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After playing arguably their best hockey of the season the last three weekends, the 13th-ranked Tigers now are focused on a new set of goals.

It's playoff time, and if they're going to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, they need to win a best-of-three, WCHA opening-round series against Minnesota Duluth at the World Arena.   

Faceoff is 7:37 (MDT) on Friday, 7:07 p.m. on Saturday and, if a third game is necessary, 7:07 p.m. on Sunday.

Winner of the first-round match-up advances to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn., next week. NCAA tournament selections and brackets will be announced on Sunday, March 22.                           

Colorado College currently is tied for 14th in the Pairwise rankings, which means that it's close to being on the bubble but still needs to move up a few notches for a potential at-large bid to NCAAs. Otherwise, the only other way for CC to get into the national tournament is by winning the Broadmoor Cup as WCHA playoff champion for the first time ever.

The Tigers, 16-10-10 overall, finished 12-9-7 in league play after skating to a 1-1 overtime draw with the University of Denver at DU's Magness Arena last Saturday. They tied with the University of Wisconsin for third place, but enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed due to losing a tiebreaker with the Badgers.

Seventh-place Minnesota Duluth, which lost twice (5-4 and 4-2) to the University of Alaska Anchorage at home last week, is 16-12-8 overall after finishing with a 10-11-7 mark in WCHA play. The Bulldogs bring a five-game (0-3-2) winless streak into the post-season.