For the first time since 2009 the No. 1 Michigan State Spartans are Great Lakes Invitational Champions. MSU won the invite after a 3-1 win over the No. 4 Western Michigan Broncos at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids Monday night. This makes two wins over the Broncos in the past nine months as well. The Spartans ended the Broncos' 2023-2024 season in the NCAA Regional Semi-Final last March.
With the win over the Broncos, the Spartans now boast wins over the No. 2 (Boston College), No. 3 (Minnesota), and No. 4 (WMU) teams in the current USCHO Poll released on Monday.
The Broncos got the scoring started Monday night with Zach Nehring tipping a shot past Spartans' goaltender Luca Di Pasquo, on the powerplay, snapping a 150+ minute shutout streak for Di Pasquo. The Spartans trailed in the GLI Tournament for all of 11 seconds.
Off the ensuing faceoff, MSU gathered possession and Tommi Mannisto made a break towards the Broncos net. Cameron Rowe made a sprawling glove save initially on Mannisto, who stayed with the play, batting the puck in the air back out front from behind the goal line and into the path of Tiernan Shoudy who knocked the puck out of mid-air into the net to tie the game almost immediately.
The opponents entered the third period with the 1-1 score remaining stubbornly on the scoreboard as both teams traded opportunities in the second period that ran into sound goaltending.
Despite the second period stalemate, the Spartans would break through for their first lead of the night when a David Gucciardi point shot led to a scramble around the top of Rowe's crease. Bodies fell to the ice, sticks swung, and the puck ping ponged it's way to Joey Larson who slid the puck under both Rowe and a Bronco defender into the net less than five minutes into the final period.
The Spartans did not sit back and look to just hold onto a narrow lead at that point, though. MSU continued its forecheck, rolling all four lines, and saw an amazing night from the Shoudy line as the Spartans would hem the Broncos into their own zone for 30 seconds or more on multiple occasions.
On defense, Austin Oravetz, filling in for Maxim Strbak who is playing at the World Junior Championships like starting goaltender Trey Augustine, was exceptional playing up with Patrick Geary most of the night. The Spartans made the Broncos work through layers of defense to gain entry to the WMU offensive zone. Once the Western was in the zone, MSU smothered play, made perfect first passes to lead breakouts out of the zone, and just showed a calm needed to be a championship worthy team.
The "Iceman" Isaac Howard would ice the game for the Spartans effectively, scoring on a net front scramble for his second goal of the tournament.
Michigan State would withstand two and a half minutes of six-on-five hockey as the Broncos pulled Rowe in an effort to push for a goal, but Di Pasquo was never truly tested. As the horn sounded with the puck on the stick of Oravetz, a celebration 15 years in the making could start. The previous two coaching regimes added zero trophies to the Munn Ice Arena collection, and now in just his third seasonat the helm, Adam Nightingale has won three trophies in nine months.
There will be no time to reflect on this accomplishment for the team as Wisconsin comes to Munn for a game Thursday night. But for fans, a little extra sweetness may be tasted in any New Year's champagne consumed tomorrow night as the Spartans will enter 2025 the top team in all of college hockey, and — as of Monday night — GLI Champions.
