Colorado College hockey hopes to reap the benefits of the work it sowed last week. 

Instead of taking a full rest on a bye weekend, the Tigers opted to stay in rhythm, hosting Simon Fraser in an exhibition, resulting in an 8-3 win. 

This weekend, CC returns to National Collegiate Hockey Conference play, traveling to Omaha. Puck drop is 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The Tigers’ past two road trips have been disappointing. CC was swept at Augustana on Jan. 2-3 to begin the year and tied Miami of Ohio on both nights of the series to finish the end of the first half of the season in December. 

“Well, I think both of those were coming off of extended breaks too, and I think that’s something we took into account on how we built last week. We didn’t want it to feel like a week off,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte said on Wednesday. “We didn’t want it to feel like a bye week or an exhibition week. We wanted it to feel like an NCHC week. We practiced that way last week just to keep the mentality where it needs to be, keep the urgency where it needs to be in trying to correct the lackluster jump that we had those two weekends.”

CC (9-10-3) is in the NCHC’s basement with a 3-6-3 conference record. However, thanks to the early conference bye week, the Tigers have played one less series than most of the nine teams in the league. Omaha sits one place above CC in the conference standings at 4-10 in NCHC play. 

“We know that Omaha is a fast team. We have had a hard time in their building the past few years, so we know what the goal is this time,” Tigers junior center Klavs Veinbergs said. “Just gotta play fast, gotta move the puck. We know that they have deep corners at both ends of the ice so they use it really well.”

Per Mayotte, the Tigers have been intentional this week about focusing on the habits that allow them to play the type of game they want to play. 

For Veinbergs, it’s up to the leaders to recall those habits and set the tone early in both games. 

“It’s a big role for us as leaders to get the whole team to be ready right from the puck drop and we did not do that very well against Augustana. So just have that mindset that this is the game, this is how we’re gonna start, and just talking things through and keeping it alive in the locker room. I think it’s on us, not the coach,” he said.  

One big boost for CC is that sophomore assistant captain and center Owen Beckner returned last week from an upper-body injury he suffered in late November. Beckner immediately found his rhythm, scoring in CC’s exhibition against Simon Fraser. 

Despite missing six games, Beckner leads the Tigers in scoring this season with 16 points on 10 assists and six goals. He led the team last season as well but beyond his play on the ice, Beckner’s leadership is what stands out. 

“It was basically the end of last year, where he had some opportunities to step up and it wasn’t even necessarily in front of the team. It was walking into my office and having a few conversations and him sharing what’s important to him, and his teammates and the team,” Mayotte said. “He’s not internally focused, he’s very, very externally focused and so losing that type of leadership, and he’s around all the time so he still interacts, he’s a great teammate. But losing that in between periods in a game, on the bench during hard points in a game is really where his leadership value impacts this team from a game standpoint.”