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Franklin vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb PODCAST LINK

Recapping last night’s games

The six Tier 1 teams who are competing for the GNASH Cup have two records next to their score: 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.

As the regular season will not resume until January 10, and the schedule for that date hasn’t been released, the “Next game for both teams” section will be replaced with a “Remaining opponents” section.

USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture 4 (3-3-0), Rutherford Rampage 1 (3-1-0)
Jayden Charnparnichkarn scored the opening goal just 23 seconds after the halfway point of the period. Just over two minutes later, Barrett Teasdale scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal, and it was 2-0 USN after one. That 2-0 score held up until just under 90 seconds left in the second, when Vasili Santas made it 3-0, and the period ended with Teasdale scoring his second with one second left. Now, I had arrived for the Franklin-Ensworth game, so I was able to see Justin Dickinson get Rutherford on the board with a beautiful wrister into the top corner on the left-hand side of the net just 4:36 into the third, but USN would hold on for the victory. It’s a great result for them, breaking the Rampage’s perfect start to the second half. The usually high-flying RuCo offense seemed to be stifled defensively, too, as USN only allowed 19 shots on Ben Schwarz. Santas’s return to the lineup after football season has been a big boost for them. Unfortunately, this was their next-to-last game of the regular season, and a 3-3 record is not going to get them the Hine Cup 1 seed, but it should get them right around the Top 4 (winning their last game of the regular season - whenever that happens - will help big-time).

Remaining opponents
Rutherford Rampage: Brentwood, Station Camp-Liberty Creek, and Tennessee Outlaws
USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture: Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin

Summit-Page 4 (3-1-0), Ravenwood 0 (0-5-0, 3-9-0*)
Aiden Garner scored the winning goal on a power play just past the halfway point of the first, and just under two minutes later, Jonah Ferguson made it 2-0, and that was the score after one. Garner scored his second just past the halfway point of the second, one second later than he scored his first goal in the first (his first goal came 7:41 into the first, and the second came 7:42 into the second), with Aiden Meyer scoring the final goal with 31 seconds left in the second. Looking at the box score, things got chippy in the third, as three different players (Cody Lightfoot, Liam Powell, and Cam White) received 2-and-10s. Summit are leading the second half standings for Tier 1 now, and the Raptors have lost five in a row. Who would’ve seen that coming back on February 22, when they were lifting the Predators Cup for a second straight year? And check out who they still have to play in this second half below! Oh, and if they lose their next game, they will claim the 8 seed for the Preds Cup! Wild stuff!

Remaining opponents
Ravenwood: Montgomery Bell and Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill
Summit-Page: Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb, Father Ryan, and Franklin

Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin 3 (1-2-1), Brentwood 3 (2-1-1)
Trey Wilkins scored the opening goal with just over four minutes left in the first, and it was 1-0 Bruins after one. Clayton Ellsworth had Brentwood up 2-0 after two when he scored just over five minutes into the middle frame. The Commandos needed just 41 seconds of the third to get on the board, thanks to Harper Dienna. Just over two minutes later, Colin Smith tied the game. With 3:09 to go, Aidan Pustizzi gave the Bruins the lead back, and it looked like they would hold on and win, only for Gideon Drobnick to score the game-tying goal with six seconds left (the box score says one second; Hendersonville head coach Stephen Sullivan told me six). The Commandos outshot Brentwood 31-19, according to the box score. For the Bruins, it’s kind of a gut punch in the hunt for the Hine Cup 1 seed, especially because their remaining opponents are the three teams at the top of Tier 2.

Remaining opponents
Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin: Centennial, Independence-Ravenwood 2, and USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture
Brentwood: Centennial, Rutherford Rampage, and Tennessee Outlaws

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb 3 (2-1-1), Franklin 2 (2-1-1, 8-1-2)
The Admirals fail their first major test this season against a team with equal depth, and drop and break the gift that Montgomery Bell gave to them on Monday from the Hunter Wieck-less beating they took from Summit as far as the GNASH Cup race is concerned. Hudson Honeybone opened the scoring exactly eight minutes into the first, firing the puck into the right-hand side of the net from the bottom of the right circle. Nearly five minutes later, Cole Poynor got Franklin on the board, when he had a rebound from a blocked Will McCormick shot come his way in the slot, and was able to shoot it into the bottom corner on the right-hand side of the net. It was 1-1 after one. Nearly three minutes into the second, the Ice Tigers took the lead back when Trex Hooper brought the puck into the Franklin zone, and had enough room to stop and wait for Justin Nozko to cross the blue line; Hooper passed the puck to Nozko in the high slot, and he carried it to the net and roofed it. Just over a minute later, Will Copeland made it 3-1 when he flipped the puck into the back of the net from in front after the Admirals failed to clear it from danger. The score remained 3-1 after two. With just six minutes left in the middle frame, Michael Mannion took a 2-and-10 for boarding, meaning Franklin would be without one of their best players for a while. Cael Lewis was called for elbowing exactly two minutes into the third. With the power play winding down, JT Borland fumbled the puck at the Franklin blue line, and Brandon Mills took off with it and scored on a shorthanded breakaway with just three seconds left on the penalty to make it 3-2. The Ice Tigers held on from there. The star of the game was Ensworth goalie Bingston Soundara, who made 31 saves on 33 shots. For Franklin, it’s a missed opportunity; a win would’ve brought them within two points of winning the GNASH Cup. Instead, they remain four points away, and both they and MBA each have three games left. Furthermore, they once again struggled to beat a goaltender who didn’t fear them, as Soundara was almost perfect against them. And they still have to play Pope, which means going up against Anthony Pellegrino, and Mt. Juliet, which means facing either Noah Smartt or Korbin Vickrey. They’re going to have to figure out how to beat tough goaltenders, or it could cost them the GNASH Cup, which looked like a sure thing for them after the Summit-MBA game on Monday night. And Pope are still in the fight, too, though Franklin picking up just one point would knock them out.

Remaining opponents
Franklin: Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill, Pope Prep-MLK-GCA, and Summit-Page
Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb: Father Ryan, Pope Prep-MLK-GCA, and Summit-Page

Station Camp-Liberty Creek 7 (2-3-0), Independence-Ravenwood 2 0 (0-5-0)
After no goals were scored in the first, Mark White scored the winning goal just 79 seconds into the second. Jadon Robertson made it 2-0 just 29 seconds later. After no goals for almost ten minutes, the Bison scored three within the last three minutes of the second. First, Mason Campbell made it 3-0 with just under three minutes left, with White adding his second goal just 11 seconds later. Austin Givens then made it 5-0 with 15 seconds left in the second, and that was the score going out. Just over four minutes into the third, Joey Siciliano made it 6-0 on a power play strike, before White completed his hat trick with just under three minutes left in the game. Indy didn’t claim the 8 seed for the Hine Cup this week, as everything that needed to happen for them to do so didn’t happen, but they are now assured either the 7 or 8 seed, because they can’t catch any of the Top 5 on points, and they can only equal Station Camp’s record, but would lose out on the head-to-head tiebreaker. They can only finish above Hendersonville, but that’s very unlikely, considering they have to play the Commandos in January. They’ll also have to play Centennial, who will almost certainly make them face David Busby in net this time around. Losing to either means they’ll be the 8 seed.

Remaining opponents
Station Camp-Liberty Creek: Rutherford Rampage and Tennessee Outlaws
Independence-Ravenwood 2: Centennial and Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin

Remaining opponents for teams who did not play last night
Centennial: Brentwood, Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin, and Independence-Ravenwood 2

Father Ryan: Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb, Montgomery Bell, and Summit-Page

Montgomery Bell: Father Ryan, Pope Prep-MLK-GCA, and Ravenwood

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill: Franklin, Pope Prep-MLK-GCA, and Ravenwood

Pope Prep-MLK-GCA: Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb, Franklin, Montgomery Bell, and Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill

Tennessee Outlaws: Brentwood, Rutherford Rampage, and Station Camp-Liberty Creek

Standings

Monday’s final scores

The game that was broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture 7, Independence-Ravenwood 2 1
Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill 3, Father Ryan 2
Pope Prep-MLK-GCA 7, Ravenwood 2
Summit-Page 7, Montgomery Bell 1 PODCAST LINK
Tennessee Outlaws 7, Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin 6
Brentwood 6, Station Camp-Liberty Creek 3

Schedule for next week of games

Monday, January 8, 2024
Senior Game @ Bellevue-Crisp (Game 1 @ 7 PM, Game 2 @ 8:30 PM)

Wednesday, January 10, 2024
TBA

Don’t be surprised if there are a couple of games on Friday, January 12, as well. I haven’t heard anything about that, but we’ll have 22 regular season games left following the holiday break, and Monday, January 15 is MLK Day, and there may be one or two or no games at all that day due to weekend tournaments going from Saturday to Monday as it’s a holiday weekend. Also, GNASH is planning on dropping the 9:15 PM Wednesday night game in Antioch after this week because of the number of complaints about the game finishing so late. So, all of this is just from my line of logic. It could be quite different, though. Also, don’t forget Senior Nights take place next month.

Podcasts

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The next newsletter comes out Sunday, December 10.