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After playing six consecutive WCHA games on the road, and winning only one of the them, Colorado College returns to action at the World Arena this weekend for the first time since early December.

CC, 9-13-2 overall and 6-9-1 in league play, tries to climb out of ninth place in a two-game series against the University of Minnesota Duluth. Faceoff is 7:37 p.m. (MT) Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday as the Tigers head into the final six weekends of their 2012-13 regular season with seven of the next 10 outings at home.

The two-game series also marks the first time since late November that they have skated against an opponent that is not ranked among the nation's top 10 teams.

UMD is 9-10-3 overall and 7-6-2 in conference play after claiming a pair of one-goal victories (1-0 and 5-4) over Michigan Tech last week in Duluth. The Bulldogs currently are tied with the University of Wisconsin for sixth place in the WCHA, four points ahead of Colorado College and just four out of the league lead.

Friday's contest marks the 173rd encounter between the teams in a rivalry that started more than half a century ago, on Jan. 4, 1961. They last met in late February 2012, when Minnesota Duluth prevailed 4-3 in overtime  and 5-2 at its new AMSOIL Arena on the banks of Lake Superior. Despite going just 3-10-2 in their last 15 outings against UMD dating back to the 2008-09 season, the Tigers still own an 84-81-7 all-time edge in the previous 172 clashes.

CC snapped the program's longest winless skid (0-6-1) in nearly 20 years with last Friday's 4-3 victory at the University of North Dakota, but still has lost 10 of its last 14 games overall while going 2-10-2 during the slump. That, in addition to a 5-5-2 record at the World Arena, leaves plenty of room for improvement.

TIGER BITES: Senior defenseman Mike Boivin leads all blue-line specialists nationwide with his nine goals to date in 2012-13...Four Colorado College forwards – Rylan Schwartz, William Rapuzzi, Scott Winkler and Alexander Krushelnyski – continue to rank among the WCHA's top 15 leaders while the team has scored at a healthy 3.38 goals-per-game clip. The problem lies in giving up a WCHA-worst 3.75 per contest...The CC power play has clicked for at least one goal in a season-best four consecutive games.