GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado Mesa hosts the Colorado State University Rams to kick off the 2026-27 season with a two game home stand.

The first two games of the Mavericks season were over the weekend as the CSU Rams came to town. Friday night was the home opener for the Mavs and the stands were filled once again. The Mavericks roster featured many players who were playing in their first game including Chase Ripley, Ryan Carmichael, Owen Heersink, Chase Gama, Nate Cardenas, Zach Gaberick, AJ Lehrman, and Holden Cairns.

The Mavericks started off very hot as they were running the forecheck and kept very heavy pressure in the CSU zone. The Rams would make the first mistake of the game by taking a slashing penalty just five minutes into the game. Despite the Mavericks best efforts they would not score on their first powerplay of the game. It wasn't until 11 minutes and 30 seconds into the first period where senior Brian White would start the season scoring for the Mavericks with the assist coming from senior Ethan Levesque. This would cause the floodgates to open for the Mavericks as sophomore Leo VanValkenburgh would score with just one minute left in the first period which would take the Mavericks up two heading into the second period. Early into the second period the CSU Rams would get their first chance on the power play where they would sneak one past senior goaltender John Hickam making the score 2-1 early in the 2nd period. The Mavericks would then fight back by scoring two unanswered goals coming off the sticks of senior Ryan Koch, and White who would score his second goal of the game leading the Mavericks into the 3rd period with a 4-1 lead over the Rams. The third period started off with a lot of back and forth action and it wasn't until eight minutes left in the 3rd the Rams would go on the powerplay and score their 2nd goal of the game making the score 4-2. The
Mavericks would then go on to score 5 unanswered goals as Freshman Ryan Carmichael would score first ever goal as a Maverick. With just four minutes and 30 seconds left in the 3rd period the
Mavericks would go on a 5 minute powerplay where we see White net his third goal of the game with a huge shot from the point. The Mavs would then run away with it, seeing goals from senior Mason Ripley, and two first goals from freshmen Owen Heersink, and Nate Cardenas to put the Mavericks up 9-2.

Saturday's game would be another dominant performance for the Mavs. Just one minute and 10 seconds into the game Brian White would score the first goal for the Mavs. The Mavs would stop there as four minutes into the game the Mavericks would go down to a 5-on-3, but freshman Owen Heersink would skate the puck from the Maverick zone, beat two CSU defenders and net the second goal for the Mavericks. Three minutes later Senior Ethan Levesque would score from the point giving the Mavericks a 3-0 lead over the Rams to end the first period. Five minutes and 30 seconds into the 2nd period Senior Ben Pedigo would give the Mavericks a 4-0 lead as he nets one on the power play. With just 4 minutes left in the 2nd period Senior Ryan Koch would walk in on the power play and score the fifth goal for the Mavericks. The Rams wouldn't give up easily as with one minute and 30 seconds left in the 2nd period they would net their only goal of the game meaning the Mavericks would go into the 3rd period with a 5-1 lead. The third period was great for the Mavericks as they would come out looking for an answer on the CSU goal. The Mavericks would strike back with 13 minutes and 30 seconds left as Heersink would net his second goal of the game. Just a minute later Heersink would score his third goal of the game to give the Mavericks a 7-1 lead over the Rams. The Mavericks would then proceed to score three more unanswered goals by Cardenas, and 2 by sophomore Ian Feighny to give the Mavericks the 10-1 win over the Rams.

The Mavericks would sweep the CSU Rams over the opening weekend to give the Mavs a great start to their season. In both games senior goaltender John Hickam would save 20 of the 22 shots he faced the first night, and 11 of the 12 shots he faced the second day. It was a great opening weekend for the Mavs as we saw two great wins and hat tricks from both White, and Heersink. The Mavs will head to Nebraska for a three game road trip before facing Colorado School of Mines for Homecoming weekend at RiverCity Sportplex.

Game 1: White (1), VanVulkenburgh (1), Koch (1), White (2), Carmichael (1), White (3), M. Ripley (1), Heersink (1), Cardenas (1)
Game 2: White (4), Heersink (2), Levesque (1), Pedigo (1), Koch (2), Heersink (3), Heersink (4), Cardenas (2), Feighny (1), Feighny (2)