Tonight’s broadcast schedule

Summit-Page vs. Montgomery Bell - 7:35 PM pregame, 7:40 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

The game that is bring broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

The six Tier 1 teams who are competing for the GNASH Cup have two records: their second half record, and their GNASH Cup record. If a team has an asterisk (*) next to their GNASH Cup record, it means that they have been eliminated from GNASH Cup contention.

USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture (1-3-0) vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 (0-3-0) - 5:15 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
USN won the first meeting 2-1 back on October 2. USN are playing their fifth game of the second half tonight; not counting their win against Brentwood on November 15, they’ve actually done pretty decently in the second half, only losing by one goal to the Tennessee Outlaws, two goals to Station Camp-Liberty Creek last Wednesday, and only lost to Centennial by three last Monday because the Cougars scored two late empty netters. Same old story for Indy, though, who have lost to the two newcomers from Tier 1 (Rutherford and Brentwood), and lost 7-3 to the Outlaws last Wednesday. The Eagles could - repeat, could - end up with the Hine Cup’s 8 seed by the end of play on Wednesday. But a lot of things would have to happen first: Indy would need to lose both of their games this week (tonight against USN, Wednesday against Station Camp, along with Brentwood winning at least one of their games this week (tonight against Station Camp, Wednesday against Hendersonville), and Hendersonville either winning both of their games this week (in addition to the aforementioned Brentwood game, they play the Outlaws tonight), or winning one and tying the other. USN could end up playing Mattilda Cox in goal tonight, but, after seeing how things went for Kade Henderson in the Centennial-Indy game on October 25, I don’t see Ethan Burau risking a potential loss to the Eagles, and he’ll most likely play Ben Schwarz.

I think USN will complete the regular season sweep.

Father Ryan (2-1-0, 5-5-0) vs. Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill (1-1-1, 3-5-2*) - 6:45 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
The Irish are coming off of a 6-2 win over Ravenwood last Wednesday to complete a sweep of the downtrodden Raptors. They’ve actually managed to keep themselves in the race for the GNASH Cup regular season championship, even though, realistically, compared to Franklin and Montgomery Bell, they don’t have much of a chance, and a loss or a tie in this game tonight would officially put them out of the hunt. Mt. Juliet, meanwhile, are coming off an impressive 6-2 win over Ensworth last Monday. It’s been impressive seeing them bounce back from the 11-7 loss to Summit to kick off the second half, as in-between that loss and the win over Ensworth, the Bears tied 3-3 with MBA on November 15. MJ won the first meeting against Ryan 3-2 on November 6, a result that went a long way towards keeping Mt. Juliet in Tier 1 for the rest of the regular season. It seems that the Bears are taking advantage of their second chance in Tier 1 with recent result like the ones against MBA and Ensworth. Goaltending choice will be critical for Mt. Juliet tonight to once again deal with the Irish’s top line of Austin Hester, Colin Sullivan, and Colton Edwards. Noah Smartt was in the crease for the first meeting and held up pretty well. The Irish, who had already clinched their place in Tier 1 for the rest of the regular season, used that game - which was their first half finale - to give Riley Barnes some more playing time, bringing him in past the halfway point of the game to give Zach Fonnesbeck the rest of the night off. With the Irish well in the race for the Predators Cup 1 seed at the moment, I expect Fonnesbeck to play the entire game this time. But with Mt. Juliet looking so good at the moment, it may not matter.

I’m picking the Bears in this one.

Pope Prep-MLK-GCA (1-1-0, 4-5-0) vs. Ravenwood (0-3-0, 3-7-0*) - 7 PM @ Centennial B
The Knights are playing their final game before the holiday break, meaning they’ll have four left when January rolls around (they’ll be the busiest team in the first month of 2024, as they’ll be the only one in the whole league with four games remaining in the regular season). They’re coming off of a 4-2 in over Summit-Page last Monday, where Anthony Pellegrino played up to his usual standards, making 33 saves on 35 Spartans shots. But, here’s some insider information: Pellegrino will not be in net tonight. Jacob Benoit will make his second start of the season; he previously played in the October 20 game against Rutherford that Pope won 12-2, as Pellegrino was out of town for travel hockey. Benoit has also replaced Pellegrino in net twice so far, being brought in for the third period of the first game against Father Ryan on September 27, and the first game against Franklin on October 4. Meanwhile, we’ve documented the Raptors’ struggles in this second half of the season. They’re coming off two brutal losses last week to Franklin (which knocked them out of the GNASH Cup race), and Father Ryan. In the latter game, Colin Gower started in goal for the first time as a Raptor. Since Ravenwood are out of GNASH Cup contention, and realistically out of the race for the Preds Cup 1 seed, giving Gower more playing time isn’t a terrible idea, since he’s only a freshman, and Brady Miller is a senior. It’s a sad thing for Miller, though, as he is a first year player who happens to be a senior, and his takeaway memory could be a team that couldn’t play defense in front of him (and has sometimes flat-out given up on occasion), and possibly being benched by a new coach that didn’t trust him. Ravenwood won the first meeting 4-2 on November 1, which helped them stay in Tier 1. By the way, if Pope lose or the game ends tied, the Knights will also be eliminated from GNASH Cup contention.

But I think Pope avenge the November 1 loss tonight.

Summit-Page (1-1-0) vs. Montgomery Bell (0-0-3, 6-0-4) - 7:40 PM @ Centennial A
Yet again, the Big Red face a team with more depth than them. Summit are, as previously mentioned, coming off of a 4-2 loss to Pope last Monday. And now, they get to face the monster that is Hunter Wieck. They’ll throw them all Wieck: James Gilmartin, Hunter Haley, Hudson Halters, Aiden Meyer, etc., and he’ll probably turn away almost everything they shoot at him. MBA’s start to the second half has been interesting, as they have tied all of their games so far, with Ensworth, Mt. Juliet, and Franklin. They are the Admirals’ only realistic GNASH Cup challengers, but they have to start winning games. And they have to stop relying on Hunter Wieck to save them, because it will eventually bite them. It almost bit them last Wednesday. If Hunter doesn’t make a breakaway save on Cael Lewis with Franklin up 2-0, it might’ve been MBA’s first loss of the season. My issue with Summit at the moment is goaltending. I don’t think that it stands up to the Tier 1 standard at the moment, and Brady Tessier did not have a great first period against Pope.

And that’s why I’m saying that MBA will get their first win of the second half tonight.

Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin (1-1-0) vs. Tennessee Outlaws (2-1-0) - 8:25 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
The first meeting between these two on October 9 resulted in a 4-4 tie. It kicked off Hendersonville’s seven-game unbeaten streak, which was ended last Monday in a 4-0 loss to Rutherford. The Outlaws jumped out to a 3-0 lead, before Hendersonville rattled off four straight to go up 4-3, before Clive Keeler scored the tying goal with just over five minutes left. Outside of the loss to the Rampage, the Commandos opened the second half by completing a regular season sweep of Station Camp on November 13 with a 7-5 win. Tennessee, meanwhile, are coming off of a 7-3 win over Indy last Wednesday, while they have also lost to Centennial and beaten USN in the second half so far. This is the pre-holiday break finale for the Outlaws, who are an early contender in the race for the Hine Cup 1 seed. This rematch could easily end in a tie like the first game between these two.

But I think the Outlaws nick this one.

Brentwood (1-1-0) vs. Station Camp-Liberty Creek (1-2-0) - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Both teams picked up their first win of the second half last week, as Brentwood beat Indy 6-1 last Monday, and the Bison prevailed 6-4 over USN last Wednesday. This is another game that Brentwood should win on paper, but Station Camp do have some talented players who could make things interesting, particularly Joey Siciliano and Toby Mehaffey. However, the Bruins’ best players (Aidan Pustizzi, Jack Schultz, and Clayton Ellsworth) are better than the Bison’s best.

And that’s why Brentwood will win tonight.

Standings

Wednesday’s schedule

The game that MTSN is broadcasting is in BOLD.

Rutherford Rampage vs. USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
Ravenwood vs. Summit-Page - 7:30 PM @ Antioch-North
Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin vs. Brentwood - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Franklin vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb - 8:40 PM @ Centennial A
Station Camp-Liberty Creek vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 - 9:15 PM @ Antioch-North

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The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, December 5.