Listen to Ken Landau and coach Scott Owens in the final coach’s show of the season at 6:30 p.m. at McCabe’s Tavern.

Also, Landau won first place from the Colorado Broadcasters Association for “Best Sports Coverage by an Individual or Team” in a major market. Currently in his sixth season as the “Voice of the Tigers” on flagship station FM 103.9 RXP, Landau has won the accolade three times; 2007, 2009 and 2012. He also received a Certificate of Merit (second place) from the CBA in 2008.

Here are initial preview/reaction stories from around the league to the six playoff series pairings.

Here is a look at the No. 7 Nebraska-Omaha at No. 6 Minnesota State series: The purple Mavs are catching a red Mavericks team that is struggling.

In contrast to UNO, No. 4 seed Wisconsin is on a serious roll headed into its home series against No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth, which has a five-game unbeaten streak of its own.

Student section attendance in Denver may be light with spring starting Friday. Go to denverpioneers.com to snap up some tickets. Here is my CC reaction story from earlier.

Last-place Alaska-Anchorage limps into the playoffs, but has a 1-1 home mark against top seed St. Cloud State.

A 2-1 overtime loss at Minnesota State cost North Dakota a share of the MacNaughton Cup. . The Saturday loss was the first in the last 10 games for UND, which will now enter the WCHA playoffs seeking its fourth straight Broadmoor Trophy as the league’s playoff champion. No. 3 seed UND hosts No. 10 Michigan Tech in the first round.

Minnesota had the MacNaughton Cup hauled to Bemidji where they celebrated their share of the regular-season title after beating 11th-place Bemidji State. The No. 2 seeds host the Beavers in the playoffs this weekend.

News Tribune sports writer Kevin Pates was honored before Saturday night’s Minnesota-Duluth hockey game at Amsoil Arena. It was the final home game of the season for the Bulldogs, and also the final home game Pates will cover after 35 years with the paper, and 23 years spent covering UMD hockey; he’s retiring later this year. UMD presented Pates — at left, with UMD coach Scott Sandelin — with a jersey and a framed collage of headlines and team photos, and Pates performed the ceremonial puck drop. On a personal note, it is gratifying to see Kevin receive this kind of recognition. He is one of the best college hockey beat writers around, loves the sport and is a class act. Very deserving.

Here is a look at the Pairwise rankings and how some playoff series will whittle down the contenders, including Colorado College.

Here is the final WCHA blog media poll, which included me as a voter. Thanks to TechHockeyGuide for handling this all year.