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Colorado College wants a special piece of hardware back. 

Despite splitting four decisions with the University of Denver last season, including a 9-2 victory at the World Arena in early November, CC was unable to regain possession of the Gold Pan it surrendered to the Pioneers a year earlier.

The No. 3-ranked Tigers can take the first step in rectifying that situation on Saturday, when they resume their long-standing rivalry and annual battle for the coveted trophy with a single Western Collegiate Hockey Association battle against DU in the Mile High City.

Faceoff at Magness Arena is 7:07 p.m. MT.

It's the first of four games between the teams during the 2011-12 regular season. They meet in a rematch at the World Arena on Friday, Dec. 2, when CBS Sports Network will air a live national telecast of the contest, then twice again at each other's venue on Feb. 3 and 4.

This week's contest marks the 280th official meeting in the rivalry that started on Jan. 6, 1950. While 12th-ranked Denver owns a 156-109-14 advantage overall, CC has dropped only five of the last 21 encounters (10-5-6) dating back to the 2005-06 season.

The Tigers, 14-8-4 in 26 all-time showdowns at Magness, were undefeated (2-0-3) in their previous five games there before dropping both encounters (4-1 and 5-3) last season.

Currently tied with the Pioneers for sixth place in the WCHA, Colorado College has two games in hand with them and at least that many with each of the top five teams in the league standings. CC is 5-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

Denver, 3-3-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the WCHA, is in the midst of a rare four-game (0-2-2) winless streak, its longest since ending the 2006-07 season with four losses and a tie.

TIGER BITES: Senior center Nick Dineen was named the Red Baron® WCHA Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after leading all league players with six points in CC's recent split at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Dineen scored three goals, all on the power play, and set up three others in the two games as the Tigers bounced back from a 7-5 setback to UNO last Friday with a 5-2 victory on Saturday. The Omaha native scored once and set up three tallies, including the game winner, in the series finale... After going 0-for-4 on the power play in its season opener against Bemidji State University on Oct. 28, Colorado College has clicked for at least one PPG in five straight games while posting a 31-percent (9-for-29) success rate with the manpower advantage.