Lake Superior State advances to GLI championship game with OT win over MSU

By @StefanKubus – 

DETROIT – Just like the first game of the 2018 Great Lakes Invitational, 60 minutes wasn’t enough in Game 2.

In the nightcap, however, there would be no shootout necessary.

Captain Diego Cuglietta broke a 3-3 tie at the 3:05 mark of overtime to give Lake Superior State a victory over Michigan State and a spot in the New Year’s Eve GLI championship game.

The 54th edition of the Great Lakes Invitational marks LSSU’s fourth appearance – the Lakers last competed in the holiday affair in 1999.

LSSU will take on WCHA rival Michigan Tech in the 2:30 title game; Michigan and Michigan State will play in the consolation game at 11:30.

It didn’t take long to find the scoring in the second of two Great Lakes Invitational semifinal games on Sunday.

At 3:31 of the opening period, freshman defenseman Dennis Cesana put the Spartans on the board. And seven minutes later, fellow freshman Wojciech Stachowiak extended the lead to two for Michigan State.

But shortly after, Anthony Nellis got the Lakers on the board before assisting on Diego Cuglietta’s equalizer at 15:42, a power-play tally. Nellis won a battle along the boards and skated out to the middle of the ice before firing home a wrist shot. Cuglietta had a back-door tap-in off a brilliant feed from Nellis diagonally across the slot.

Livonia native Max Humitz put the Lakers ahead near the game’s halfway mark, a wraparound goal that found its way in the net for LSSU’s third-straight tally.

Stachowiak scored his second goal of the game – and second of his NCAA career – to give his Spartans a 3-3 tie in the middle stages of the third period.

From there, the two teams played into the extra period, with Cuglietta finding the back of the net in a scramble to seal the deal for LSSU.