The unranked Colorado College Tigers have a number of goals once the hockey season begins, but the United States College Hockey Organization (USCHO) just gave them another: get ranked.
Colorado College finished just outside of the USCHO’s Top 20 teams in the most recent preseason poll. The Tigers received the most votes of any unranked team with 68, sitting behind the University of Wisconsin, which received 78. CC will get the chance to outperform these preseason expectations early. They start their season with a series against No. 10 University of Connecticut on Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4.
In the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), the No. 14 Arizona State Sun Devils, No. 11 North Dakota Fighting Hawks, No. 4 University of Denver Pioneers and No. 1 Western Michigan Broncos are all currently ranked above CC. St. Thomas, currently a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association but will join the NCHC for the 2026-2027 season, is ranked No. 19.
Colorado College lost several key players, including star center Noah Laba (signed with the New York Rangers), defenseman Ty Gallagher (went pro with the Boston Bruins), winger Zaccharaya Wisdom (transferred to Western Michigan University) and forward Gleb Veremyev (signed with the New York Islanders) following the 2024-25 season.
Currently, only goalkeeper Kaidan Mbereko ‘26 remains from the freshman class of 2022. He is one of two seniors, alongside Ryan Alexander, a forward who transferred from Arizona State this offseason.
Though they lost a number of players to the transfer portal, the Tigers focused on bolstering the team through their incoming freshman class. Other than Alexander, the Tigers only added sophomore defenseman Seth Constance through the portal.
“We lost some guys up there but Owen Beckner led the team in scoring, Drew Montgomery led our team in goals, Klavs Veinbergs led in power play goals then you add to it the development of guys like Gavin Lindberg him taking a step so were really excited about what we have and this freshman class … I can tell you it is the best one we’ve had,” Mayotte said at the NCHC virtual media day on Sept. 24.
CC athletics says the team has brought in a consensus top-10 recruiting class per multiple college hockey outlets. They’ve been helped by a new NCAA rule allowing Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players to compete in US College Hockey. Eight of the 12 incoming freshmen have competed in the CHL, and six have already been drafted by NHL teams.
Mayotte spoke to depth and balance being a strength this year.
“When we took over, when we recruited Noah Laba, he was our first-line center from day 1 and we relied on him to do everything. We don’t have to do that anymore,” Mayotte said. “We have really good players, Bret Link, (Gavin) Lindberg, (Owen) Beckner, (Klavs) Veinbergs that now (incoming players) Tomas (Mrsic) and Wilson (Björck) and (Brandon) Lisowsky and (Brayden) Schuurman and (Connor) Hvidston they can find their way and be a piece to a line rather than having to carry the line.”
The Tigers have also added new associate head coach Paul Pooley, who previously coached at Notre Dame, in the hopes of bolstering one of last year’s biggest weaknesses: the power play. Last season, Colorado College ranked just 50th in DI hockey in power play percentage with 16.7%. Notre Dame was No. 19, with 22.7%.
“I think our biggest addition this summer has been the addition of coach Pooley and his experience in having high-level power plays and penalty kills,” said Mayotte. He’s been around it, he’s had a ton of success. He’s already brought a confidence, a belief from our guys.”
The Tigers face a real test to start their season: a weekend series against No. 10 University of Connecticut at home in Robson Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday.