Western Michigan Wins 2022 GLI

The first Great Lakes Invitational held outside Detroit is done.

18th-ranked Western Michigan took home the crown earlier this week by winning both of its games, 8-1 over No. 17 Michigan Tech in the first round, and 8-2 over Ferris State in the championship contest. MTU finished in third place by edging 11th-ranked Michigan State, 3-2, in the consolation game. FSU had beaten MSU, 4-2, in the first round.

WMU senior forward Jason Polin scored three goals in each game for the Broncos (10-9-1 overall), giving him five hat tricks on the 2022-23 season, and a nation-leading 19 goals through 22 games. His scoring efforts also garnered him the Jack Tompkins Trophy as this year's GLI MVP. Cameron Rowe stopped 52 of 56 shots over two games for the Broncos, who also got five assists in all from Ryan McAllister, the top scorer in NCAA Division I with 28 assists and 38 points through 22 outings..

The victory was WMU's fourth GLI title in six appearances, the last coming in 2016. WMU also won the GLI in 2013 and 1986.

All four games this year were held at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the AHL's Griffins. It was the first time the tournament had been held since 2019, with the 2020 version being canceled due to COVID-19, and last year's version being played on campus sites in what was a non-traditional, non-championship format. The GLI began in 1965 at the old Olympia, before later being played at now-demolished Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park (outdoors) and Little Caesar's Arena, all in Detroit.

U.S. Wins 2023 WJC Opener in Canada

The United States is off to a good start at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in eastern Canada. 

Team USA posted a 5-2 victory over Latvia on Monday in Moncton, N.B. to open this year's tournament, as five different players scored for the Americans. Sean Behrens (Denver) and Red Savage (Miami) tallied a goal and an assist apiece for the U.S., while Dylan Duke (Michigan) set up two goals and Trey Augustine made 15 saves in net.

The 2023 U.S. WJC squad this year features no less than 20 players from 12 different NCAA Division I schools. The head coach for the Americans this year is Rand Pecknold (Quinnipiac University).

Team USA will face Slovakia in its next WJC match-up, on Thursday at the Avenir Centre in Moncton.

Alaska (Fairbanks) Wins 2022-23 Governor's Cup

The Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup continued last weekend after a two-year hiatus—and Alaska (Fairbanks) is the champion once more.

The visiting Nanooks swept Alaska Anchorage by 4-0 and 1-0 scores at the Seawolf Sports Complex on Dec. 16-17 to clinch the Cup for 2022-23. Simon Falk and Bowling Green transfer T.J. Lloyd each posted a goal and an assist for the Nanooks (9-7-2 overall) in the opener on Friday, while Chase Dubois notched the game-winning goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation in the rematch on Saturday. Holy Cross transfer Matt Radomsky earned the shutout both nights for UAF, stopping 20 and 17 shots, respectively.

UAF had swept UAA (2-12-0) at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks on Dec. 9-10 by 5-2 and 7-2 counts in the Governor's Cup renewal, the first games played between the two 49th State rivals since the 2019-20 campaign. Both teams sat out the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, while UAA stayed on the sidelines last season to rebuild, after the hockey program was dropped by the university due to budget cuts before being reinstated through a fundraising effort.

The Nanooks have now won nine straight Governor's Cups, after their titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012 were subsequently vacated due to NCAA violations. The two independent schools will close out their season series on Jan. 27-28 in Anchorage.

Princeton Outlasts RPI, 6-5

After starting off the 2022-23 campaign with six losses in its first eight outings, Princeton University seems to have righted the ship heading into the holiday break.

The Tigers claimed their fourth victory in their last five games by holding on for a 6-5 win over Rensselaer in an ECAC hockey matchup on Dec. 10 at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers never trailed that night, but saw several multiple-goal leads ultimately evaporate by the final minute of regulation as the Engineers pulled out all the stops to try and force a tie.

Nick Marciano opened the scoring for the home side with his first career collegiate goal early on, followed by a Brendan Gorman goal that made it 2-0 for Princeton before Auston Heidemann got RPI on the board with 0.4 seconds left before intermission. Ryan Mashie then pulled the Engineers within one just 24 seconds into the second period, but Princeton made it 4-2 at the end of 40 minutes on goals by Adam Robbins and Spencer Kersten, the latter a shorthanded marker.

The Tigers made it 5-2 early in the final stanza on David Jacobs' tally, before Mashie got RPI back within two goals just under 10 minutes later. Ian Murphy then scored into an empty-net, shorthanded, with under two minutes remaining, with that goal ultimately standing up as the game-winner after Jake Gagnon notched two extra-attacker goals for the Engineers only 24 seconds apart, the latter with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock. 

Nathan Pearson (30 saves) helped keep Princeton ahead for good with a point-blank glove save on TJ Walsh's one-timer from the right circle in the last minute of regulation. Jack Watson had 29 saves for RPI, which finished 4-for-8 on the power play. Princeton defenseman Pito Walton collected three assists, which helped him earn ECAC Defender of the Week accolades.

Princeton (6-7-0 overall, 5-6-0 ECAC Hockey) is now off until a two-game NCAA non-conference set at Colorado College on Sec. 30-31, while RPI (7-9-1, 2-6-0) returns to action that same weekend at Bowling Green.

Big Ten Hockey - Dec. 2-3, 2022

It was quite a weekend for men's hockey in the Big Ten conference.

Ohio State, ranked 17th in NCAA Division I, skated to a split at sixth-ranked Penn State. The host Nittany Lions took a 2-1 decision on Friday, before the visiting Buckeyes rebounded for a 4-3 victory in the series finale.

No. 4 Minnesota swept host No. 13 Michigan State by 5-0 and 6-3 scores. The Golden Gophers have now won six of their last seven games overall, and nine of their last 11 outings.

Wisconsin, last in the Big Ten standings so far this season, still managed a split at fifth-ranked Michigan. The visiting Badgers won by a 6-3 count in the opener before falling, 4-2, in the rematch.

The conference's seventh school, No. 20 Notre Dame, was idle last weekend, and will host Penn Stat this Friday and Saturday.

Mike Addesa 1945-2022

Former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's hockey coach Mike Addesa passed away earlier this week at the age of 77.

The Boston native was head coach at RPI from 1979 to 1989, and guided the Engineers to the 1985 NCAA Division I men's hockey title. He was relieved of his duties in 1989 after a racial incident with two of his players, and never coached at the college level again.

After one year as general manager with the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, Addesa spent five years as a scout with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings. He went on to become general manager/head coach and franchise owner with the Boston Bulldogs junior organization, from 1995 to 2012. He then scouted for the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, and also served as GM with the Seacoast Spartans Prep organization until retiring in 2017.

Addesa began his hockey coaching career in 1966-67 as an assistant at Stoneham (Mass.) High School, then moved on to St. Mary's (Mass.) High the following season as head coach. He then oversaw Randolph (N.J.) High for five seasons and Wellesley (Mass.) High for one before taking an assistant's job in 1974-75 at his alma mater, the College of the Holy Cross, where he had played football. He was promoted to head coach of the Crusaders in 1976, and remained in Worcester until he took the top job at RPI, where he fashioned an overall record of 186–124–9 over 10 NCAA campaigns.

Addesa was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.