When Colorado College hockey coach Kris Mayotte watches incoming sophomore forward Carmelo Crandell on film this season, it’ll be a familiar feeling. 

Crandell’s play at Arizona State last season stood out to the Tigers’ coach on several occasions. When Crandell entered the transfer portal earlier this year, offering him a chance to come to CC was a no-brainer. 

“It’s interesting because we felt like every team we were pre scouting last year, they had just played Arizona State so it felt like we watched Arizona State a lot on film through watching our upcoming opponent,” Mayotte said last month. “(Carmelo) was somebody that you didn’t really notice at the beginning of the year because we played them fairly early and then in the second half, every time you would see him … even if I’m watching the team that they’re playing, Carmelo would jump out at you. He would jump out at you with his speed, with how he would get pucks off walls, the skill that he would play with, all of those things. Then you play him here and it’s the same thing on the bench. It’s like, ‘14’s all over the place.’”

Following the 2025-2026 campaign, Crandell finished eighth on the Sun Devils in scoring with seven goals and five assists.

This season, Mayotte and the CC staff will look to cater the offense more to the skill set of the players, which highlights speed, sense and skill over the size of previous rosters. 

Crandell fits that mold well, Mayotte said. 

“We were interested in adding a college forward going into this offseason,” Mayotte said. “When he became available, again, thinking about the team that we want to be, the speed that we want to play with, the skill we want to play with, he just became somebody that became a priority for us pretty quickly. Then you go back and watch him even closer and man, he has got some stuff that you really just can’t teach.”

---

Olsen seeks big-time challenge at collegiate level

Zach Olsen is another new face who will be in black and gold at Robson Arena this upcoming season. 

Olsen is CC’s eighth-highest draft pick in program history. He was chosen by the Toronto Maple Leafs with the 73rd pick of the 2026 NHL draft. 

The decision for the forward to join the Tigers this fall was made somewhat recently. 

Olsen could have returned to the Western Hockey League this season, but the Tigers’ coaching staff felt it would be better for his development if he played college hockey. 

“The way that he plays is he’s kind of a man among boys in junior hockey. (Six-foot-1, 205, can skate, is hard, is all around the net,” Mayotte said. “He’s just a really good fit for what we’re trying to do and then from his personal standpoint, we have a really good opportunity for him to play in a good role and one that we think he can really grow in and flourish.”

Mayotte said he loves Olsen’s tenacity around the net, and said there were similarities between him and former Tiger-turned-New York Ranger Noah Laba in their bodies and how well they can move on the ice. 

“He’s a big body but he skates really, really well,” Mayotte said. “And he’s someone who’s just comfortable in traffic, he’s comfortable around the net. He likes taking pucks to the net.

“When you think about the body that he has, going back to junior just wasn’t going to challenge him the right way. He might have the puck a lot but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re growing. I think his ability to learn how to do the big-boy things in a league that is the best in North America, meaning the National Collegiate Hockey Conference not the NCAA, it just makes too much sense for him on a personal level.” 

Last year, Olsen scored 34 points in the same number of appearances. He recorded 16 assists and netted 18 goals. 

---

Mayotte has belief in both goaltenders as CC moves on from Mbereko

Confidence is the name of the game between the pipes at Colorado College. 

From the 2022-2023 season until last year, the Tigers’ plan at goaltender was Kaidan Mbereko, the All-American out of Aspen, who took home conference Goaltender of the Year honors his sophomore season and set the program record for most appearances by a goalie with 128. 

With Mbereko now playing pro hockey in the ECHL, Mayotte admits that the goaltender position is the only one he doesn’t have a plan for, but he remains confident nonetheless. 

Sophomore Jackson Unger returns for the Tigers. Last season, he appeared in nine games and started six, facing tough opponents including North Dakota, Denver, Western Michigan and Minnesota Duluth. 

Unger finished the season with a .911 save percentage and a 2.54 goals-against average. 

Unger’s primary competition will be incoming freshman Michal Pradel, who was selected in the third round of the 2025 NHL draft by the Detroit Red Wings with the 75th pick. Pradel also finished with a .911 save percentage with the Tri-City Storm of the U.S. Hockey League last season over 38 appearances. He recorded a 2.75 goals-against average.

Between the two of them, Mayotte believes CC has one of the best goaltending rosters in the country. 

“We were really conscious to let Jackson know, ‘Hey, the reason we’re not potentially looking for a transfer goalie or an older goalie is because we have belief in you,’” Mayotte said. “You look at the games that Jackson played in last year, the situations he stepped up in … it’s not like we eased him into it. He got big-boy situations, and really high-leverage games and against big-time opponents and he was just phenomenal.

“We know we have that and we know Michal is a special type of prospect. (Six-5), World Junior experience, third-round pick, all of that stuff. There’s something there that has the ability to be really special and our job is to make sure that they both continue to grow and we believe they both give us really good opportunities to win.”