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Hoping to take advantage of home ice after losing four of five league outings on the road in November, Colorado College aims to avenge a mid-month 5-4 defeat at Magness Arena and get back in the running for the coveted Gold Pan this week.
The No. 8-ranked Tigers, who are a perfect 4-0 at the World Arena so far in 2011-12, play host to their archrival – the University of Denver – in a nationally televised (
CBS Sports Network) contest on Friday.
Faceoff is 8:07 p.m. MT.
CC, which dropped a pair of one-goal decisions (7-6, 4-3) at the University of North Dakota last week despite hat tricks both nights by junior center
Rylan Schwartz, currently is 7-4 overall and 5-4 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Schwartz was named
National Player of the Week by
InsideCollegeHockey.com on Monday and
WCHA co-Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.
Currently tied for sixth in the league standings but with at least one game in hand with every other WCHA team except Denver, the Tigers trail fourth-place and 10th-ranked DU by just one point. The Pioneers are 6-4-3 overall and 4-2-3 in WCHA play after splitting a pair of non-conference decisions in Denver Cup competition last week. They blanked Princeton, 3-0, on Friday but fell to Miami University by a 4-2 count on Saturday.
This week's showdown marks the 281st official meeting in a rivalry that started on Jan. 6, 1950. While the Denver owns a 157-109-14 advantage overall, Colorado College has dropped only six of the last 22 encounters (10-6-6) dating back to the 2005-06 season. The Tigers are 18-8-3 in 29 games against DU at the World Arena after sweeping a pair of decisions (9-2 and 3-2) at home in 2010-11.
TIGER BITES: Friday's telecast, the second half of a college hockey doubleheader on
CBS Sports Network, can be seen on
DirecTV channel 613,
Dish channel 152 or
Comcast channel 170 in Colorado Springs...This week's WCHA honor is the second of the season for Schwartz, who earlier earned offensive accolades after scoring three times in a 6-4 victory over Bemidji State University on Oct. 15. The three hat tricks through just 11 games is four shy of former great
Bob McCusker's single-season school record of seven set in 1956-57, when Colorado College claimed its second of two NCAA championships. The legendary
Joe Slattery earlier posted six three-goal games for the Tigers during the 1947-48 campaign...Sophomore left wing
Jaden Schwartz, whose 17 points (5g,17a) ties him for the team scoring lead with his brother, was one of two U.S. college players invited Monday to
Team Canada's selection camp for the upcoming Junior World Championships scheduled for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Calgary. Camp opens in Calgary on Saturday, Dec. 10. Subsequently, the younger Schwartz will miss the finale of next week's home series against Alaska Anchorage plus CC's next four outings if he earns a spot on the roster for the second consecutive year.