The 2022–23 Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey season was the 83rd season of play for the program and the 10th in the NCHC conference. The Tigers represented Colorado College in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season and were coached by Kris Mayotte, in his second season.
With coach Mayotte continuing the program's overhaul, Colorado College started the year with less-than-stellar results. Since neither Matt Vernon nor Kaidan Mbereko had managed to earn the job outright, the Tigers alternated between the two netminders in the first month of the season. Both were inconsistent early, however, after a 5–0 blanking of Minnesota Duluth, Mbereko was able to establish himself as the starter and remained in that role for the balance of the season.
On the offensive side, the team saw a little improvement in the first half but they were still carried by scoring of Hunter McKown. The Tigers would only go as far as McKown could take them as he accounted for more than a quarter of CC's goals. Unfortunately, he was unable to lift the team on his own. Colorado College was able to post a respectable record in the first half of the season despite their hit-or-miss offense and were able to get themselves up to .500 once they returned from the winter break.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the second half of their season was littered with ranked teams. After January 1, CC only played teams who were either ranked at the time or finished the season in the top 20. They were able to get a win from St. Cloud State in mid-January but then proceeded to go winless over the next 13 games. No matter which opponent they faced, the story was the same. CC's defense could put forth a solid defensive effort but the offense could not score. Colorado College averaged exactly 1 goal per game in that stretch with Hunter McKown accounting for more than half of their goals. The Tigers' offense was particularly bad at even strength, garnering just 48 goals for the season.
The losses sent CC tumbling down the standings and the Tigers ended the regular season in 7th place. They began postseason play having to face tournament-bound Western Michigan, who possessed one of the top offenses in the nation, and were a heavy underdog when the series began. Their defense kept CC in the game and the team entered the third period down by just a goal. With only a small hill to climb over, the Tigers produced a shocking outcome when they scored three times in under a minute to take the lead and eventually the game. In the rematch, CC kept the momentum on their side and stymied the Broncos, allowing just 2 goals while adding a pair themselves. Overtime was a furious affair with 7 shots being recorded in just 3 minutes. Luckily for the Tigers, the last came from the stick of Matthew Gleason and was the game winner.[1]
After the improbable win, CC headed to Saint Paul and had to take on long-time rival Denver in the conference semifinal. The Pioneers had swept the season series and, despite missing their starting goaltender, were expected to continue that trend. The Colorado College defense, however, had other ideas; the Tiger defenders shut down Denver's attack all game, limiting the Pios to just 23 shots on goal, all of which were stopped by Mbereko. McKown's power play marker in the second was all that CC could muster but it was all they needed and the Tigers advanced to the title game with a 1–0 shutout.
Colorado College now found itself just 1 win away from the NCAA tournament and only St. Cloud State could stop them. While the defense played well in the game, the offense did not. CC got just 17 shots on goal while the Huskies only gave the Tigers' dangerous power play just 1 opportunity. The complete lack of offense put an end to the Tigers' miraculous run and the team would have to wait for another year.[2]
| Dominic Basse | Goaltender | Transferred to St. Cloud State | ||
| Jordan Biro | Forward | Transferred to American International | ||
| Hugo Blixt | Defenseman | Graduation (signed with Almtuna IS) | ||
| Cooper Fensterstock | Forward | Transferred to Geneseo State | ||
| Brian Hawkinson | Forward | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Jackson Jutting | Forward | Transferred to Bemidji State | ||
| Marc Pasemko | Forward | Left Program (retired) | ||
| Jackson Ross | Defenseman | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Brian Williams | Forward | Graduation (retired) |
| Cade Ahrenholz | Forward | 19 | Lakeville, MN | ||
| Ryan Beck | Forward | 19 | Linden, MI | ||
| Nikolai Charchenko | Defenseman | 21 | Victoria, MN | ||
| Forward | 19 | Northville, MI
| |||
| Goaltender | 19 | West Bloomfield, MI | |||
| Noah Serdachny | Forward | 19 | Edmonton, AB | ||
| Ethan Straky | Defenseman | 19 | Walnut Creek, CA | ||
| Gleb Veremyev | Forward | 19 | Monroe Township, NJ |
As of August 1, 2022.[3]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 38 | 21 | 7 | 28 | 30 | |||
| 35 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 48 | |||
| 38 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 18 | |||
| 38 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 4 | |||
| 37 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 14 | |||
| 38 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 33 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 12 | |||
| 37 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 8 | |||
| 35 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 40 | |||
| 38 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 8 | |||
| 38 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 25 | |||
| 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 18 | |||
| 34 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 22 | |||
| 27 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | |||
| 38 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | |||
| 36 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 22 | |||
| 34 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 8 | |||
| 22 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 | |||
| 30 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||
| 33 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |||
| 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |||
| 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 79 | 137 | 216 | 335 |
|---|
| 1 | 1:22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 | ||
| 32 | 1644:40 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 63 | 782 | 4 | .925 | 2.30 | ||
| 12 | 629:45 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 27 | 258 | 2 | .905 | 2.57 | ||
| Empty Net | - | 29:31 | - | - | - | 9 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 38 | 2305:18 | 13 | 22 | 3 | 99 | 1041 | 6 | .913 | 2.58 |
|---|
See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.
| Poll | Week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 (Final) | ||||
| USCHO.com | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Kaidan Mbereko | NCHC Second Team | [6] |
| Kaidan Mbereko | NCHC Rookie Team | [7] |
| Bryan Yoon | NCHC All-Tournament Team | [8] |
| Hunter McKown |
| 6 | 166 | Carsen Musser † | Arizona Coyotes | |
| 7 | 204 | Owen Beckner † | Ottawa Senators | |
| 7 | 212 | Zaccharya Wisdom † | Seattle Kraken |