Huskies to defend GLI crown
The Michigan Tech University hockey team is headed back to Detroit as the defending champs of the Great Lakes Invitational.The Huskies won the tournament a year ago thanks to a pair of 4–0 victories over both Michigan and Western Michigan.
The GLI will be held outdoors at Comerica Park, which is the home of the Detroit Tigers. The GLI is part of the Hockeytown Winter Festival.
The Huskies will begin their title defense on Friday afternoon against Michigan State.
“I know it’s a very important tournament for them,” said Huskies head coach Mel Person about playing against the Spartans. “Consequently, our team is going to have to be ready to go, we have something to prove. Last year was last year, this is a whole new year. We have to get back at it and validate that championship.”
“There are a lot of family and friends down there that aren’t able to come up here (to Houghton) and watch games, so to have a lot of people there watching me and supporting me, it’s good to play in front of them,” said Huskies forward Blake Pietila. The junior is from Brighton, Mich., which is within an hour of Detroit.
“We can’t overlook Michigan State. We know they’re a good team,” said Huskies forward Tanner Kero. You just have to take it one game at a time and once you get that win, anything can happen. We just have to play our game and we’ll be fine.”
The Spartans and Huskies are already very familiar with each other. They’ve already met twice this season in Houghton and Michigan Tech won both games. Puck drop between MSU and MTU is set for Friday, Dec. 27 at 3:37 p.m.
Michigan and Western Michigan will play in the other GLI semifinal at 7:07 p.m. The GLI Championship game is set for 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.