NCHC Frozen faceoff
Site: Xcel Energy Center
Friday: St. Cloud State vs. Colorado College, 4 p.m.; Minnesota Duluth vs. Denver, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: Third-place game at 4 p.m.; championship at 7:30 p.m.
TV: Semifinals and championship game will be on CBS Sports Network.
Top-ranked Huskies will be tested
St. Cloud State (29-4-3): The Huskies swept No. 8 seed Miami (Ohio) in the quarterfinals and have locked up the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament. Senior D Jimmy Schuldt (10-23—33) and senior F Patrick Newell (19-24—43) are among the 10 Hobey Baker Award finalists.
Colorado College (17-18-4): The sixth-seeded Tigers beat No. 3 seed Western Michigan in three games to advance to the Frozen Faceoff for the first time.
Minnesota Duluth (23-11-2): The Bulldogs, No. 4 in the PairWise rankings, swept Nebraska Omaha in the quarterfinals. Sophomore F Justin Richards (10-18—28) is the leading scorer, one point ahead of sophomore D Scott Perunovich (3-24—27), who missed last week's series because of injury and is day-to-day, according to coach Scott Sandelin.
Denver (21-10-5): The Pioneers, No. 6 in the PairWise rankings, advanced to St. Paul by sweeping North Dakota. Senior F Jarid Lukosevicius leads them with 17 goals and is a plus-18.
RANDY JOHNSON