With the goaltending situation presumably taken care of, thanks to returning starter Kaidan Mbereko, the biggest task for CC was to fix its scoring woes.

Having had one of the worst offenses in the nation in '23, Colorado College entered this season by losing it top scorer and more than a quarter of its goals.

Defying their recent struggles, Colorado College overcame a 2-goal deficit to win in overtime thanks to Laba's 7th of the season.

As the team headed into its mid-season vacation, the road sweep of the Fighting Hawks completely altered the fortunes of the Tigers.

From mid-January through early March, Mbereko allowed more than 2 goals in just two games and his stellar play enabled the team to go 9–2–2 in that span.

With the club all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, all the Tigers needed to do was win their semifinal match against Omaha and they'd make their first postseason appearance since 2011.

The final rankings put Massachusetts .0004 points ahead of CC for the last spot in the tournament and left the Tigers out in the cold.