It’s been five years since the Colorado College Tigers went to Detroit and emerged as champions of the Great Lakes Invitational. The annual four-team tournament usually features three Michigan schools and a fourth team invited from college hockey’s “elite ranks.” The Tigers have another crack at a championship this year, and those hopes moved forward yesterday, as the Tigers downed Michigan State 5-4. The Colorado Springs Gazette notes that the Tigers jumped out to an early three-goal lead, but as the game wore on, Michigan came back strong. “I was real happy with how we came out,” says Tigers coach Scott Owens. “Then in the third period, we generate only two shots. We basically hung on and were fortunate to win.”

The Detroit News points out that the loss by Michigan State, the defending Great Lakes Invitational champions, is even worse because CC was playing without its leading scorer, freshman Jaden Schwartz, a first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League draft. The Tigers will take on Michigan tonight for the GLI championship at 5:30 p.m. local time.