February 08, 2024 | SPORTS | By Michael Braithwaite
Coming off an away series sweep against No. 12 Western Michigan University – which included back-to-back 2-1 overtime victories at the hands of forward Noah Laba ’26 – the No. 14 Colorado College Tigers returned to Ed Robson arena to take on the No. 16 St. Cloud State University Huskies in a two-game set on Feb. 2 and 3.
Although CC entered the first matchup of the weekend having won nine of their last 11 games, including five of six against ranked opponents, the home series against St. Cloud meant a little more to the squad. The Tigers had not beaten the Huskies in Colorado Springs in nearly 11 years, with the last home victory coming on Feb. 22, 2013, at the Broadmoor World Arena.
And after the puck dropped on Friday’s matchup, the Huskies proved how difficult it would be for the Tigers to break that streak.
In front of a full Ed Robson Arena crowd, CC came out of the gates firing on offense, bombarding Huskies goalie, Dominic Basse, with five quick shots in the first few minutes. But Basse, a former Tiger who started in net for CC during the 2021-2022 season, turned them all away with steadfast goaltending.
Then, St. Cloud sapped the Tigers’ momentum with a goal of their own. Forward Kyler Kupka corralled a loose puck deep in CC’s zone and quickly buried the Huskies’ first shot of the night in the Tigers’ net to give St. Cloud a 1-0 lead fewer than four minutes into the contest.
For the next half of the game, the two teams put on a defensive clinic, repelling any offensive opportunities the opposing team had. The Huskies kept the Tigers’ attackers on the perimeter, forcing them to take awkward off-angle shots. But CC kept their foot on the gas, firing a surplus of shot attempts on St. Cloud’s net despite little success.
But the shots just didn’t fall CC’s way. Any time it seemed the Tigers were on the precipice of taking the lead, the puck would just barely clang off the iron, or take an odd skip on the ice. While CC began to regain momentum near the end of the second period, their multitude of chances still could not result in the game-tying score.
Midway through the final frame, the Tigers finally broke through. After St. Cloud’s Josh Luedtke was called for a hooking penalty, CC went on their first power play of the night. Forward Zaccharya Wisdom ’27 collected a pass from teammate Ryan Beck ’26, and, after Basse blocked his first shot, sent his rebound past the goaltender, tying the game 1-1 with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
From that point on, the Tigers began breaking through St. Cloud’s sturdy defense, firing shot after shot. But Basse did not budge, only letting one shot past him among the 42 he faced during the first three periods of play.
And the Tigers kept pressing for most of the five-minute overtime period. Forward Gleb Veremyev ’26 had a chance early but couldn’t find the net. Then, sophomore Laba had a great opportunity to ice the game, but his backhanded shot went over the net. With 20 seconds remaining, forward Bret Link ’27 came the closest to closing the game out, but his powerful shot ricocheted off the pipe.
None of it was enough to seal the game. With 12.7 seconds left in overtime, St. Cloud’s Verner Miettinen found the back of CC’s net, to cap off a 2-1 overtime Huskies victory.
“That’s hockey sometimes,” said head coach Kris Mayotte after Friday night’s loss. “There’s always missed opportunities, and we certainly had them and wish that they would have gone [differently], but I liked how we played.”
Mayotte also noted how the team’s resilience, even after letting in the first goal so early in the game, has proven it can compete against the top teams in the county.
“We’re just comfortable there; that’s what playoff hockey is, that’s what [National Collegiate Hockey Conference] hockey is,” Mayotte said. “Our message in between the second and third [periods] is ‘we’re OK here, we just got to get back.’”
While Mayotte’s message did not end up culminating in a Tigers victory on Friday night, it did seem to resonate with the team in the second game of the series on Saturday night. Rather than taking a page from “Groundhog Day” and buckling in for another defensive showdown, CC burst out of the gates ready to get back in the win column and did not look back.
In Mayotte’s 100th game at the helm of the Tigers, the team he has spent the last few seasons building into what he hopes will be a national powerhouse showed that his efforts are paying dividends on the ice.
The Tigers finally got on the score board late in the first period, after forward Tommy Middleton ’25 one-timed a pass from teammate Ray Christy ’24 into the back of St. Cloud’s net to put the Tigers up 1-0. Then, just five minutes into the second period, Middleton collected an assist, feeding the puck to forward Stanley Cooley ’25 to put CC up 2-0.
The Huskies cut the score in half with a power play goal just a few minutes later but, unlike the previous night, the Tigers’ momentum did not falter. Even amidst chippy play on both sides of the ice, CC stayed level-headed, generating chance after chance to extend the lead.
And extend the lead they did. Midway through the third period, Veremyev redirected a shot from Laba to put the Tigers up 3-1. Then, Laba found the net on a power play nearly five minutes later, lighting the “Laba Lamp” after rebounding a deflected shot from teammate Max Burkholder ’27.
St. Cloud added to their score in the last few minutes of the game, but so did the Tigers. Middleton, already in the middle of his first career multi-point game, added to his memorable night with an empty net goal with under four minutes remaining, cementing what would become a 5-3 victory for the Tigers and their first home win against St. Cloud in nearly 11 years.
“Yesterday was kind of a bitter one to swallow,” Middleton said after Saturday’s game. “We felt that we played well enough to win, and today was a culmination of events that led to a successful team victory, so I was excited about that.”
Although he was again able to repel CC’s attacks on Saturday night, Basse wasn’t as sharp as the night before. And certainly, some of the lost focus may have been instead directed toward the CC student section, which was berating the Huskies senior goaltender with vulgar chants all night long.
The student section, ever a noisy fixture at Ed Robson Arena, was particularly rowdy on Saturday night, an intentional move by the college. With heavy winter weather throughout Saturday, CC Athletics decided to open admission for all students, regardless of whether they had a ticket for the game.
“When the students bring their energy, they change the atmosphere in the building,” said Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Senior Woman Administrator Jessica Bennett before Saturday’s game. “Given the weather conditions, we wanted a full house.”
In addition to commending the team for the on-ice success against a tough rival on Saturday, Mayotte noted the importance of a victory ahead of the team’s upcoming off week before facing off at home against No. 2 University North Dakota on Friday, Feb. 16.
“You can go into an off week not just pulling your hair out,” Mayotte said. “I’m happy for our guys: they put in a lot of work – we’re playing well going into a week off. It doesn’t get easier – we got to rest up and be ready for the final push.”