COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Just over one week until puck drops marking a new season for Colorado College hockey.
“The biggest thing is being in a position to win a championship and something I want to bring back for my senior year here at Colorado College,” said senior goalie Kaidan Mbereko.
The Colorado native returns as, once again, one of the top goalies in the nation but also one of only two seniors on the Tigers roster.
With that consistency in net goaltending is expected to be a strength of this season’s team but head coach Kris Mayotte is also excited about his depth at forward.
It’s year five at the helm for Coach Mayotte, he says to expect a very different team than they’ve had in the past after losing key players in Gleb Veremyev, Ty Gallagher, and Noah Laba.
“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 is the best one we’ve had,” Mayotte said at Wednesday’s NCHC media day session.
Supreme freshman class has Colorado College hockey excited for the future
Mayotte’s passion is obviously hockey but he also loves his football. He’s serious about his fantasy football team and college football references.
“If I turn into Dabo (Swinney) … so be it. I believe in it and that’s how we’ll work to do it,” said Mayotte.
That reference was to Clemson’s head football coach who’s known for his refusal to use the transfer portal. That comparison comes as the Tigers are investing in a talented group of incoming freshman rather than hitting the portal.
Coach Mayotte said he wants CC to avoid becoming a transactional program.
“It’s why I got into this business. You want to invest in people and their futures that’s at the core of me … Colorado College is an unbelievable education and school when we recruit people we want them to understand where they’re coming to,” Mayotte said.
Mayotte might not be as stubborn as Dabo, though.
He also said it’s all about doing what’s best for the program and if they have a summer where they find what’s best for the team is in the portal, they’ll go in that direction.
Coach said the next step for the Tigers would look like consistently being a top 15 team that makes the NCAA tournament and ultimately, like Kaidan said, bringing championships back to Colorado Springs.
The Tigers start things off on the outside looking into the USCHO top-20 but they were the top unranked team receiving votes.
The Tigers season opener is Friday, October 3rd. CC hosts #10 UConn at Ed Robson arena.
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