By Journal Sports Staff

HOUGHTON — Host Michigan Tech announced on Thursday that Northern Michigan University will help the 58th annual Great Lakes Invitational college hockey tournament be an all-Michigan field.

This four-team college hockey event is held annually between Christmas and New Year’s and has been played in Grand Rapids at the Van Andel Arena the past two years.

It will be back at Van Andel and be played on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 29-30, with an afternoon and evening game each day.

MTU Sports Information said this will be the 18th time an all-Michigan field is featured.

This year, Tech faces Western Michigan in a Dec. 29 semifinal at 3:30 p.m., followed by NMU and Michigan State facing off at 7 p.m. The losers of those games square off in the third-place game at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, followed by the championship game at 7 p.m.

Tech announced that ticket packages will go on sale in September online at VanAndelArena.com. It would be expected that NMU will also make tickets available for Wildcats fans through its school website.

MTU, which has played in all 57 previous GLIs, has won the title a dozen times and is the defending champion, which earned the Huskies the MacInnes Cup last December.

MSU, which has only missed the event eight times, also has 12 titles, while WMU in seven appearances has won it four times, including the first time after its move across the state to Grand Rapids in 2022.

Northern has never won the GLI and appeared in it seven times, most recently in 2015.

With the exception of 2013 at Comerica Park in Detroit, the GLI had always been played in the home of the Detroit Red Wings through 2019, currently at Little Caesars Arena in 2018 and 2019. It was played at Joe Louis Arena from 1979-2016 (except 2013) and at Olympia Stadium from 1965-78. The GLI was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020 and was held as a non-tournament showcase-style event in 2021.

Michigan Tech also announced that the 2025 GLI will include regulars MTU and MSU along with invited guest teams Miami (Ohio) and Ferris State, while in 2026 it will include guests Notre Dame and WMU.

The event was first played in 1965 after the idea for a holiday college hockey tournament was implemented by MTU legendary coach John MacInnes, Olympia general manager Lincoln Cavalieri and Red Wings scout Jack Peterson.

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