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The regular season is complete. Now it's time for Colorado College to compete for the big stakes.

And what better way to usher in the WCHA playoffs than with a best-of-three series against its archrival!

As the result of the University of Denver's 6-1 victory over Alaska Anchorage on Sunday and a complicated tiebreaker formula seeding three teams tied for fourth place in the league standings, CC will battle the Pioneers for the right to advance to the WCHA Final Five for the last time.

Faceoff at DU's Magness Arena is 7:37 p.m. Friday, 7:07 p.m. Saturday and, if necessary, 7:07 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are available online at DenverPioneers.com/tickets or by calling 303-871-2336. Tiger fans typically sit in sections 5, 6 and 7, which are behind the net at the visitor's attacking end for the first and third periods.

Colorado College, 14-17-5 overall and 11-13-4 in league play, finished eighth in the WCHA standings. The Pioneers, 19-11-5 overall, tied for fourth with Minnesota State University and the University of Wisconsin, seven points ahead of CC at 14-9-5 in conference play.

The Tigers, who open post-season play on the road for just the third time in the last 20 years, swept at DU in the first round nine years ago to advance to the 2004 Final Five. They lost in three games at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2010.  

Other WCHA matchups this week pit No. 12-seed UAA at No. 1 St. Cloud State, which tied with Minnesota for the regular-season title, as well as No. 11 Bemidji State at No. 2 UM, No. 10 Michigan Tech at No. 3 North Dakota, No. 9 UMD at No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 7 Nebraska Omaha at No. 6 Minnesota State.

Tiger Bites: Senior goaltender Joe Howe, who made 77 saves in last week's series split at Michigan Tech, was named WCHA co-Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. He steered aside a season-high 46 of 49 shots in Saturday's 4-3 triumph over the Huskies, his 50th victory in net since arriving at Colorado College. Howe also is just seven saves shy of reaching the 3,000 mark for his career. Only three other goalies in the history of Tiger Hockey – Marty Wakelyn (1982-86) with 3,630, Derek Pizzey (1985-89) with 3,603 and two-time All-American Eddie Mio (1972-76) with 3,047 – have accomplished that feat...Senior center Rylan Schwartz and junior left wing Alexander Krushelnyski finished tied for fourth and eighth, respectively, among WCHA scoring leaders in conference play...Senior Mike Boivin, meanwhile, continues to lead all defensemen nationwide with his 14 goals overall this season.