The Great Lakes Invitational is moving west.
For the first time ever, the annual holiday college hockey tournament will be played outside Detroit, as the 2022 version will be contested on Dec. 27-28 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.
The semifinals for the 57th incarnation of the GLI will feature Michigan Tech against Western Michigan, and Michigan State versus Ferris State, with the winners meeting on the second day for the title. Longtime GLI participant Michigan, which holds the tournament record with 17 championships, will not be a part of the field for the first time since 1973.
The GLI began in 1965 at the Olympia in Detroit, before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979 and then Little Caesars Arena in 2017. The 2018 version was contested outdoors at Comerica Park, home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers, while the 2020 edition was canceled due to COVID-19. Last year's tournament was held on campus sites, with MSU hosting Western and Tech, and Michigan hosting MTU before the Wolverines bowed out the next night against WMU due to extenuating circumstances.
MTU won the last regular GLI title in 2019, defeating Michigan in the final.
Van Andel Arena has previously hosted a number of college hockey games, including Ferris State-Michigan State and Michigan-Western Michigan regular-season contests in its first season of operation (1996-97). The facility has also hosted NCAA men's hockey regionals in 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2013.
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