Michigan Tech will now play Michigan in the championship game at 7:35 p.m. Saturday.

“It feels good to finally get a win in the GLI,” Michigan Tech head coach Jamie Russell said. “We’re excited to be in the championship game. I’m proud of our team. I thought we came out and played very well and made some very good decisions in the third period.”

The win puts the Huskies, the host of the tournament, in the final for the first time since 2000, where they lost to Michigan. The last time they won the tournament was in 1980.

“It’s about time,” Shelast said about finally making the championship game. “Being 0-6 here kind of wears a bit, but all the guys this year realized that they wanted to win it for (the seniors). This is our last chance.”

But the Huskies have a tough task ahead: No. 2 U-M, who routed Providence 6-0 in the day’s opening tilt.

“We have to be who we are,” Russell said. “We have a certain team identity. We certainly have a lot of respect for Michigan, they are a highly ranked team and have a lot of offensive players but we have to do what we do and do it very well.”

The Spartans, who saw their six-game unbeaten streak snapped, will play the battered Friars in the consolation game at 4:05 p.m.

“We have to stay positive as a team,” Lerg said, adding that he thought that Providence outplayed U-M for the first few periods.

GLI Phenom

Shelast continued his hot play in the GLI, scoring twice against the Spartans to push his career goal total in the tournament to nine in seven games.

He now has four goals in two career games against MSU, both in the GLI.

“It seems like when I come here, I feel good,” Shelast said. “That’s four against Michigan State and I really don’t have words for it. I play hard and there’s some teams you get breaks against.”

Off duty

MSU went 20 days between games and had just two practices in that time span.

“They were OK,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said of the practices. “They got a little bit better as they went on, but this was a very hard fought game and very tiring.”

The Spartans seemed to play with a lot of energy in the first period, registering 15 shots, but couldn’t get much going on the offensive end in the third period, as Michigan Tech limited its forechecking in an effort to hold its one goal lead.