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With Northern Michigan University hockey team in field, Great Lakes Invitational tickets go on sale Friday morning online

Northern Michigan University’s Luke Voltin, right, skates against Michigan State’s Cole Krygier during a college hockey game played Oct. 12, 2019, at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — Tickets for the 58th Great Lakes Invitational college hockey tournament go on sale Friday for an event that will feature Northern Michigan University in an all-Michigan four-team field.

The Wildcats join event host Michigan Tech and Michigan State and Western Michigan at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids for games on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 29 and 30.

The tickets become available at 10 a.m. Friday online at Ticketmaster.com and at three venues near the playing arena — Van Andel Arena itself, DeVos Place and DeVos Performance Hall Box Office.

Tickets, which will be distributed on a mobile device, are sold to cover both games in the same day. On-glass tickets are $75 per person, with lower bowl sections for $40 and $50, upper-level tickets for $30 and student tickets for $15.50. Pricing is subject to change and additional fees may apply.

NMU Sports Information made available that the NMU student section is Section 120, with the band to be in Section 220. In addition, MTU’s student section is Section 124 with the band in 225, MSU’s student section in 106 and band in 205, and WMU’s student section is Section 110 and band in 210.

The four schools are contending for the MacInnes Cup, named for the legendary Tech coach who set the collegiate all-time wins record at the time that he retired in 1982 with 555 wins, all at MTU.

In the 18th time the field has been made up of four Michigan schools, the event begins at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 29 with MTU facing Western Michigan, followed by the Wildcats taking on MSU at 7 p.m.

The third-place game, matching the Sunday’s losers, will be at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 30 and the championship at 7 p.m.

This is NMU’s seventh time in the GLI and first since 2015, when the Wildcats lost to Michigan 3-2 before defeating MSU 2-1.

Northern and Tech have faced off three times in the event, most recently an NMU 8-1 win in 1998, and have faced MSU four times, including wins in 1992 and 2015.

Tech has won the GLI a dozen times in its 57 appearances, MSU has won it a dozen times in 49 tries and WMU has won it once in 2022 with six all-time appearances.

The GLI began in 1965 as an idea conceived by MacInnes, Detroit’s Olympia Stadium general manager Lincoln Cavalieri and Detroit Red Wings scout Jack Paterson. The GLI was played at Olympia from 1965-78, Joe Louis Arena in Detroit from 1979-2016, except for 2013, Comerica Park in Detroit in 2013 and Little Caesars Arena in Detroit in 2018-19.

The event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a nontournament showcase held in 2021. In 2022, the GLI permanently moved to Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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