No. 7 Michigan State hungry to stay hot at Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State hockey heads to the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids on Thursday caught between a pair of divergent trends and some new, first-world issues.
The trends:
1. Michigan State is cold in the GLI. The Spartans haven’t won the event since 2009.
2. Michigan State is hot this season. The No. 7-ranked Spartans are 12-4-2 and finished the first half of the season with only one loss in its last 10 games.
That hot streak continued with a sweep of Notre Dame on Dec. 8-9, prior to college hockey’s unique three-week holiday break at the end of fall semester. Did the Spartans cool off during the break? We will begin to find out on Thursday.
Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale and his staff sent the Spartans home with strict workout guidelines to try to stay in shape. Meanwhile, four Spartan players are in Sweden for the World Junior Championships – two playing for the USA, one for Slovakia and one for Finland.
Nightingale welcomed the remaining players back for practice on Monday to begin prep for Thursday’s GLI Semifinal against Ferris State, at 7 p.m. at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. The championship game will be played on Friday against Michigan Tech or Alaska Fairbanks.
All games will be televised by WLUC out of Negaunee, Mich., with WILX-TV 10 (NBC) in Lansing picking up the feed, as well as KBJR in Duluth, Minn.; KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; KMOV in St. Louis; KTVF in Fairbanks, AK; and KTUU in Achorage, AK.
At practice on Monday, Nightingale liked what he saw.
“I thought it was awesome yesterday,” Nightingale told reporters after practice on Tuesday. “It was Christmas Day and our guys were super-excited to be at the rink, and I think that’s a good sign.”
WHAT IT MEANS
The GLI is regarded as the best, most-storied holiday tournament in college hockey. It moved from Detroit to Grand Rapids last year. It’s a big deal to win the MacInnes Cup, named after legendary Michigan Tech coach John MacInnes, parade around the ice with it, and pose for a championship picture. MacInnes won three National Championships at Tech (1962, ’65 and ’75).
Munn Ice Arena has a GLI banner in the rafters, with the years listed in which the Spartans have won. Winning two games in the GLI also offers a boost in the pairwise computer rankings, which determine NCAA Tournament bids and seedings. Losing two, and it hurts in the rankings.
Michigan State won four straight GLI’s from 1982 to 1985. The Spartans won seven GLI’s between 1997 and 2009. But the Spartans haven’t won it since.
Last year, Michigan State was upset by Ferris State in the semifinals, and then lost to host Michigan Tech in overtime in the consolation game. Win either of those games, and Michigan State likely would have earned its first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2012. Win both of those games and the Spartans would have been a cinch for an NCAA Tournament bid.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had success in this tournament,” Nightingale said. “For the state of Michigan it’s such an important piece, and it’s kind of the crown jewel of holiday tournaments. We’ve been in it for a long time and I know for our program and our alumni, and we have a lot of alumni on the west side of the state, it’s important we go over there and do well.”
It’s always been big. And after last year’s costly disappointment?
“Even bigger, for our program,” Nightingale said. “We just have to go there and play our best hockey. We know we are going to see everyone’s best and you’re going to see our best, too.”
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
Michigan State will be without four players who have been selected to represent their countries in the prestigious World Junior Championship in Sweden. Goalie Trey Augustine and left wing Isaac Howard are playing for Team USA. Fourth-line freshman left wing Tommi Männistö (Finland) and defenseman Maxim Štrbák (Slovakia) are also playing in the tournament.
Those players will rejoin the Spartans in January.
This marks the first time since 2007 that Michigan State has been without a player at the GLI due to World Juniors.
Losing players to the World Juniors is a sign that Michigan State’s roster talent has improved. Now comes the challenge of trying to maintain its mid-season hot streak, and end the GLI cold streak, while reshuffling the lineup.
“It provides opportunities for other guys,” Nightingale said. “One of the strengths of our team is the depth and expectations are that we have guys that are going to step in and fill that role and do a good job for us.”
AUGUSTINE OUT, DI PASQUO IN GOAL
Augustine, who was selected in the second round of the NHL Draft last summer by the Detroit Red Wings, had 22 saves in the USA’s 4-1 victory over Norway on Monday at the World Junior Championships.
Augustine, a freshman from South Lyon, Mich., has started 17 of Michigan State’s 18 games this year.
He will be replaced in the GLI by Luca Di Pasquo (6-0, 201, Fr., Livonia, Mich.).
Di Pasquo has seen action in two games this year for the Spartans, including a start and a 4-3 victory over Canisius on Oct. 20.
“He’s a really good goalie,” Nightingale said of Di Pasquo. “He’s done a great job of competing with Trey for the spot and not surrendering. You see it in practice. He’s super-competitive. He put in some work over break and he’s looked really sharp.”
With left winger Howard in Sweden and out of the lineup, Nightingale said senior Tanner Kelly, who has mostly playing right wing on the fourth line this year, is a candidate to move up as Howard’s replacement on the first line. Center Karsen Dorwart (Soph., Sherwood, Ore), and right wing Daniel Russell (Soph., Traverse City) will presumably remain intact on that line. Whether or not that line gets first-line ice time remains to be seen.
Kelly (Jr., San Diego) has three goals and four assists on the year.
“We are still working through it,” Nightingale said. “Tanner Kelly has been practicing there. He has that ability to play up and down your lineup. So that’s what we started with and looked at.”
With Kelly likely to move up, Griffin Jurecki (Fr., Grosse Pointe, Mich.) is likely to be a candidate to play left wing on the fourth line. He started at left wing against Notre Dame on Dec. 8, but has seen action in only two games this year. Michigan State will need an additional name to fill out its 12 forwards, and two additional names on defense.
“We have some really good hockey players who haven’t played a ton,” Nightingale said. “When you’re starting to become a better hockey team, that’s the reality of it.
“These guys who haven’t been playing have done a really good job of staying in shape and pushing and being ready to go. The expectation is for them to go out and help the team and I know they will be excited to play and I know they will be an important piece of the tournament.”
THE FIELD
Ferris State is 5-11-1 and coached by the venerable Bob Daniels. Daniels, a 1982 Michigan State graduate, is in his 29th season as head coach at Ferris State. His defensive-minded team locked up the middle and upset the Spartans last year.
Alaska Fairbanks is 9-6-1, with former Spartan goaltender Pierce Charleson having started 15 of Alaska’s 16 games.
Charleson, of Aurora, Ont., saw action in 22 games in three seasons as a Spartan, including seven as a freshman, 12 as a sophomore and three last year as a junior.
He had a .836 save percentage last year and posted a .904 as a sophomore. He was .938 as a freshman. He entered the portal after last season.
Thus far this season at Alaska, he has a .918 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average.
Michigan Tech is 8-8-3 and 6-4 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
The University of Michigan is no longer associated with the GLI tournament. The Wolverines, which had won the tournament only twice since 2011, complained about damaging their pairwise rankings while routinely being without players due to the World Junior Championship.
Michigan cited COVID complications and opted out of the GLI Championship Game against highly-ranked Western Michigan in 2021. Michigan’s decision drew suspicion and criticism for that decision. Western Michigan officials and coaches from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference were reportedly angered by Michigan’s decision. The Wolverines and GLI host school Michigan Tech became at odds with one another as plans for the GLI’s future were mapped out in 2022. It’s unclear whether Michigan withdrew or Michigan Tech told the Wolverines the tournament wished to move on without them. Either way, Michigan is no longer part of the GLI, and the tournament moved to Grand Rapids.
THREE SPARTANS TO WATCH
1. Sophomore Joey Larson (6-1, 200, Brighton, Mich.) leads Michigan State in goals with nine. He is listed as a right winger, but on the power play his office is along the left circle where he has shown a wicked, one-timer, right-handed slapshot.
Larson, No. 18, transferred to Michigan State from Northern Michigan prior to this season.
2. Grad transfer Reed Lebster (No. 23, 6-0, 188, Grand Rapids) has three goals and six assists on the year as a second-line left wing. Lebster, who transferred from UMass prior this season, will be playing in his hometown.
“We are glad that he is a Spartan,” Nightingale said. “He has had a heck of a first half (of the season) for us. He will have a lot of people there to watch him. I know he will be excited to play.”
Lebster played for UMass’s National Championship team in 2021. He had a goal and an assistant in the 2021 National Championship Game.
3. Freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov (No. 5, 6-2, 198, Zhlobin, Belarus) is one of the top NHL prospects in college hockey. Big, fast and skilled, he is projected to be selected in the Top 10 of the first round in the 2024 NHL Draft.
With five goals and 14 assists, he ranks fourth on Michigan State in points, and first among defensemen. He makes the occasional rookie mistake in terms of decision-making, but his talent shines through on a regular basis. He ranks No. 1 on the team in plus-minus at +16.
