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After a pair of impressive exhibition victories the previous two Saturdays, the Tigers officially open the 2013-14 regular season at home this weekend, taking on the University of Minnesota Duluth in the first-ever National Collegiate Hockey Conference series for both teams.

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

CC, which finished 18-19-5 overall in 2012-13 after reaching the title game of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Final Five tournament in St. Paul, Minn., last March, ushered in the 2013-14 season on Oct. 5 with a 5-0 exhibition victory over the University of New Brunswick and followed up with an 8-4 triumph over the United States Under-18 Team last Saturday.

While Friday's nationally televised (CBS Sports Network) series opener is Colorado College's initial NCAA contest of this historic campaign, the visiting Bulldogs arrive with a 1-0-1 overall record after beating (2-1) and tying (1-1) Michigan Tech in non-conference action at home last weekend.

Friday's contest marks the 175th encounter between the Tigers and Duluth in a rivalry that started on Jan. 4, 1961. Despite going just 4-11-2 in its last 17 outings against UMD dating back to the 2008-09 season, Colorado College still owns an 85-82-7 all-time edge in the previous 174 clashes. The teams last met in mid-January of this year, splitting a pair of decisions at the World Arena. After falling by a 3-2 count in the series opener, CC bounced back for a 5-1 victory that kicked off a 9-5-3 run in its last 17 outings of the 2012-13 season.

Tiger Bytes: Honoring the memory of Scott Winkler '13, who passed away shortly after completing his senior season and graduating last spring, the Tigers will pay tribute to their former teammate during an on-ice ceremony prior to this week's series finale with MInnesota Duluth. Fans are requested to be in their seats early on Saturday to share in a video celebration of Scott's life as well as a special jersey presentation involving members of his family. Winkler died unexpectedly at his parents' home in Asker, Norway, on June 12...Colorado College officially heads into the 2013-14 regular season having successfully killed 15 consecutive power plays dating back to Game 3 of last season's first-round WCHA playoff series at the University of Denver...CC's freshmen accounted for 14 points (2g,12a) in the team's two exhibition victories, with forwards Alex Roos (2g,2a) and Sam Rothstein (0g,4a) collecting four apiece.