Third Annual Illini Invitational Recap

The 3^rd annual Illini Invitational was completed over Columbus Day Weekend as 5 different clubs battled for the championship in the Division I and B brackets. Competing in Division I were 4 separate clubs: the reigning national champion Bethel Wildcats, Final Four finisher Michigan State, and Nationals participants Grand Valley State and the University of Illinois. Bethel and Michigan State also had their B teams participating, while Western Michigan (Division II) rounded out the field and participated in the B bracket of the tournament. With an extremely competitive group of teams participating, the tournament was sure to have close, exciting games, and didn’t disappoint.

The tournament opened up with Western Michigan playing against Bethel B. Bethel jumped all over the Broncos for an early lead, and eventually hung on for an 8-6 victory. The second game of the day featured a matchup of national powerhouses with Michigan State up against Bethel University. The Defending Champs against a Final Four foe was a great matchup to open up their respective Division I season, and the game didn’t disappoint. Both teams came out looking very strong with great puck possession and clean looking breakouts and re-groups. Bethel came away with a 5-2 victory, but the game was closer than the score indicated and both teams looked equally strong.

            The rest of the DII/B round robin games were quite eventful, as each team played each other twice and the top two seeds would play in the Championship. Western Michigan would avenge their loss to Bethel B as one of their top players, Mike Vandenberg, returned to action after missing the first game. Michigan State B would finish the round robin games 4-0, beating Bethel 7-5 and 9-0, and also defeating Western Michigan 6-3 and 8-6. The Broncos and Wildcats were both 1-3, but WMU won the tiebreak and would play the Spartans for the Championship.

            For Division I, the rest of the round robin tournament consisted mainly of close, entertaining games aside from the final game Saturday between Illinois and Michigan State. After the heavyweight matchup of MSU and Bethel, Illinois and Grand Valley State competed for a chance to start off their respective weekends with a victory. While the start of the game featured scoring chances for both sides, the Lakers would run off 5 straight goals before the period was over and ended up skating to a 6-3 victory over the Illini. Bethel and Illinois competed in a rematch of last year’s Illini Invitational Final, and Bethel took control right away while hopping out to a 1-0 lead. The game stayed close at 2-2 until the Wildcats rallied off 3 straight goals in less than 2 minutes, and eventually held on 8-5 to move to 2-0 while the Illini fell to 0-2. The Spartans and Grand Valley were up next in yet another tight game, but MSU eventually pulled away with a 5-3 victory. The last two games of the day featured Bethel against Grand Valley State and then the Illini against MSU. The Wildcats and Lakers played what would be the lowest scoring game of the tournament as Bethel won 2-1. The Illinois-MSU game would be the opposite, however, as the Spartans jumped out early and didn’t let up in a 12-1 whipping of the Fighting Illini. Michigan State would finish as the #2 seed with a 2-1 record, while Bethel finished #1 at 3-0, Grand Valley at #3 with a 1-2 record, and Illinois received the last seed with an 0-3 record.

            Starting off the playoffs Sunday featured the #2 seed Spartans against #3 Grand Valley State in a rematch of last season’s MCRHL Regional Championships. After a scoreless first period, Michigan State would score the only goal of the second. The Lakers would tie it up to start the 3^rd, but 3 consecutive goals followed for the Spartans as they reached The Final with a 4-1 win.

            The other playoff game showcased the defending national champion and #1 seeded Bethel University against the University of Illinois. While Bethel was 3-0 and the Illini were 0-3, the game started off extremely close with both teams trading multiple chances. The Illini would end up netting the only goal of the first period and heavily-outshooting the Wildcats. Not much changed to start the second as the Illini once again scored the only goal of the period. Bethel would come out fired up for the third, though, and had multiple chances and a power play opportunity to pull within one but the Illini goaltender was there to shut the door. Illinois would score two more goals in the 3^rd period, and Bethel followed with immense pressure that forced Illinois to essentially ice the puck for the remainder of the game. Bethel was unable to crack the Illini goaltender though and Illinois completed the upset with a 4-0 victory.

            The Division I championship now featured a rematch of the previous night’s lopsided showing, when MSU pounded out 12 goals in a 12-1 romp. While Illinois was playing with much more confidence than the night before, it couldn’t keep the Spartans off the board to start the game as MSU had 2 goals in the first 3 minutes. The Spartans would net one more goal with less than a minute left, and ended the first period with a 3-0 lead. The Illini would respond though with a much more determined effort than the night before, and kept the game close at 3-0 as the both the Illini and Spartan’s goaltenders made some outstanding saves. MSU would add one more goal before the period was over, and hold Illinois scoreless for most of the 3^rd period. The Fighting Illini were finally able to get on the board with less than three minutes left, but the Spartans finished off their 4-1 weekend with a 4-1 victory and as the Third Annual Illini Invitational Champions.

            The final game of the day was the DII/B championship, featuring WMU and MSU B. The Broncos jumped out early to a 3-0 lead, but the Spartans answered with 4 straight to take a 4-3 lead. Western Michigan would tie it up early in the third period at 4, but Michigan State B would answer with 4 consecutive goals to capture an undefeated tournament and championship.

 

*Special mention to the top scorers of the Division I bracket:

#96 Ryan Kish of MSU led the tournament with 11 goals and 14 points. Fellow teammate #88 Aaron Rivkin finished second with 11 points (6G, 5A). #11 Josh Foote of Bethel (3G, 6A) finished tied for third in scoring with teammate #27 Cole Soastelie (6G, 3A) as each had 9 points. #19 Chris Roberts of Bethel (6G, 1A) rounded out the top 5 scorers with 7 points.