The upcoming weekend is a chance for Colorado College to practice what it preaches. 

Last weekend, the Tigers took two points out of six toward the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings by virtue of a 3-2 overtime win over then-fourth-ranked North Dakota. This week, CC hosts the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League team Simon Fraser in an exhibition.  

But when the puck drops at 4 p.m. on Saturday, CC coach Kris Mayotte expects his team to perform like any other game. 

“After (Friday’s win) people wanted to pat us on the back, and it’s like we’re not surprised. We have a good team. They’re a good team, we have a good team, we’ve beaten good teams all year,” he said. “But we just have to get back to understanding it’s about us, it’s about how we play, how we prepare, and when you’re a good team, you don’t really worry yourself too much about who the other team is that you’re playing.”

Maintaining that consistency is part of the reason the Tigers are playing this exhibition, which has taken place over the holiday break the previous two seasons, in mid-January. Mayotte believes it’s best to keep his players in the flow of regular game preparation, despite the conference handing the Tigers an early bye in the second half of the season. 

“This was the bye weekend that our league gave us and really didn’t want to play two weekends and then take a weekend off, coming back. I think we preferred to just keep going, stay in the routine, keep building,” Mayotte said. “We had the option whether we wanted it to be a completely off weekend or put a game here.”

Building up the team’s consistency in terms of its mentality and intentionality in practice is crucial for CC. The Tigers ended 2025 with a pair of lackluster ties at Miami of Ohio and began 2026 with a poor series at Augustana, which swept them. CC rebounded against the Fighting Hawks last weekend. But the team’s defense and outside goaltender Kaidan Mbereko, left much to be desired. 

“I just didn’t think we were very connected defensively. And if you’re not connected, your room for error is minimal. If it’s a bunch of one-on-ones everywhere, it becomes more challenging,” Mayotte said. “It was all three zones. We didn’t forecheck very well, we couldn’t create stalls through the neutral zone, they got through the neutral zone with speed, and then when you’re hunting pucks, when your D, are being hunted in the breakout. It’s obviously harder to get out. It wasn’t just our D-zone defense. As it was, we just had a hard time slowing down their speed and getting pucks out of their hands.”

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Rundown of Tigers’ injuries 

CC has had several players go down or show signs of injury the past few weeks. Here is a breakdown of those injuries for the Tigers:

Mbereko, who exited the Jan. 10 game against North Dakota in the third period, is good to go. 

Freshman forward Brandon Lisowksy is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. 

Freshman blueliner Colton Roberts is also week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He will not appear in this weekend’s exhibition. 

Sophomore forward Owen Beckner is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. His status is uncertain for this weekend’s exhibition.

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CC gets commitment at goaltender

The Tigers landed a commitment from Michal Pradel, a goaltender selected in the third round of the 2025 NHL draft by the Detroit Red Wings. 

Pradel, who is from Slovakia, has played 25 games for the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League this season. He has a .918 save percentage and a 2.50 goals against average. 

Of note, CC will be searching for a successor to Mbereko, who will graduate after this season.