Michigan State University Athletics
Hockey Wins Second Straight GLI
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
December 27, 1998
EAST LANSING, Mich. - In a storybook setting, Michigan State defeated archrival Michigan 3-1 Sunday evening at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to claim its second conseutive Great Lakes Invitational championship.
Michigan State was led by a cast of Spartans with stories worthy of the title they won. Consider:
* Junior goaltender Mike Gresl, who had made just two career starts prior to this weekend, stopped 24 Michigan shots and won his second game in as many nights, earning GLI Most Valuable Player honors.
* Senior center Mike York, playing in his first (and last) GLI, joined Gresl on the all-tournament team (along with defenseman Jeff Kozakowski and forward Shawn Horcoff) after leading the Spartans to the title game with a hat trick on Saturday.
* Senior defenseman Jeff Kozakowski, who grew up in Garden City and used to root for Michigan in the GLI, scored his second goal in as many nights after suffering through a 61-game goal-less drought.
As the number of storylines suggest, it took a total team effort to carry sixth-ranked Michigan State to the win over the third-ranked Wolverines.
"The main thing was that all 20 guys put forth 100 percent effort," York said. "You could see it looking down the bench."
The Spartans jumped on the Wolverines right out of the gate, with Kozakowski scoring on a nifty give-and-go with Rustyn Dolyny at the 1:19 mark.
Kozakowski hadn't scored since March 8, 1997, prior to a goal Saturday. He now carries a two-game goal-scoring streak into Michigan State's three-game series at Alaska Fairbanks Jan. 1-2-3.
Damon Whitten scored a power-play goal to give the Spartans a 2-0 advantage at the 11:41 mark of the first. Andrew Hutchinson's shot from the point deflected off of John Nail and came to Whitten on the right post, where he put it past Michigan goaltender Josh Blackburn.
A short-handed goal gave Michigan State a 3-0 lead early in the second period, as Bryan Adams forced a turnover and blasted a slapshot over Blackburn's shoulder.
The goal from Adams, who leads MSU with 11 goals, gave the Spartans six short-handed goals on the year -- as many as opponents have scored while on the power play.
Michigan put pressure on Gresl throughout, and he was at his best in a 12-save second period. He stopped several point-blank opportunities and looked at ease despite not playing much over the past two and a half seasons. He became MSU's starter for the weekend when Joe Blackburn was selected to the U.S. Junior National Team.
"I think Mike pretty much proved to everyone that he belongs at the Division I level," head coach Ron Mason said.
The shutout bid was spoiled by Michigan's Mike Comrie at 8:52 of the third. Gresl kept the score at 3-1 the rest of the way.
"It was a total team effort," Mason said. "In most cases, you come down here and get surprises, like Jeff Kozakowski's two goals. The biggest for us was the guy in net.
"I'm really happy for our fans," he added. "They can go home happy again, and we haven't always had the success at Joe Louis that we have had lately (winning seven in a row at JLA). It's important to Spartan Hockey that we send our fans home happy."
The Spartans got to go home happy themselves as well, for the second year in a row.
