Tonight’s broadcast

JPII-MLK vs. Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson - 8:35 PM pregame, 8:45 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Senior Night ceremonies

Centennial-FRA are having their Senior Night ceremony tonight.

Regular season finales

The Tennessee Outlaws are playing their final game of the regular season tonight.

Scenarios for tonight

Summit-Page will clinch a Predators Cup berth if the Tennessee Outlaws LOSE TO OR TIE WITH Centennial-FRA.

Summit-Page AND Station Camp-Liberty Creek will clinch the final two Predators Cup berths if the Tennessee Outlaws LOSE TO Centennial-FRA BY SIX GOALS. This would, of course, also mean that the Outlaws would take the final Henry Hine Cup spot, as well as the Hine Cup 1 seed.

The Montgomery County Rangers will end up with the Henry Hine Cup 8 seed if they LOSE TO OR TIE WITH Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian.

Previewing tonight’s games

All games are being played @ Centennial. The game that MTSN is broadcasting is in BOLD.

Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian (3-9-1) vs. Montgomery County Rangers (0-13-0) - 7:10 PM on Rink A
Indy’s hopes of getting the Hine Cup 1 seed were spoiled when Station Camp beat JPII on Monday, then a couple of hours later, their Senior Night was spoiled by Brentwood. They can still get the 2 seed, but they need to win tonight (they should) and beat Ravenwood on the 27th (I don’t think they will, especially if Brentwood dominated them), along with the Rampage, Father Ryan, and Centennial all losing at least one game (well, the Rampage only have one left). As for the Rangers, they don’t seem to have improved as the season has gone on, which is a bit surprising, because a handful of their seniors have quite a bit of GNASH experience. I can’t see them pulling off an upset tonight.

Pick: Indy

Tennessee Outlaws (6-6-2) vs. Centennial-FRA (4-9-0) - 8:30 PM on Rink B
And so, the Outlaws have gone from holding the gun to being under it. A three-game losing streak against some of the league’s top teams, combined with Station Camp’s continuous late-season push, has the Outlaws in jeopardy of seeing their Preds Cup dreams obliterated tonight. Fortunately for them, they are facing GNASH’s second-worst offense tonight (27 goals scored; only the Rangers have a lower total, with 18). If only it weren’t the Cougars’ Senior Night, because it means that the Outlaws will be facing Drew Stratton in goal. Of the Cougars’ four wins, I can’t find one where the goaltender helped them steal it; the four games they’ve won they should’ve won. If the Outlaws don’t push, this could be that game that the Cougars steal. Here’s the thing, if the Outlaws lose, I don’t think they’ll lose by six, which, as stated above, would doom them to the Hine Cup because their final official tiebreaker goal differential (which would go from +2 to -4) would be too big to overcome Station Camp’s current GD, which is +3. However, the Outlaws are far deeper than Centennial, and I think they’ll overcome and turn the gun back onto the Bison. But if they don’t…man, this could be one of the most heartbreaking finishes to a GNASH season ever. Another thing I should note is that the Outlaws lost two players to the junior leagues during the holiday break: Jaxon McKnight, their third-leading goal scorer this season, has signed to play with the El Paso Rhinos of the North American Tier III Hockey League (NA3HL) for the rest of the season, and senior defenseman Cody Skelton will spend the rest of the season in Utah, playing for the Iron County Yeti of the United States Premier Hockey League’s Premier Division (and if you’re wondering, the Outlaws already had their Senior Night ceremony, so, Cody won’t be missing it).

Pick: Outlaws

JPII-MLK (9-4-0) vs. Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson (9-3-1) - 8:45 PM on Rink A
So, JPII’s hopes of perhaps getting the Preds Cup 2 seed got a reprieve thanks to Ravenwood’s loss to Ensworth on Monday night. If only the Raptors’ last two opponents weren’t Indy and Station Camp (well, the latter just might have another surprise in store). Now, they are facing their county rivals with a new trophy going to the winner (more about that below). Hendersonville are hitting the ice for the first time since the goalfest with Ravenwood on December 11, which the Raptors won 8-6. These two teams are similar on paper: Their Top 5 scorers are all in double figures, and the next five all have similar numbers to each other. But the Commandos also still have a shot at the 2 seed, and their last opponent after tonight is Rutherford (JPII’s last opponent of the regular season is Summit, a much tougher game, for sure). Regardless, one of these two teams should end up with a Top 4 (maybe even Top 3) Preds Cup seed, and this should be an excellent game to see unfold.

As mentioned previously, JPII and Hendersonville are putting a trophy on the line tonight; it’s called the Rock Island Cup, and it will be presented annually to the winner of this regular season clash. It’s the first time ever that GNASH rivals have put a trophy on the line for their regular season game. There’s going to be team introductions, and former JPII player Tessa Herzer, a member of the JPII team that won the Hine Cup in 2016, is going to sing the national anthem. If the game ends in a tie after three periods, a shootout will take place to decide who wins the trophy, although the game will officially go into the GNASH record book as a tie. It should be a lot of fun; I hope you’ll tune in.

Pick: JPII

Standings

Monday’s final scores

The game that was broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

Station Camp-Liberty Creek 6, JPII-MLK 4
Father Ryan 4, Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill 3
Brentwood 7, Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian 3
Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb 3, Ravenwood 2 PODCAST LINK
Montgomery Bell 4, Franklin 0

Tomorrow’s game

Franklin vs. Summit-Page - 8:30 PM @ Antioch-North

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

Follow @MTSNGNASHScores on Twitter (we refuse to call it X) to get the scores for every GNASH game.

Sign up HERE to get GNASH games scores sent to your phone or email.

The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, January 16.