Holiday Tournament(s) Wrap-Up

This years holiday tournaments in college hockey brought lots of excitement to many college hockey fans.

Lets start off with the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit where Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, and Harvard were featured. In the first set of games held on Friday 12/29, Michigan State defeated Harvard in the first game 5-2 led by the two goal effort from Bryan Lerg. Goaltender Jeff Lerg was spectacular in net stopping 45 of 47 Harvard shots on goal. In the second game Michigan defeated Michigan Tech 4-1 with Matt Hunwick scoring two goals. The Wolverines were led by a solid effort from goaltender Billy Sauer who stopped 27 shots from the Huskies.

In the consolation game Harvard defeated Michigan Tech 3-2. Harvard goaltender Kyle Richter stopped 41 Michigan Tech shots. Mike Taylor had a pair of goals in the Harvard victory.

The championship game featured rivals Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans played a great defensive game only allowing 22 shots on goal against a great offensive team in Michigan. All of the goals were scored on special teams with Michigan State scoring three power play goals and added another shorthanded in a Spartan 4-1 victory. Bryan Lerg had a goal and two assists giving him a five point weekend and earned him MVP honors for the tournament. The win gave the Spartans their 11th Great Lake Invitational Championship and their second GLI championship in the last three years.

Another tournament worth watching was the Florida College Classic held in Estero. Three top 15 teams were featured (Maine, New Hampshire, and Cornell) and an improved Western Michigan team. In the first game Cornell and New Hampshire squared off. The Big Red defeated the Wildcats 5-2 behind Raymond Sawada's pair of goals for Cornell. Sawada also added an assist. The game was back and forth for two-thirds of the game. After two it looked like a game where either team could win as Cornell had a 3-2 advantage. But with two goals in the third by Cornell, the Big Red earned their shot at the title game the next night.

Cornell would face the winner of the Maine vs Western Michigan game. This game was a defensive struggle as a combined total of 12 goals were put in the net by the two teams. Maine had a 3-2 lead going into the second period. Western Michigan would tie the game at three in the second period and it would remain a tie going into the third. It looked like it was going to be a great third period to watch as it was a back and fourth game. But again it was that for 2/3rds of the game. Maine exploded in the third period as the Black Bears scored five goals. Bret Tyler had two goals in the period giving him three for the night (scored in the 1st as well). Wes Clark, Mike Hamilton, and Teddy Purcell all added goals in the third giving Maine the 8-4 victory over Western Michigan.

New Hampshire got a win the next night in the consolation game against Western Michigan. Five different Wildcat players scored as New Hampshire defeated the Broncos 5-2. Kevin Regan made 32 saves in the Wildcat victory.

The championship game featured Maine and Cornell. The potent Black Bear offense was back as Teddy Purcell had two goals and an assist in the 6-3 victory. Troy Davenport was pulled in the second period after giving up the fourth goal at the 9:34 mark. Although Cornell only trailed 4-3 in the second, Maine again had the stronger third period giving them the victory and the Florida Hockey Classic Championship.

The other holiday champions include:

Minnesota in the Dodge Holiday Classic
Clarkson in the Badger Showdown
Denver in the Denver Cup
Colgate in the UCONN Hockey Classic
Ohio State in the Ohio Hockey Classic
North Dakota in the Ledyard Bank Tournament
St. Cloud State in the Shreaton/TD Banknorth Tournament

This weeks top games include:

Michigan State @ Miami for two in Oxford, Ohio
New Hampshrie @ Vermont for two in Burlington
North Dakota @ Colorado College for two in Colorado Springs
Wisconsin @ Denver for two in Denver
Alaska Anchorage @ St. Cloud State for two in St. Cloud, Minn

Thats it for the holiday tournaments. A weekly rundown of this week includes the Hobey Watch tommorrow, the players of the month for December on Thursday, and the weekly preview on Friday. And a week from tommorrow Bracketology returns as the first predicted brackets of 2007 will be featured. We are passed the midway point of the season and time is flying by. Keep reading features on hockeynuts as we are here for all your college hockey needs.