The 2012 WCHA Playoffs begin on Friday night with the No. 3 Denver Pioneers to win their first WCHA tournament title since the 2007-08 season. The No. 4 North Dakota Fighting Sioux, however, are going for the three-peat, having defeated St. Cloud State and the Denver Pioneers the last two years.

The WCHA Tournament has been dominated by the Pioneers (15 championships), the Minnesota Gophers (14), the Wisconsin Badgers (11) and the Fighting Sioux (10). Only the Pioneers and the Badgers can work toward eliminating each other this weekend, because they have drawn each other in the first round as a No. 3 versus No. 10 matchup.

Here is the schedule for Day 1 of the 2012 WCHA Playoffs:

No. 12 Alaska-Anchorage vs No. 1 Minnesota, 6:07 pm MT;
No. 11 Minnesota State vs. No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth, 7:07 pm MT;
No. 10 Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Denver, 7:37 pm MT;
No. 9 Bemidji State vs. No. 4 North Dakota, 6:37 pm CT;
No. 8 Michigan Tech vs No. 5 Colorado College, 7:37 pm MT;
No. 7 Nebraska Omaha vs. No. 6 St. Cloud State, 6:37 pm CT.

Head over to Western College Hockey Blog for more WCHA news and notes.