The Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) is a four-team

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

tournament held annually at

Little Caesars Arena Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opened on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of th ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

around the New Year's holiday as part of College Hockey in the D. The tournament was born out of a conversation between the general manager of

Olympia Stadium Detroit Olympia, also known as Olympia Stadium, was a multi-purpose arena in Detroit. Nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", it was best known as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its opening in 1927 to 1979. Histo ...

, Lincoln Cavalieri, Michigan Tech's long-time coach, John MacInnes, and

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

scout

Jack Paterson John Paterson (born May 25, 1974) is a Canadian director, devisor, dramaturg, translator, actor and theatre creator who works across Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. His favourite credits include directing the installation of Th ...

. The three men were discussing the lack of American-born players in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) and concluded that a prestigious collegiate tournament could make a difference by promoting interest in hockey among young athletes, as well as the general public. Jack Tompkins,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

vice president, former

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

goalie, and a member of the Detroit Red Wings organization, championed their vision as well, and together in 1965, they founded the Great Lakes Invitational hockey tournament. The GLI has grown into one of the premier college and holiday sporting events in the country, originating at Detroit's

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

, the host for the tournament since its inception, added Michigan as a co-host in 1976. The tournament moved into

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to TCF Center, Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Lou ...

when the Red Wings' new home arena opened in December 1979. In 2017, with the closure of the Joe, the GLI relocated to the new Little Caesars Arena until at least the 2020-21 season.

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

is traditionally selected as a third participant while the fourth is a different team each season. Northern Michigan University was scheduled to be the 2020-21 invitee, but the tournament was cancelled. The 2013 edition of the Invitational was held outdoors at

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the ...

, as part of festivities for the

2014 NHL Winter Classic The 2014 NHL Winter Classic was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game, part of the Winter Classic series, played on January 1, 2014 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the ...

Michigan Stadium Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...

. Western Michigan defeated Michigan Tech 1–0 in overtime. The outdoor games were originally scheduled for 2012. However, due to the

NHL lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four labour actions in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the games of ...

, the Winter Classic and all associated festivities were postponed to 2013–14. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Lakes Invitational was not held in 2020, marking the first year the tournament has not been played since its inception. On December 27, 2021 Michigan cited player health concerns and backed out of the December 30 game against Western Michigan, COVID-19 was not cited as a reason. However, Michigan played their first scheduled game of the tournament vs. Michigan Tech on December 29. The result of the Western Michigan vs. Michigan game not being played was that no tournament winner was announced. On June 8, 2022, the tournament field for the 2022 tournament was announced. Ferris State, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, and Western Michigan will be competing at

Van Andel Arena Van Andel Arena is a 12,000 plus seat multi-purpose arena, situated in the Heartside district of Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The arena attracted over five million patrons in its first 5 years, 1996–2001. It is home to the Grand Rapid ...

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. This marks the first year the University of Michigan has not played since 1973.

Yearly results

Team records

Gallery

File:Northern Michigan vs. Michigan State ice hockey 2015 07.jpg,

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and

Northern Michigan Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...

before the 2015 consolation game File:Michigan vs. Michigan Tech ice hockey 2015 06.jpg,

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

before the 2015 championship game File:Michigan vs. Michigan Tech ice hockey 2015 25.jpg, A face-off during the 2015 championship game File:Michigan vs. Michigan Tech ice hockey 2015 34.jpg, Michigan with the MacInnes Cup after winning the 2015 GLI File:Michigan vs. Michigan Tech ice hockey 2015 35.jpg, Michigan posing with the GLI banner after winning the 2015 tournament

References

{{Michigan Technological University College ice hockey tournaments in the United States Ice hockey in Detroit Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey Michigan State Spartans ice hockey