March 28, 2024 | SPORTS | By Michael Braithwaite
No. 10 Colorado College hockey finished its resurgent season with a 2-1 series loss to the No. 12 University of Nebraska Omaha that took place March 15-17, exiting the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) tournament and falling short of reaching the NCAA Tournament in the process.
The Tigers came into the weekend set having clinched their first winning season since 2011-12 and tied for No. 12 in the nation with 20 season wins. Additionally, the team had an astounding 17-2 record on the year when scoring three or more goals in a game and had only lost thrice in regulation in their last 19 matchups.
But from the outset of Friday’s game, it was clear that CC could not take the series easily.
Friday’s game started slowly, with neither team scoring in the first period amidst equal shots on goal (8), but Omaha started the second period strong with a score from forward Ty Mueller just over five minutes into the frame. The Mavericks quickly doubled their lead 21 seconds later, with forward Jack Randl sneaking another shot past CC standout goalie Kaidan Mbereko ’26 to put Omaha up 2-0.
Then, around five minutes later, the Mavericks added another score off a shot from forward Jacob Slipec, putting them at a commanding 3-0 lead a little over halfway through the matchup.
But the Tigers were unfazed by the deficit.
With just over five minutes left in the second period, defenseman Chase Foley ’24 netted a power-play goal to cut the lead to 3-1. Foley, a senior political science major from Minnesota, previously had just one other career goal in his four years as a Tiger: he scored the first goal in Ed Robson Arena history on Oct. 18, 2021, against St. Lawrence University.
And his second career score in the first game of what could likely end up being his last series at CC was an important one. While Omaha had netted three goals in the second period, they did so with five shots on net, illustrating the otherwise astute defensive play of the Tigers.
“We weren’t playing bad hockey,” said Tigers Head Coach Kris Mayotte in his press conference after Friday’s game. “The score was unfortunate … but our big talk in between the second and third [periods] was that the score was not indicative of how we were playing.”
Foley’s score not only kept CC hanging around, but also it gave the team momentum heading into the final frame.
And the Tigers capitalized on that momentum. With over 12 minutes left in the game, the Mavericks’ Mueller was called for a five-minute major penalty and ejected due to a hit from behind on CC defenseman and graduate student Connor Mayer ’23. About a minute and a half later, the Tigers had cut their deficit to one after forward Klavs Veinbergs ’27 rebounded a shot from teammate Zaccharya Wisdom ’27 to make it a 3-2 game.
But even though CC had been controlling the puck and tallying shots on Omaha’s net for most of the period, that score was the only thing that had gotten past the Mavericks when the Tigers pulled Mbereko for an extra attacker with just under 2:30 left to play. With just 49.1 seconds before going down 0-1 in the series, forward Noah Laba ’26 lit the “Laba Lamp” with a last-second score, tying the game 3-3 and forcing it into overtime.
And from there, the Tigers kept rolling. After limiting the Mavericks to just one shot on goal in the third period, CC retained their defensive lockdown while continuing to operate in Omaha’s defensive zone.
On the 12th shot of the frame – and the 31st shot between the last two periods – the Tigers finally iced the game. Forward Gleb Veremyev ’26 redirected a pass from Wisdom on the left side of Omaha’s net to score the golden goal, giving CC a 4-3 overtime victory in the first game.
“One of the things that the guys who returned last year [remember] is that your job is to continue to get better [in-game],” Mayotte said post-game. “Whether you’re winning or losing, your job is to get to the spot where when [the game] gets hard, when it gets really tight, it doesn’t feel different. I think that’s what you saw tonight; tonight, it didn’t feel different to us.”
But while CC enjoyed the feeling of a comeback playoff win, Omaha bared down for the rest of the series.
Game two began chippy, with both teams trying to figure out how to get under one another’s skin from the puck drop on Saturday night. Omaha found the net first, with a power play goal not four minutes into the contest.
But Foley continued to cap off what could be his final season in excellent form, scoring his third career goal – and second in two nights – to keep the Tigers even with Mavericks into the back half of the first frame. Omaha then added another score near the end of the first to put themselves up 2-1.
And the second period was full of opportunity for CC, but unlike the previous night, the Tigers could not capitalize on any of their chances. Despite two power play opportunities and a 16-2 shot on goal advantage, CC was unable to draw even with the Mavericks, and the game went into the third period with the score still at 2-1.
Unlike the previous night, the Tigers could not find any late-game magic. Omaha scored another goal on a power play midway through the frame, and none of CC’s eight shots on goal could get through the Maverick defense.
“We just didn’t start well enough,” said Mayotte in his postgame press conference after CC’s 3-1 loss. “We didn’t handle them being a desperate hockey team well enough.”
The third game was more of the same. Veinbergs scored a power play goal within the first five minutes to give the Tigers their first lead of the series, but Omaha’s Jimmy Glynn tied the game 1-1 near the end of the second period. The Mavericks scored again just over six minutes into the third period, and CC was unable to find the equalizer before the game wrapped up in a 2-1 loss.
“We didn’t really have our game tonight, but it didn’t deter us from continuing to go after [it], and that’s something we’re incredibly proud of,” Mayotte said after the game.
The Tigers’ head coach also highlighted just how much this year’s roster had changed the trajectory of Colorado College hockey.
“They changed the program,” said Mayotte, his voice slightly cracking. “Not many teams get that opportunity to actually do it. There are a lot of places that talk about it, and a lot of teams are told they have the chance. But to actually do it … they have a legacy that I’d like them to continue building because they’ve done such good work on pushing this program forward.”
The Tigers came agonizingly close to making the NCAA Tournament, but ultimately fell just short of the final at-large bid to the University of Massachusetts, whose 0.0004-point ranking advantage claimed the final spot over CC.
And this team will only improve from here. This year’s roster was dominated by freshman and sophomore talent, which over the coming years will only continue to soldify. While the graduating senior class will be missed, the underclassmen have already taken hold of the team.
The window is just now opening, and the Tigers are here to stay.