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Colorado College makes its 14th and final trip to the league's showcase event this week when the Tigers compete for the coveted Broadmoor Trophy at the 2013 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn.

The lowest seeded of six teams participating at the Xcel Energy Center, they can earn an NCAA playoff bid by winning three games in three nights against three different highly ranked opponents.

CC opens against No. 6 University of North Dakota in Thursday's quarterfinal round at the Xcel Energy Center. Winner takes on No. 1-ranked University of Minnesota in Friday's semifinals.

Faceoff for both is 7:07 CT (6:07 MT). 

Those games, as well as the other three matchups in St. Paul, will be televised live regionally on Fox Sports North (DirecTV 668) and ROOT Sports (DirecTV 683).

Four of the participating teams, including Colorado College, will be making their final appearances as members of the WCHA. Top-seeded and No. 7-ranked St. Cloud State University joins the Tigers and UND in launching the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference next season, while Minnesota and University of Wisconsin move on to form the Big Ten. 

Minnesota State University is the only team in this week's field that will remain a member of the WCHA as of  2013-14.

CC, which never has won the Broadmoor Trophy as playoff champion, heads into Thursday's contest with an overall record of 16-18-5 after prevailing in a best-of-three first-round playoff series at the University of Denver last weekend. The underdog Tigers, who finished eighth in the league standings, bounced back to beat archrival DU, 2-1 and 4-3, on Saturday and Sunday after dropping a 5-3 decision in Game 1 on Friday

North Dakota, which also needed three games to oust Michigan Tech in the opening round, improved to 21-11-7 overall after finishing third in the WCHA at 14-7-7. UND took Games 1 (5-3) and 3 (6-0) at home, with the Huskies winning the middle tilt (2-1).

Thursday's contest marks the 228th all-time battle between the teams in a rivalry that began more than 65 years ago, on Feb. 12, 1948. North Dakota owns a 139-78-10 advantage after splitting four decisions with Colorado College earlier this season. The Tigers have lost all four previous meetings at the WCHA Final Four or Final Five – in 1997 (5-1), 2001 (2-1), 2008 (4-2) and 2011 (4-3).