Colorado College’s Kaidan Mbereko was named Monday as the NCHC goaltender of the week, and it’s never a surprise when the Tigers sophomore receives that recognition.
Sixty-one saves over two 2-1 overtime wins last weekend at then-No. 12 Western Michigan gave Mbereko the conference’s weekly goalie award for the fourth time this season. Also last weekend, the Aspen, Colo., native bumped his current winning streak to a career-long-tying five games.
And 14th-ranked CC’s wins last weekend were signature ones for several reasons. They came against higher-flying competition than what the Tigers had in the previous two weeks at Minnesota Duluth and home to Miami, and WMU’s Lawson Ice Arena is famously hard to play in, especially on account of its boisterous student section.
“It’s not easy in that environment, and their team is really well coached and they’re really good, but the two games went well, and I think that’s the closest thing we’re going to get, as of now, to playoff hockey,” Mbereko said. “It was good for our group to go through that, and I’m proud of our guys for coming out on top.”
Last weekend’s victories in Kalamazoo bumped Mbereko’s record on the season to 15-8-1, with a NCHC-best .915 save percentage. He also further proved that he relishes playing at Lawson. A three-time NCHC goaltender of the week last season who made the conference’s all-rookie team, he backstopped CC to a conference first-round playoff win there last season, then led the Tigers to a semifinal upset over archrival Denver.
Speaking of the Pioneers, Mbereko credits one of DU’s former standouts for his own development. Peter Mannino, a national champion on the Pioneers’ 2004-05 team, is CC’s associate head coach in his third year with the program.
“I’m fortunate to have Peter, because we go through every team we play, with their offensive tendencies, their line rushes, their offensive zone pressure and just some things you don’t usually pay attention to when it’s a team video,” Mbereko said. “Western’s a fast-transition team, too, and they get guys involved in the rush, so throughout the week, we prepared for that and had that in the back of our minds while drills were going on.
“Coach Mannino is great that way, helping to have a game plan going into the weekend. He’s honestly the best, and he makes everything so fun. I enjoy coming to the rink to go work with him, and he had a great career and knows what he’s talking about. He’s a mentor, but he also helps me become a better goalie and a better person.”
And much else has gone into that for someone who was already a formidable goaltender with United States national program and World Junior Championship experience.
“My mental side of the game, just how I approach games in general, is different,” Mbereko said. “Last year, I was a freshman and wasn’t expecting to play a lot, but as I got more games in, I learned to play back-to-backs and playing really tough teams on consecutive weekends.
“Having gone through that, my approach to each day is to not take anything for granted and take everything as an opportunity to grow. There’s always an opportunity to get better.”
