Spartans Ready For The 54th Annual Great Lakes Invitational

54^th Annual Great Lakes Invitational | Michigan State, Michigan, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State
Dates - Times: Sunday, Dec. 30, MSU vs. LSSU - 4 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 31 – 11:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. vs. Michigan or Michigan Tech
Location: Little Caesars Arena | Detroit
Tickets: TicketMaster
Web Stream: FloHockey.tv
TV: Fox Sports Detroit (championship game only)
Radio: Spartan Sports Network | Local: WJIM-AM 1240
Live Stats: MSUSpartans.com
Game Notes: Michigan State | Lake Superior State | Michigan | Michigan Tech
Social Media: @MSU_Hockey

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On The Fly
• Michigan State will take part in the 54^th annual Great Lakes Invitational on Sunday and Monday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit … MSU meets Lake Superior State in the second semifinal game on Sunday at 4 p.m. and will then meet either Michigan or Michigan Tech on Monday … Monday's third-place game is set for 11:30 a.m. and the championship game is slated for 2:30 p.m.

• Michigan State is making its 40th consecutive and 45th overall appearance in the Great Lakes Invitational … MSU has taken part in every tournament since 1979.

• Four of the Spartans' last seven games in the GLI have been decided by a goal and three of the last six have gone into overtime.

• The Spartans are 26-16-2 all-time in GLI semifinal games.

• MSU is 48-37-3 all-time in the GLI … The Spartans' .563 tournament winning percentage is second highest of the three teams (MSU, Michigan Tech and Michigan) that have the most tournament appearances.

• The most recent of the Spartans' 12 GLI titles came in 2009 when they defeated Michigan Tech (10-2) and RPI (6-1), respectively.

• Taro Hirose is in a three-way tie for the national lead in assists with 19, while his 26 points are third nationally and third in the Big Ten … Hirose has points in six of the last seven games and 12 total (2g, 10a) over the span … Hirose has been held without a point in just four of the Spartans' 16 games this season.

• Hirose is nearing the 100-point mark for his career with 92 points (25g, 67a) in 86 career games … In his career, he has just one more game without a point (26) than games with multiple points (25).

• Patrick Khodorenko ranks second in the Big Ten and is tied for fifth in the country with 11 goals, which is just two shy of his career best from last season.

• Khodorenko (11g, 5a) is tied with linemate Mitchell Lewandowski (5g, 11a) for second on the team with 16 points.

• The Spartans' KHL line of Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski has combined for 58 points (23g, 35a) – 52% of the Spartans' total.

• MSU has won more faceoffs than its opponent in 12 of 16 games this season and the Spartans' .534 faceoff winning percentage ranks 10th in the country and is tied for second in the Big Ten.

• Tommy Apap leads the Spartans and ranks fifth in the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage at .591 … Apap (176 wins) and Khodorenko (167 wins) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the conference in total faceoff wins.

• Goaltender John Lethemon made a season-high 40 saves the last time out (Dec. 8 at Wisconsin), in what was his first start since Nov. 23 ... Lethemon (2.94 GAA, .906 Sv. %) and freshman Drew DeRidder (3.23 GAA, .898 Sv. %) have split time in goal this season with each goaltender making eight starts.

The Last Time Out
The Spartans headed to break after a 1-0 exhibition victory over the USNTDP U-18 Team on December 15th at Munn … Patrick Khodorenko (NTDP alum) scored the only goal of the game 4:34 into the third period while the Spartans were on the power play … John Lethemon made 17 saves in 31:45 of work, while Drew DeRidder stopped the final 11 NTDP shots in 28:15 of action … It marked the second straight year MSU has shut out the NTDP U-18 Team and the Spartans' fifth straight win against the U-18s.

About the Lakers
LSSU won its last two regular season games prior to the break, topping Alaska twice on the road, 4-1 and 5-2, respectively (Dec. 7-8) … LSSU also topped the USNTDP U-18 Team in an exhibition game on Dec. 16, 7-3 …. The Lakers are tied for fifth place in the WCHA standings with a 6-5-1-0 mark in league play … Other than the NTDP U-18 Team, the Spartans and Lakers share common opponents in Michigan and Northern Michigan - both LSSU and MSU split with NMU, while the Spartans went 1-0-1 vs. Michigan and LSSU 1-1 vs. U-M … Senior Anthony Nellis leads LSSU in both goals (10) and points (18) … Senior goaltender Nick Kossoff has started 10 of the Lakers' 16 games in goal, including both at Alaska, and has a 2.19 GAA and .915 save percentage … The LSSU power play ranks 13th in the country at 22.1% (17-for-77) and the penalty kill ranks 14th at 85.1% (74-of-87).

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Spartans Turned Lakers
All three LSSU coaches – Damon Whitten, Mike York and Zack Cisek – are former Spartan players. Whitten and York were teammates at MSU for two seasons – 1997-98 and 98-99 – where they helped lead MSU to two CCHA regular season titles, a CCHA playoff title and an NCAA Frozen Four. Whitten, who is in his fifth season at LSSU, got his start in coaching at MSU first as a graduate assistant and later as director of hockey operations. After retiring from playing following the 2015-16 season, York returned to MSU in 2016-17 to complete his degree and serve as a volunteer assistant coach. Cisek, a goaltender, was on the Spartan roster from 2013-15.

GLI Tidbits
Head coach Danton Cole and assistant coach Chris Luongo helped the Spartans capture the 1985 GLI title as freshmen and went 5-3 in the tournament as players from 1985-88 ... Against potential day two opponents, MSU has a 8-13-1 all-time record vs. Michigan in the GLI and is 23-7-1 against Michigan Tech in the tournament ... Six of the Spartans' 14 GLI games since 2011 have gone to overtime.

Current Spartans in the GLI
Taro Hirose has four points (1g, 3a) in four career GLI games, while Patrick Khodorenko has three goals – all of which came last year – in four games … Cody Milan had three assists in last year's GLI as he played in the event for the first time in his career.

Hirose Among The Nation's Best
Taro Hirose is coming off a season long six-game point streak over which he produced 12 points (2g, 10). The junior is tied for the national lead in assists with 19 and is third in the country in points with 26.

Since November 17, Hirose is tied for the Big Ten lead in assists (10), is second in points (12) and is a league-best plus-7. Over that stretch, Hirose helped spur the Spartans' comeback at Minnesota on Nov. 24 with a goal and then assists on the tying and game-winning goal. He also assisted on each of the Spartans' final three goals in the 4-3 victory over Michigan and then scored the lone goal the following night in a tie and shootout win.

Dating back to the end of last season, he has points in 20 of the Spartans' last 25 games.

Career Numbers Piling Up
Taro Hirose's offensive pace is placing him among some of the best Spartan point-producers since 2000. With 92 points in 86 games, he is just eight points shy of becoming the first Spartan to hit the 100 point mark since Tim Crowder (106 points, 151 games; 2005-09). With 67 career helpers, Hirose has surpassed the assist totals of several of the most offensively-inclined Spartans of the 2000s, including Bryan Lerg (60a, 169 GP 2004-08); David Booth (60a, 134 GP 2002-06) and Tim Kennedy (63a, 113 GP 2005-08). Hirose's 67 helpers are the most by a Spartan Tyler Howells had 70 in 154 games from 2003-07.

In his career (86 games), Hirose has just one more game without a point (26) than games with multiple points (25). Hirose has eight multi-point games this season, including six three-point games.

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Khodorenko's Scoring Touch
Patrick Khodorenko is on one of the best stretches of his career with nine points (6g, 3a) over the last eight games, which included a four-game goal scoring streak. His team-leading 11 goals, which are just two shy of his total from last year, are tied for second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally.

The native of Walnut Creek, California, who played for Danton Cole with the USNTDP has found a good amount of success on the power play as his five goals on the man-advantage are tied for second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation. Fourteen of his 31 career goals have come on the power play.

Khodorenko, who scored two goals on Dec. 7 at Wisconsin, was the Big Ten First Star of the Week on Nov. 6 for the first time in his career after his four-point game (3g, 1a) on Nov. 2 in a win over Ferris State.

Cesana Leading Spartan Rookies
Rookie Dennis Cesana is tied for fifth among all rookies in the Big Ten with eight points (1g, 7a), which is tied for second among freshmen defensemen. The native of Providence, R.I., who led all defensemen in the AJHL in points (75) last season, ranks fourth on the team and is first among MSU defensemen in points. He has two multi-point games and scored his first-career goal on Oct. 26 in a win over No. 8 Cornell.

1300 All-Time Wins
The Spartans' 4-3 victory over Michigan at Munn on November 30th was the 1,300th all-time win in program history. In 77 seasons, MSU is 1,300-1,040-154.

All KHL
Since playing together in the first game of last season, Patrick Khodorenko (11-5--16), Taro Hirose (7-19--26) and Mitchell Lewandowski (5-11--16) have combined to form one of the Big Ten's – and college hockey's – most dangerous lines. Last season, the unit produced a total of 108 points (44 goals, 64 assists) in playing together in all 36 games. This season, the trio has combined for 58 of 112 (51.8%) of the Spartans' total points this season.

Khodorenko – Has a team-high 11 goals – one of just 20 players in college hockey to have a double-digit goal total … His team-leading five power-play goals rank sixth in the nation and second in the league ... MSU's active career leader in goals (31) ... Ranked 12th in the Big Ten and third on the team in points (32) last season.

Hirose – Third in the country in points (27) and tied for the national lead in assists (19)… Has two game-winning goals ... Has points in 20 of 25 games dating back to last season ... Has eight multi-point games this season and 25 in his career ... Has 92 points (25g, 67a) in 85 career games ... 2018 All-Big Ten second team … His 42 points were the most by a Spartan since Corey Tropp had the same number in 2009-10 … His 30 assists were the most since Jim Slater in 2004-05 (32).

Lewandowski – Started the season with a career-best five-game point streak (3-6--9) ... Had a season-high three points (1g, 2a) at Cornell (10/27) ... 2018 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and only unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman team … Led all rookies nationally in goals (19) and tied for the most in the Big Ten (among all players) during the regular season … Was the first MSU freshman to score at least 19 goals since 1997-98 (Rustyn Dolyny).

Stevens, Apap and Sanford Making an Impact
Sophomores Brody Stevens (5-11, 191 lbs.) and Tommy Apap (6-2, 206 lbs.) have combined with senior Brennan Sanford (6-1, 208 lbs.) to not only form the Spartans' most physical line, but also an offensive impact. The trio, which combined for 16 points last season, has combined for 11 so far this season. Stevens, who had two goals last season, has four already this year, including the game-winner at Minnesota on Nov. 24. He scored the first goal against Michigan on Nov. 30, with an assist from Apap.

Spartans in the NHL
Mason Appleton scored his first NHL goal on December 20 vs. San Jose … Appleton has played in 13 games this season for Winnipeg … With an assist on December 20, Torey Krug now has the most assists (201) of any U.S.-born player in Boston history.

Spartans Ready For The 54th Annual Great Lakes Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Tommy Apap

Dennis Cesana

Drew DeRidder

Taro Hirose

Patrick Khodorenko

John Lethemon

Mitchell Lewandowski

Cody Milan

Brennan Sanford

Brody Stevens

Spartans Ready For The 54th Annual Great Lakes Invitational

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tommy Apap

Dennis Cesana

Drew DeRidder

Taro Hirose

Patrick Khodorenko

John Lethemon

Mitchell Lewandowski

Cody Milan

Brennan Sanford

Brody Stevens

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