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After going 2-3-1 during a six-game homestand, Colorado College hits the road for the first of six remaining WCHA regular-season series this week.

The 11-ranked Tigers take aim at snapping a four-game losing streak to the University of Minnesota when they play at UM's Mariucci Arena for the first time since late in the 2009-10 season. Less than half of the players on CC's roster – five seniors and six juniors – ever have been there before.

Faceoff for the regionally televised series is 7:07 p.m. (CT) Friday and 5:07 p.m. (CT) Saturday.

The Gophers, 16-8-1 and ranked as high as No. 2 in this week's national polls, currently are tied with the University of Minnesota Duluth for first place in the WCHA standings with a 12-4 mark through 16 league games. Both teams are four points ahead of third-place Colorado College, currently 13-7-1 overall and 10-6 in conference play after splitting a pair of decisions against St. Cloud State University at home last week. 

It'll be son vs. father as senior defenseman/alternate captain Gabe Guentzel helps lead the Tigers against his dad, Mike, an assistant coach at Minnesota.

CC has not defeated former mentor Don Lucia and Minnesota since sweeping a two-game series at the World Arena almost three years ago, on Feb. 20 and 21, 2009,  and has gone 1-8 away from home vs. UM, including a 1-7 mark at Mariucci, since skating to a 3-0 victory at the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn., on March 18, 2005.

Friday's series opener marks the 252nd meeting between the teams in a rivalry that started on Feb. 27, 1947. The Gophers own a 160-84-7 advantage in the previous 251 after winning twice (4-1, 9-4) at the CSWA in October 2010. Colorado College, however, is a respectable 13-14-1 in 28 all-time encounters on the Olympic-size ice sheet at Mariucci despite suffering a pair of losses (3-0, 7-4) in its last visit in February of that same calendar year.

Tiger Bites: Both games this week will be telecast live regionally by FSN North. Friday's series opener also will be shown live throughout Colorado and several western states by ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain, which will air Saturday's contest on a two-hour taped delay...Sixteen of CC's 22 outings this season, including all six during the recent homestand and three altogether in which the winning team has clinched victory with an empty netter in the final minute of play, have been one-goal games. The Tigers are 8-7-1 in those 16 outings.