GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WILX) – Michigan State is making its 49th all-time Great Lakes Invitational appearance this season, a mainstay of the tournament since 1979. MSU has won 13 GLI titles, most recently winning the GLI in 2024 with a 3-1 win over #4/4 Western Michigan. It was Michigan State’s first GLI title since 2009. MSU topped Northern Michigan in the first round of the GLI last season, 2-0. Goalkeeper Luca Di Pasquo was named Tournament MVP.
Adam Nightingale spoke to WILX about the Great Lakes Invitational and Michigan State’s status with multiple key pieces missing.
MSU will face Ferris State at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday in Grand Rapids. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Miami(OH)-Michigan Tech game in the championship on Monday.
MSU is 52-41-5 all-time at the GLI, giving Michigan State the second-most wins all-time at the tournament behind Michigan’s 59. MSU’s 13 titles rank second to Michigan’s 17. Michigan State has finished as the runner-up 15 times, second to Michigan Tech’s 17 second place finishes.
The Spartans are currently without freshman forward Porter Martone (Canada), freshman, forward Ryker Lee (USA), freshman forward Eric Nilson (Sweden) and sophomore forward Shane Vansaghi (USA) who are participating in the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championships for their respective home countries. The championships are held Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota.
Martone was named captain of Team Canada, previously captaining Canada to gold at the 2024 U18 World Championship.
Under head coach Adam Nightingale, Michigan State has now had 8 active players play at World Juniors, in addition to several Spartans that played at World Juniors prior to joining MSU. Future Spartan, defenseman Chase Reid, will also play for Team USA this year. Trey Augustine (USA), Isaac Howard (USA), Tommi Mannisto (Finland) and Maxim Strbak (Slovakia) played at World Juniors while rostered at Michigan State in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Red Savage (USA) and Charlie Stramel (USA) played at World Juniors prior to their arrival in East Lansing.
All four Great Lakes Invitational games will be broadcasted on WILX 10.2 and streamed on WILX.com.
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