FEB 20, 2025 | SPORTS | By Celeste Hammer
The No. 20 Colorado College Tigers faced off against the Miami University (Ohio) RedHawks on Feb. 14 and 15. The Tigers swept the series, beating the Hawks 6-1 on Friday, Feb. 14, before winning in overtime 5-4 on Saturday, Feb. 15.
Drew Montgomery ‘27 was named the NCHC Forward of the Week after an impressive weekend, scoring three goals. Montgomery scored both game-winning goals of the weekend.
All three goalies played for the Tigers this weekend, Kaidan Mbereko ‘26, Caren Musser ‘28 and Henry Wilder ‘25. Mbereko started for the Valentine’s Day game, letting in one goal and posting a save percentage of 0.958. Musser stepped in goal on Saturday and kept the Tigers in the game after ending the third period tied 4-4, ending the game with a save percentage of 0.818.
Both games were chippy and aggressive. The Tigers ended up serving 17 penalties over the weekend, taking eight penalties on Friday and nine on Saturday. Miami, in turn, got 14 power plays between the two games.
Head coach Kris Mayotte credited Mbereko for the weekend’s first game after some defensive zone turnovers.
“This was his best game in a while,” Mayotte said in a video posted on social media following the game. “He was dialed in and when he’s on, he makes those [saves] look so easy that you don’t even really notice how big a save they are until you watch the replay.”
“I thought he was calm, cool and collected all night,” Mayotte continued. “We gave them power plays early and he was a big part of our [penalty] kill”.
After four weekends in a row with a split series, this weekend’s sweep gives the Tigers momentum going into next weekend’s away series against St. Cloud State.
On Friday, the Tigers came out strong in the first two periods. Philippe Blais-Savoie ‘28 scored the game’s first goal unassisted with 15:51 remaining in the first period. Montgomery scored two goals, two minutes apart. The first goal was at 13:52 in the first period, assisted by Ty Gallagher and Chase McLane, both graduate students, and the second was at 11:14 in the first, assisted by Gallagher and Bret Link ‘27.
The first period ended with Miami scoreless, even with two power plays served by Klavs Veinbergs ‘27 for high sticking, and Riley Stuart ‘27 for hooking.
The Tigers started the second period strong with a goal by Owen Beckner ‘28 at 16:08 in the second period, assisted by Zaccharya Wisdom ‘27 and Ethan Straky ‘26. Miami retaliated, scoring their own goal about three minutes later, bringing the score to 4-1.
The game went on with the Tigers serving a penalty at 9:31 for too many players on the ice and Miami serving a penalty for hooking at 13:47. To make the score 5-1, Gavin Lindberg ‘28 scored at 8:01 in the second, assisted by Beckner and Max Burkholder ‘27.
The biggest penalty occurred with 52 seconds left of the second period after Miami player Spencer Cox delivered a harsh hit on Tommy Middleton ‘25. Cox received a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head, ejecting him from the game. Straky, who fought Cox in defense of his teammate, earned himself a two-minute minor for roughing and a 10-minute game misconduct.
It was a four-on-four game until 25 seconds into the third. McLane got a penalty for holding, forcing the Tigers to play four-on-three for 43 seconds. Cox was still serving his five-minute penalty and all of the Tigers players were out of the box.
Veinbergs scored a powerplay goal at 17:45 in the third period, assisted by Beckner and Blais-Savoie, to put the Tigers up 6-1. The Tigers received two more penalties in the third, at 7:37, Stanley Cooley ‘25 was called for slashing, and with six seconds left of the game, Brady Cleveland ‘27 was called for roughing.
To prepare themselves for a weekend sweep, Mayotte said after the first game of the weekend, “We’ll take the win but if we want to get sweeps, [the team] has to be better the second night and we have to make sure that’s our focus starting right now.”
On Saturday, with a new goalie in the net, the Tigers dominated the first two periods of play, going up 3-0. The strong start was spoiled in the third. Miami scored four goals in the period to tie the game and take it to overtime.
The first period started with a penalty on the Tigers at 3:59 into the period, for too many players on the ice. At 12:56, Miami player Christophe Fillion got called for slashing and in retaliation, Cooley cross-checked Fillion, earning both players a penalty.
Veinbergs scored the first goal of the game at 9:09, assisted by Gleb Veremyev ‘26 and Link. After the first goal at 8:34, Tiger player Blais-Savoie and Miami player Matt Choupani both got called for roughing, each serving two minutes in the box. Lindeberg scored the next goal of the game at 5:49 from Burkholder and Wisdom. With 57 seconds left, Veinbergs got called for hooking, starting the Tigers out on a penalty kill in the second period.
The second period was similar in play but less eventful. Right after the RedHawks killed the Tigers penalty, Burkholder was called for a hit from behind at 18:54 leading the Tigers to kill off another penalty. Later in the period, Veremyev was called for tripping at 11:48 but the penalty was killed off again. Link scored the third goal with 3:20 left of the period, assisted by Veremyev and Veinbergs.
The third period was much more eventful for Miami as they scored four goals, three within three minutes of each other. Miami started the period out with a goal at 16:46 of the third period, scored by Dylan Moulton. The Tigers responded six minutes later with a goal of their own at 10:53, scored by Tyler Coffey, a graduate student, and assisted by Link.
At 9:09, the Tigers were called for two penalties, Link for roughing and Veinbergs for unsportsmanlike conduct, leaving the team to kill a five-on-three for two minutes. This was unsuccessful as Miami scored their second goal 1:15 into their power play, making the score 4-2.
One minute later, Miami scored their third goal of the period at 6:21 and another minute later, at 4:33, they scored their fourth goal. At 0:55, Cleveland got called for kneeing, leaving the Tigers to kill off yet another penalty. With 18 seconds left, Miami scored a would-be game winner, but the Tigers challenged for goaltender interference, and the goal was rescinded.
This led to an overtime which started as a 4-3 since Cleveland was still serving a penalty. 1:49 into overtime, Montgomery scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Burkholder and Beckner.
Reflecting on the game, Mayotte stated that the team caused a lot of their own adversity taking many penalties and forcing a five-on-three with under eight minutes left in the game.
Commenting on Miami’s game on Saturday Mayotte said, “I give [Miami] credit for sticking with it and making us pay for it…[Miami] seized that moment but we gave them life when we really didn’t need to.” He continued, “[It is] a tough lesson to learn but one we have to.”
Mayotte talked about Montgomery’s excellent weekend saying, “This is the same thing he has been bringing to the team for two years now. He hunts for pucks, he’s smart, he can skate, he’s got the tenacity to him and he’s feeling it right now which is good for us.”
The Tigers head out for their last road series of the regular season at St. Cloud State on Feb. 21 and 22.