{"id":137887,"date":"2023-01-04T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=137887"},"modified":"2023-01-04T00:02:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T06:02:57","slug":"this-week-in-nchc-hockey-for-western-michigans-wendt-capturing-gli-championship-on-grand-rapids-ice-has-special-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2023\/01\/04\/this-week-in-nchc-hockey-for-western-michigans-wendt-capturing-gli-championship-on-grand-rapids-ice-has-special-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in NCHC Hockey: For Western Michigan’s Wendt, capturing GLI championship on Grand Rapids ice has special meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Dylan Wendt helped Western Michigan to a GLI championship last week (photo: Ashley Huss).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Great Lakes Invitational, a Michigan college hockey institution since 1965, had always been associated before this season with Detroit.<\/p>\n

Whether the tournament was held at Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park or Little Caesars Arena, the Motor City was perennially the four participating teams\u2019 destination. However, when Michigan Tech announced that this year\u2019s GLI would be held in Grand Rapids, Western Michigan sophomore forward Dylan Wendt perked up.<\/p>\n

Raised in Grand Haven, Mich., a half-hour drive west of Grand Rapids, Wendt has played youth, junior and now college hockey around the state, but much of his family\u2019s history in the sport is on the western side of the Lower Peninsula. His uncle Tim and cousin Hunter both played for Ferris State, and Dylan captained the USHL\u2019s Muskegon Lumberjacks before coming to WMU.<\/p>\n

Last week, he and the Broncos won the GLI championship on the Van Andel Arena ice where Wendt hadn\u2019t played since he was a little kid. He scored a third-period goal in WMU\u2019s 8-1 semifinal win over Tech, then helped the Broncos beat Ferris State 8-2 in the title game.<\/p>\n

This season\u2019s GLI was always going to mean something different to Wendt, no matter how Western fared. He had a strong cheering section there, as a family friend\u2019s box at Van Andel was filled with friends and relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI speak for probably every Michigan hockey player when I say the GLI is something you grow up watching, and something that really catches attention and opens eyes,\u201d Wendt said. \u201cEspecially growing up in Michigan, everybody sees the big stage and the level of players and teams at this level, and it makes it surreal to be able to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited when they said it would be at Van Andel. I grew up watching it at the Joe, but I liked this year\u2019s a little more because my family didn\u2019t have to travel far to see it. Pretty much everyone I knew got to drive up, and it was fun spending time with them and having them watch us take home the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even better, there was no animosity from Wendt\u2019s extended family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to play Division I college hockey and maybe play for Ferris, too,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was definitely a possibility, but it worked out the way it did, and I\u2019m happy I chose Western because the circumstances were right, and it was everything I wanted in a college team.<\/p>\n

\u201cTim and Hunter didn\u2019t give me any pre-scout or pep talk last week, anything like that. They kept the competitive side out of it, and maybe held it in, who knows, but I didn\u2019t hear anything like that from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendt had points in four of his last seven games, and his five goals and nine points this season have him well ahead of his two-goal, three-point finish as a freshman.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s more focused on how his team is faring, though, and the Broncos\u2019 GLI success indicates an uptick in form. WMU (12-9-1) was 0-3-1 in its last four games before heading to Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing at the GLI was just us coming together,\u201d Wendt said. \u201cWe ended the first half of the season kind of poorly, and although we might\u2019ve played well, you\u2019ve got to get the wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe break made us really step it up a notch, because we know what we\u2019re all capable of, and what we can play like as a team. We\u2019ve got something special here, and it\u2019s up to us on whether we\u2019re going to run with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Lakes Invitational, a Michigan college hockey institution since 1965, had always been associated before this season with Detroit. Whether the tournament was held at Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park or Little Caesars Arena, the Motor City was perennially the four participating teams\u2019 destination. However, when Michigan Tech announced that this year\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":137888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in NCHC Hockey: For Western Michigan's Wendt, capturing GLI championship on Grand Rapids ice has special meaning - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Great Lakes Invitational, a Michigan college hockey institution since 1965, had always been associated before this season with Detroit. 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