Some notes from a fun night of college hockey in Grand Rapids
A look at a top 2024 NHL Draft prospect, plus so much more from the Great Lakes Invitational.
Partially for nostalgia and partially for work reasons, I drove out to Grand Rapids on Thursday for Night 1 of the Great Lakes Invitational.
This tournament, a four-team showcase, used to be one of my go-to events throughout high school and college when it used to be hosted at Joe Louis Arena. Somewhere deep in the archives of the internet there are poorly-written stories by a younger version of me about the GLI.
Holiday tournaments, in general, have also become less frequent in college hockey. This is primarily due to college hockey getting younger, and many top teams elect not to play in late December when they could potentially lose top players to World Juniors.
Michigan State, for example, played Thursday without four players that are currently representing their countries over in Sweden.
Michigan used to play in the GLI, they were a fixture with MSU and Michigan Tech, but punted on it, having cited typical World Junior participation as one of the main reasons.
I get why those top teams have made this decision, I really do. But I also have a ton of respect for the programs that continue to play in them, like Michigan State and Wisconsin or Maine, who were playing in other tournaments this weekend.
Ok, let’s get back on track, and empty the notebook from a fun night of college hockey in Grand Rapids, where Michigan Tech beat Alaska 3-2 in overtime and Michigan State beat Ferris State 4-1.
We’ve got notes on top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Artyom Levshunov, an update on Red Wings prospect Red Savage, how Michigan State is filling in for Trey Augustine, and a bit more for premium subscribers as we basically turn Shap Shots into a space where I write about whatever I find interesting.
(And don’t worry, we’ll be back with some more NHL related things tomorrow.)
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