterfinal series against Western Michigan, in three games in 2019 and two games in 2023. Those are the only five games between the teams in the conference playoffs. Both series were played in Kalamazoo and those are the only quarterfinal series wins for the Tigers.

Tiger Tales  
The Tigers lead the NCHC and are fourth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (54.2) ... Klavs Veinbergs leads the NCHC with a 60.6 faceoff win percentage and is third with 415 faceoff wins ... CC is 12th in the country with 1085 shots on goal ... UMD's 40 shots last Friday night were a season-high by an opponent, while CC's 19 shots were the second-fewest by the Tigers this season ... The Tigers have allowed two goals or less in five consecutive NCHC games for the first time since Jan. 19-Feb. 2, 2024 ... CC has killed 18 of its last 19 penalties spread over the last seven games ... The Tigers were involved in six of the seven tie games played between NCHC teams this season ... CC played an overtime game in every NCHC series this season except the two against Omaha ... CC has six ties in one season for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign ... Drew Montgomery played his 100th career game last Friday ... Brandon Lisowsky equalled his career high with two goals and Connor Hvidston did the same with two assists at UMD last Saturday ... For the second consecutive season, the Tigers will face the defending national champion in the NCHC Quarterfinal Series (Denver in 2025, WMU in 2026).

Mbereko Ties Career List For Games Played
Senior Kaidan Mbereko is one of the most decorated goalies in program history. Last Friday, he tied Jeff Sanger (1998-2002) at the top of CC's career list for games played by a goalie with 127. Mbereko is No. 2 for career save percentage (.915) and No. 3 with 57 wins and 3,268 saves. He was named this week's NCHC Goaltender of the Week.

Mats Lindgren Named NCHC Defenseman of the Month  
Defenseman Mats Lindgren, who was added to the 2025-26 roster during winter break, was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Month for January. Lindgren posted eight points (4g,4a) in his first eight games as a Tiger. His four goals and eight points in January both tied for the NCHC lead among defensemen, while his four goals also tied for second nationally among blueliners in the month. He was also named the KJ Branding Defenseman of the Week following the split against Arizona State. Lindgren tallied a career-high three points and the second multi-goal game career on Jan. 30. 

Most NHL Draft Picks on Roster in Program History
With the addition of Mats Lindgren, the 2025-26 roster has 10 players that have been drafted by the NHL. That ties for the most on a roster in program history, joining the 2003-04 and '04-05 rosters. 

Career-Highs in '25-26
Six Tigers have recorded a career-high number of points this season, juniors Klavs Veinbergs (22 points) and Riley Stuart (8), and sophomores Gavin Lindberg (20), Fisher Scott (14), Seth Constance (8), Ryan Koering (6) and Nick Baer (1).   

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.

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
7.    Omaha - 110
8.    St. Cloud State – 80 
9.    Miami - 35

CC Had 15 Games Televised This Season 
Colorado College announced that 15 games will be broadcast live on television this season, including 12 games by partner SOCO CW. SOCO CW is available to viewers throughout Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Southern Colorado and will televise Friday's game at Minnesota Duluth. In addition, KRDO-13 (ABC) in Colorado Springs televised two games. 

Former Tiger Jaccob Slavin Wins Olympic Gold in Milan
Former Colorado College and current Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin became the first former Tiger to win an Olympic gold medal in hockey after Team USA defeated Canda, 2-1, in overtime Feb. 22, in Milan, Italy. Slavin, the ninth former Tiger to compete in the Olympics, joins silver medalists Andy Gambucci and Bob Rompre from the 1952 USA team to earn an Olympic medal. Slavin, from Erie, Colo., is in his 11th season with Carolina. He played two seasons at Colorado College, earning the NCHC Rookie of the Year in 2014 and first-team all-NCHC honors in 2015 before signing with the Hurricanes.

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.