Preview: UND at Colorado College

Feb. 24—COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — There are six college hockey programs who have multiple recruits in the top 20 in the United States Hockey League in scoring.

For the most part, they are not surprises.

One is Boston University, which is led by phenom Macklin Celebrini. Another is North Dakota, which has Jayden Perron and Michael Emerson sitting in the top five. Then there's Denver, Quinnipiac and Wisconsin each with two.

The last one? Colorado College.

Yes, the Tigers are on the verge of turning things around.

Second-year head coach Kris Mayotte and his top recruiter, Peter Mannino, have a strong freshman class this season, led by goalie Kaidan Mbereko, New York Rangers draft pick Noah Laba, forward Ryan Beck, forward Gleb Veremyev (out for season) and defenseman Ethan Straky.

Next season's class will be highlighted by forward Bret Link, forward Zaccharya Wisdom, forward Evan Werner and defenseman Max Burkholder, the No. 3 blue line scorer in the USHL.

So, it's coming, but the Tigers aren't quite there yet.

Although they've been solid defensively, offense has dried up in the second half.

After scoring 19 goals in a five-game stretch in December and January, the Tigers have just nine goals in their last nine games and have dropped to No. 55 nationally in goals per game.

A few key players have hit scoring slumps. Matthew Gleason, a skilled forward who finished second in points per game for the Tigers last season, enters this weekend on a 13-game point drought and a 17-game goal drought — though it's not for a lack of chances.

The Tigers' biggest threat has been Hunter McKown, who is attracting substantial interest from NHL teams as an undrafted free agent.

McKown, who lived with former UND star Jake Sanderson when they played for the U.S. Under-18 Team, has 17 goals this season, including 11 on the power play. He's tied with UND's Riese Gaber and Minnesota Duluth's Ben Steeves as leading power-play goal scorer in the country.

McKown is a right-handed shooter who plays in the left circle with his one-timer open to passes. Those passes often come from Bryan Yoon at the top of the zone or Noah Laba in the right circle.

UND will have to be extra aware of that threat when the Tigers get power plays, because they have generated with the man advantage this season.

This weekend will be UND's second time playing in the beautiful new Ed Robson Arena, which was built by Grand Forks-based JLG Architects.

The Fighting Hawks won 5-2 and 4-1 in December 2021.

UND Stat CC

3.45 (10th) Off 2.27 (55th)

3.10 (41st) Def 2.83 (28th)

31.1 (1st) PP 21.7 (23rd)

80.2 (31st) PK 80.4 (27th)

52.4 (19th) FO 49.8 (32nd)

.876 (60th) SP .908 (21st)

National rank in parenthesis. Categories are offense (goals per game), defense (goals allowed per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.

Mbereko will more than likely be the all-rookie team goaltender in the NCHC. Although Omaha's Simon Latkoczy is making a late-season run at it, Mbereko has played so many more games and minutes than Latkoczy.

Mbereko, a member of the U.S. World Junior Team, is having an excellent freshman season for the Tigers.

His .922 save percentage in all games leads all NCHC goalies who have played at least 15 games. It's two points better than St. Cloud State's Jaxon Castor (.920) and three better than Dominic Basse (.919), who transferred from Colorado College to St. Cloud State in the offseason.

Colorado College has been a solid defensive team this season and has done a great job on opponents' top players. If UND is to break through offensively, it might have to be someone other than Jackson Blake or Riese Gaber.

Judd Caulfield has played well lately, but hasn't been rewarded with points in the last three. If he keeps playing as he's been, they will come.

UND has been dominant against Colorado College in the Brad Berry era. The Fighting Hawks have beaten the Tigers 13 times in a row — the longest active winning streak of any team vs. Colorado College in the NCHC. But all runs eventually come to an end, and this Colorado College team has enough pieces to do it, led by Mbereko and McKown.

Denver at Western Michigan

There are two teams who have the Penrose Cup in their own control and they play head-to-head this weekend (series opener is on CBS Sports).

Denver has a five-point lead on Western Michigan in the NCHC standings and is a strong favorite to win it, but Western Michigan could snatch away control with a sweep. That seems like a tall task, but Denver has been swept on the road twice this season.

If Denver wins the series opener, the Penrose Cup and commissioner Heather Weems will be on hand for the series finale, ready for a potential presentation.

The Broncos are dealing with some key injuries. Defenseman Carter Berger did not play last weekend due to an upper-body injury. Forward Jamie Rome, who has been the No. 1 option on Western Michigan's top power-play unit, also has been out. The Broncos basically played just five defensemen last weekend against Colorado College without Berger. Lucas Matta, the sixth defenseman, played 3:47 on Friday and 2:00 on Saturday.

St. Cloud State at Omaha

St. Cloud State is entering the weekend on a six-game winless streak. Four of those six went to overtime, so that's perhaps a bit misleading, but if the Huskies don't win the series opener against Omaha, they'll be on their longest winless streak since the Craig Dahl era.

St. Cloud State has struggled to regain form since Union transfer Dylan Anhorn suffered a season-ending injury.

Omaha has already clinched home ice but is battling to make the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks are No. 13 in the Pairwise.

Omaha has lost just once in the 2023 calendar year (8-1-1).

Miami at Minnesota Duluth

Minnesota Duluth still has an outside shot at home ice. The Bulldogs have recently upped their offense thanks in big part to the emergence of first-round NHL draft pick Isaac Howard.

Howard started the season with one goal, five assists in his first 19 games. He now has three goals and four assists in the last nine.

Miami has imploded in the second half. The RedHawks are winless in 11.