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Colorado College tries to snap its longest losing skid of the 2011-12 campaign, as well as clinch home ice and establish some momentum for the opening round of the WCHA playoffs, when the Tigers conclude regular-season play with a two-game series at home against Michigan Technological University this week.

Faceoff at the World Arena is 7:37 p.m. MT Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday.

CC, currently tied for fifth place with the University of Nebraska Omaha, is 13-12-1 in league play, one point ahead of Tech and two up on St. Cloud State in a four-team battle for the final two home playoff spots.

By winning once this weekend, the No. 19-ranked Tigers will stay ahead of MTU and clinch a top-six finish. While St. Cloud State could still pull even in the final standings by sweeping Minnesota Duluth, Colorado College would win the tiebreaker by virtue of more WCHA victories.

Seventh-place Michigan Tech, currently 14-16-4 overall and 11-11-4 in conference play, is enjoying its best season since 2006-07, when the Huskies finished 18-17-5. With a sweep this weekend, they would serve as first-round playoff hosts for the first time since 1993.

But it will be a difficult task for the visitors from Houghton, Mich., who have pulled off two first-round upsets of CC in Colorado Springs since 1994 but lost all 20 regular-season games they've played at the World Arena during the last decade-plus. 

The TIgers, meanwhile, are not exactly on a roll. In addition to suffering three consecutive setbacks for the first time in '11-12, they've won just once (1-5-1) in their last seven outings and are 4-8-2 for the 2012 calendar year. Last week's two defeats (4-3 in overtime and 5-2) at the University of Minnesota Duluth dropped them to 21st in the computerized Pairwise rankings, which ultimately determine the 16-team field for the NCAA tournament. After five losses in their last six outings, they enter this week's series with an overall record of 16-14-2.