The hockey 2023 holidays brought a Great Lakes Invitational championship to CCHA stalwart Michigan Tech. Four dramatic games, one historic trophy, and three essays from RinkRap.
A Giant in Black and Gold
Three and a half stories above the championship action at the 2023 Great Lakes Invitational, there was a press box violation. No one, however, was going to tell six-foot-eight John Scott to quit cheering for his alma mater. The NHL veteran, now a resident of Traverse City, Michigan, makes a habit of showing up for Michigan Tech games during the GLI. When he wasn’t visiting with Tech radio man Dirk Hembroff, he was punching the thin air of press row every time his beloved Huskies scored.
“It still gives me goosebumps to watch the national anthem and to see them play Michigan State, one of their biggest [GLI] rivals,” said Scott, who has written a book about living out his NHL All-Star Game thrills. But he never hit the high notes playing in the GLI.
“I never made it to the championship game, so it’s a pretty big deal.”
There was no shortage of electric moments for the black-and-gold faithful at the 57th GLI championship game, especially the heroics from Jack Works--another western Canadian strongman—whose third goal brought Scott out of his seat.
The goal was officially reviewed for offsides by the men in stripes on the ice, while simultaneously being reviewed unofficially by Scott and a neighbor 100 feet above. They all came to the same conclusion: Good goal.
The puck party in the cheap seats rolled into the shootout, and immediately after Blake Pietila stoned his Sparty cousin Joey Larson to clinch the title, Scott bolted for the elevator. Moments later he was enjoying a sweaty round of applause after being introduced by Coach Shawhan.
“I’ve watched a lot of games as a healthy scratch, that was the funnest [freaking] game I’ve ever watched,” said Scott. “I never did this, enjoy it. This is something you’ll never forget.”
(You’ll notice Scott chanting within the circle of current Huskies at the end of the video)
During one of the intermissions, the giant with 10 NHL seasons and 542 penalty minutes to his credit reflected on what it meant to be a Husky.
“Before I went to Tech I was a nobody,” Scott said. “Now I can come back and say—oh this is where it all began, it’s kind of neat, full circle almost.”
It It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Grand Forks
In his first two seasons coaching, Erik Largen guided Alaska through the WCHA wars against all the current CCHA teams except for newcomer St. Thomas. In 2020 his Nanooks gained home ice before losing a tough series to visiting Bowling Green. Then Alaska suspended all hockey operations for the Covid season of 2020-21.
Now the Nanooks have re-emerged as an independent, and Largen competes against his former league rivals on a regular basis. At the 2023 Great Lakes Invitational they faced both Ferris State (a 3-2 victory) and Michigan Tech (a 3-2 overtime loss). The renewed rivalry between Tech and Alaska the past two years has had a profound impact on the NCAA post-season fates for both schools.
At the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Michigan Tech came up to Fairbanks and swept a pair of games thanks largely to the insane goaltending of Blake Pietila. Although Tech’s victories were in October, the Pairwise points resonated all season, particularly after Alask over heavyweights Denver and Notre Dame. Huskies coach Joe Shawhan frequently credits those victories 3,200 miles north for getting his club into the NCAA show. Alaska, on the other hand, was the last man standing in the musical chairs of March, a few points short of making the 2023 NCAA tournament on the final day of the regular season. A single tie in those October games against Tech would have put them into the tournament.
Six months later, payback was a bitch as the Nanooks slapped around Shawhan’s canines this past October. Largen’s Nanooks claimed a win and a tie in their return visit to Houghton. Those games were part of the Huskies seven-game winless streak to open the season, virtually eliminating Tech’s chance at it’s third straight at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Tech is now now 38th in the Pairwise ranking, the Nanooks are within NCAA striking distance at No. 20.
But unlike 2020, Largen and company have no conference tournament to fall back on to clinch an NCAA spot, something Michigan Tech is counting on. So Alaska soldiers on, scraping points whenever, and importantly, wherever they can. A crushing loss in the GLI semifinals to familiar foe Michigan Tech was mitigated somewhat by the fact that the Nanooks lost in overtime, giving them 33% of a victory. Largen and his staff monitor every computer point.
“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t,” Largen said in the semifinal post-game. “Everybody understands that not having a conference tournament, the emphasis is on the Pairwise. Being one short last year, any change would have gotten us into the tournament. We’re aware of that, you’ve got to try and find the silver lining so to speak in a game like tonight.”
Alaska salvaged a victory 24 hours later, and their hunger games continued through the lower 48 of North America. “Now it’s on the bus, eight hours to Minneapolis,” Largen said. “Stay the night over there, catch a Wild game, then make it up to Grand Forks.”
To most teams, it’s a daunting task to try and steal points up in the forbidding plains surrounding Ralph Englestad Arena. But to Largen’s Nanooks, this coming series represents opportunity.
“I like our group, I think we can play with anybody in the country,” said Largen. “We’ve proven that over the last few years. It’s a lot of travel time, but it’s a great experience. It’s a hockey life.”
Twin Bookends
Five seasons ago, Tech Coach Joe Shawhan had a pair of promising freshmen named Pietila, twins that he suspected would make a profound impact of his program. Logan was the clutch scorer, Blake was the shutdown goalie, Yin and Yang, identical in appearance. With the 2019 GLI championship on the line against the vaunted Michigan Wolverines, only one of the Pietila twins played. The future superstar goalie was stapled to the bench with a trophy on the line.
“He (Blake) was really good his first year, but we had a great goaltender in Matt Jurusik,” Shawhan said.
It was the younger Pietila twin, the one with the narrow stick who got the ice time that night at Little Caesar’s Arena, a performance that impacted the history of this tournament. Logan sniped thrice under the bright lights, a championship trophy and tournament MVP honors the reward for his first NCAA hat trick.
Now in his fifth season of college hockey, Logan played the hero’s role once again at the GLI, this time in the 2023 semifinals when he fired the winning goal in overtime. True to the Pietila code, Logan acknowledged that brother Blake fought his way into the celebratory dog pile, but chose not to flash back to his glory from 2019.
“Obviously I remember it, but that’s history,” Logan said in the post-game. “We’ve got a championship to win tomorrow.”
The next day, trophy day, it was twin brother Blake who grabbed the spotlight, turning in a 53-save performance to stun 7th-ranked Michigan State, a goaltending exhibition for the ages. Shawhan has nearly run out of superlatives when it comes to his All-American.
“Being your best when your best is needed,” said Shawhan, singling out his ace goaltender for nearly half a decade of consistent greatness. Jack Works was given tourney MVP honors, and it’s hard to argue with his hat-trick. But the voters had all filled in their ballots prior to Blake stoning three consecutive Spartan snipers in the shootout. Those saves don’t apply to his save percentage, but without those clutch kicks, there is no new trophy in lobby of MacInnes Arena.
“It’s amazing” Blake said in the post-game. “Any time you can be part of a GLI championship, it means a lot for the program, the university, and obviously the guys you play with. It was really special to win it with this group of guys this year.”
The GLI is no easy tournament to win; for example Michigan State—one of college hockey’s biggest brands, hasn’t won this tournament since 2009.
In the championship post game, Joe Shawhan was brimming gratitude the width of the Upper Peninsula. He speaks like a pastor to Husky Hockey Nation in all his commentary. He knows how important these GLI titles are for keeping the hockey faith pulsing throughout Copper Country.
The Pietila twins—one the irresistible force, the other the immovable object—are the symmetrical bookends in the history of this coach with this team. Their twin performances, resulting in GLI championships five seasons apart, are the defining notes of the Joe Shawhan era.