Great Lakes Invitational to stay at Grand Rapids' Van Andel through 2026

The Great Lakes Invitational appears to have found a home in West Michigan.

Michigan Tech on Thursday signed a new deal with Michigan State and Van Andel Arena to keep the annual competition in Grand Rapids through the next four years.

The tournament's 57th iteration later this year will take place Dec. 28-29. Michigan Tech will play Alaska and Michigan State gets Ferris State in the openers. Michigan, formerly an automatic participant in the tournament, will not be part of the field for the foreseeable future.

"We're excited to continue this great partnership with Van Andel Arena and Michigan State University," said Suzanne Sanregret, Michigan Tech's vice president of athletics and recreation.

"The GLI is one of the best college hockey tournaments in the country, and with the success of the first tournament at Van Andel Arena in 2022 we are thrilled to sign this four-year extension."

With few exceptions, the GLI has remained in Detroit since its inception in 1965. The tournament was played at Olympia Stadium until 1978 and was held at Joe Louis Arena from 1979-2016, with the lone exception of the 2013 tournament, which was played at Comerica Park in advance of the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium. The tournament moved to Little Caesars Arena in 2018 before moving to Van Andel last season.

Western Michigan won last year's tournament by knocking off Ferris State in the title game. It was the first year that the University of Michigan, formerly an automatic participant, decided to opt out of competing.

Northern Michigan and Western Michigan will compete against Michigan State and Michigan Tech in 2024, Miami and Ferris in 2025 and Western Michigan and Notre Dame in 2026.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi