Tonight’s broadcast schedule

Tennessee Outlaws vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb - 6:10 PM pregame, 6:15 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

JPII-MLK vs. Summit-Page - 7:55 PM pregame, 8 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

The games that MTSN is broadcasting are in BOLD. The Rangers/Station Camp game has been moved back to tonight after initially being rescheduled to be played in Clarksville on Wednesday.

Predators Cup first round
#8 Tennessee Outlaws vs. #1 Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb - 6:15 PM @ Centennial A
Final regular season records:
-Outlaws - 6-7-2, finished 8th due to having better goal difference than Station Camp-Liberty Creek
-Ensworth - 13-0-2, finished 1st, winning GNASH Cup as regular season champions
Regular season meeting: Finished in a 1-1 tie on November 15

If this first round features an upset, it will likely be this game where it happens (which, of course, would make it the second straight year that the 8 seed beat the 1). Ensworth outshot the Outlaws 42-28 in the November showdown, but Justin Iannuccilli stood tall in the Tennessee crease, stopping 41 of those shots in what was easily his best outing of the season to date. For the Outlaws, that was the fourth game in a six-game unbeaten streak, the tie with Ensworth being followed up by wins over Brentwood and Mt. Juliet; but then, they ended the season on a four-game losing streak, thanks mostly to having to face Summit, JPII, and MBA in succession, but then, they extended that by losing to a Centennial team that they probably would’ve beaten on paper, which jeopardized their Predators Cup qualification hopes, which might have officially died if Station Camp had faced anyone below ninth place in their regular season finale, and not Ravenwood. As for the Ice Tigers, that meeting with the Outlaws wasn’t the only one where they struggled to score: they also only beat Station Camp 2-1, Father Ryan 2-0, and Summit 2-0, only managing 10 shots on goal in the latter game. Tim McAllister told me after beating Centennial 6-0 in their season opener way back on September 16 that they would be scoring “by committee” this season. Well, they have done that. They haven’t been caught napping yet, and knowing that they got away with a point from that November game against the Outlaws, they’ll have to stay awake for this one, because this is the Outlaws’ best chance at snapping their losing streak. Also, this is the first time that the Outlaws are playing in a Predators Cup that they actually had to qualify for. They previously played in the 2019 tournament, but back then, GNASH only had 15 teams for the 2018-19 season, so everyone started in the Preds Cup, with losers in the first two rounds being dropped into the Hine Cup.

Pick: Ensworth

Consequences of this game’s result: Winner plays JPII/Summit winner next Monday @ 6:15 PM @ Centennial A, while the loser will face the JPII/Summit loser on Wednesday @ 8:15 PM @ Antioch-South

#5 JPII-MLK vs. #4 Summit-Page - 8 PM @ Centennial A
Final regular season records:
-JPII: 10-5-0, finished 5th, ahead of Franklin (who also finished 10-5-0) on head-to-head
-Summit: 10-4-1, finished 4th
Regular season meeting: Summit won 9-4 last Monday, January 27

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scheduling occurrence like this. For the second straight week, JPII and Summit are playing each other on a Monday at 8 PM on Centennial A, with JPII being the away team, and Summit being the home team. That’s truly crazy. Anyway, let’s talk about the game. If JPII had beaten Station Camp, they would’ve been the 3 seed instead of MBA. Instead, they are having a rematch with a team they lose by five goals to seven days ago. The Knights are pretty good, but once again, not great. They lost to each of the Top 4 teams this season, so, it feels like another year where they survive the first round of eliminations, but not the second. Summit, meanwhile, had a “what could’ve been” regular season. They lost to a Brentwood team they had no business losing to, plus the 2-0 loss to Ensworth were they outshot the Ice Tigers 35-10. They should’ve been the 3 seed at least, maybe the 2 at most. But I don’t see this game turning out differently than last week’s did.

Pick: Summit

Consequences of this game’s result: Winner plays the Outlaws/Ensworth winner next Monday @ 6:15 PM @ Centennial A, while the loser plays the Outlaws/Ensworth loser on Wednesday @ 8:15 PM @ Antioch-South

#6 Franklin vs. #3 Montgomery Bell - 8:30 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
Final regular season records:
-Franklin: 10-5-0, finished 6th, behind JPII on head-to-head
-MBA: 10-3-2, finished 3rd
Regular season meeting: MBA won 4-0 on January 13

These two teams meet in the first round of the Predators Cup for the second straight year, although last year’s meeting took place in the 4 vs. 5 game. These two teams battled for the GNASH Cup regular season championship late last year, but were nowhere near contention for that title this year. Franklin actually won one more game this regular season than they did last year, but the fact that this year’s format was everybody-play-everybody definitely helped. The Admirals were good, but not as good as last year. Missing Michael Mannion all season has definitely left a hole in the offense. Meanwhile, the Big Red had a Lee Guy-size hole in the offense this year, but Matthew Moore and Trace Graham were good at picking up the slack. They tied Ensworth, but lost to Ravenwood. They also lost to Station Camp. They’ve got a pretty decent shot at getting into the last four, but I can’t see them getting to the final. Still, they should win this one.

Pick: MBA

Consequences of this game’s result: Winner plays the Hendersonville/Ravenwood winner next Monday @ 8 PM @ Centennial A, while the loser plays the Hendersonville/Ravenwood loser Thursday @ 8:30 PM @ Antioch-North

Henry Hine Cup first round
#7 Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill vs. #2 Rutherford Rampage - 7:40 PM @ Centennial B
Final regular season records:
-Mt. Juliet: 2-11-2, finished 15th
-Rampage: 5-9-1, finished 10th, ahead of Father Ryan on head-to-head
Regular season meeting: Rampage won 7-3 on October 21

Mt. Juliet continue their downslide after losing the core that took them to back-to-back Predators Cup Finals in 2022 and 2023. They also went without their leading scorer from last season, Jordan Antar, as he moved to New Jersey to play for the New Jersey Jr. Titans’ 16U AAA team. The Spencer twins, Reid and Carter, led the way in scoring, with newcomer Shaurya Arora also contributing, but their best player has been goalie Kaz Cronrath, who has given them chances in games against some of the teams in the lower half of the league. Meanwhile, the Rampage are back to defend their title, and they have a decent shot. Yes, they don’t have Justin Dickinson, but Tucker Wilhelm has been good at picking up the slack. They just better hope that Indy isn’t waiting for them on the other side after tonight.

Pick: Rampage

Consequences of this game’s result: Winner plays the Indy/Ryan winner February 12 @ 7:10 PM @ Centennial A, while the loser plays the Indy/Ryan loser next Monday @ 8:45 PM @ Antioch-North

#8 Montgomery County Rangers vs. #1 Station Camp-Liberty Creek - 8:45 PM @ Antioch-North
Final regular season records:
-Rangers: 0-15-0, finished 16th
-Station Camp: 6-7-2, finished 9th due to having lower goal difference than Outlaws
Regular season meeting: Station Camp won 10-3 on December 11

For a team that had a handful of players with some GNASH experience, I’m surprised that the Rangers didn’t at least pick off a tie from a low-end team. They really haven’t shown many signs of improvement throughout the season, which is surprising for a team that essentially has a home rink where they can book practices outside of the ones that GNASH books for them. As for the Bison, they are probably the favorites to win this thing. They started slow, losing six of their first nine games (the three games that they didn’t lose were the win over MBA, plus ties with Mt. Juliet and the Outlaws), before going on a five-game winning streak, kicked off by the incredible comeback win against the Rampage, before losing to Ravenwood to end the regular season, which pushed them into the Hine Cup. I really don’t see the result of tonight’s meeting between these two going any differently.

Pick: Station Camp

Consequences of this game’s result: Winner plays the Brentwood/Centennial winner next Monday @ 8:30 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp, while the loser plays the Brentwood/Centennial loser next Monday @ 7:40 PM @ Centennial B

Brackets

Click on the bracket images to be taken to their BracketHQ webpages; they automatically update when a final score is entered.

Predators Cup

Henry Hine Cup

The rest of this week’s schedule

The games that MTSN is planning to broadcast are in BOLD.

Wednesday
Predators Cup first round
#7 Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson vs. #2 Ravenwood - 8:40 PM @ Centennial A

Predators Cup Losers’ Bracket first round
Outlaws/Ensworth loser vs. JPII/Summit loser - 8:15 PM @ Antioch-South

Henry Hine Cup first round
#5 Brentwood vs. #4 Centennial-FRA - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
#6 Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian vs. #3 Father Ryan - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B

Thursday
Predators Cup Losers’ Bracket first round
Hendersonville/Ravenwood loser vs. Franklin/MBA loser - 8:30 PM @ Antioch-North

Classic playoff broadcasts

Once again during this postseason, we will be uploading great GNASH playoff games of the past that were heard on MTSN. Uploads will take place every Tuesday and Friday during the postseason. Click HERE to go back in time!

Podcasts

As we did last year, game podcasts are being exclusively uploaded to our YouTube channel for this season. To subscribe so you don’t miss out, scroll down to the footer of this newsletter, and click on the play button to be taken to our channel.

Miscellaneous links

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The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, February 4.