diff --git a/maintner/github.go b/maintner/github.go
index 54b7feb..905ad50 100644
--- a/maintner/github.go
+++ b/maintner/github.go
@@ -1951,6 +1951,7 @@
 	2017/03/30 21:42:31 matches: [["GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-golang#262" "GoogleCloudPlatform" "gcloud-golang" "262"]]
 	2017/03/30 21:42:31 matches: [["GoogleCloudPlatform/google-cloud-go#481" "GoogleCloudPlatform" "google-cloud-go" "481"]]
 	*/
+	c.initGithub()
 	github := c.GitHub()
 	refs := make([]GitHubIssueRef, 0, len(ms))
 	for _, m := range ms {