Last night’s broadcast

Recapping last night’s game

Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson 5 (10-3-2), Father Ryan 1 (9-6-0)
With just under 5:30 left in the first, Braden Rose attempted to send the puck down the left wing boards to the corner, but it deflected off the stick of Curtis Newman and went to the bottom of the left circle, where Gideon Drobnick jumped on it, and shot it through the legs of Irish goalie Jack Karpynec into the back of the net for the first of two Senior Night Goals™. With time winding down in the first, Matthew Almeida took a shot from the Irish left point; when it got to the front of the net, Marek McCullars smacked it out to center, where Gage Hart was waiting; Hart took the puck all the way to the front of the net, and backhanded it into the left-hand side past the glove of Commandos netminder for a buzzer-beater, and so, it was 1-1 after one. Nearly four minutes into the second, Gavin Thornburg attempted to clear the puck out of the Irish zone by firing it around the benches side, but he whiffed, and it only ended up behind the net, where Merrick Mott put it out in front for Landon Croft, who shot it into the back of the net for his own Senior Night Goal™. Then, with 55 seconds left in the period, Almeida passed the puck down the left wing to Caden Sisco; Sisco approached the right-hand side of the net, and whiffed on his shot attempt. He then turned his back to the net, and got off a backhanded shot that surprised Karpynec, and went into the bottom corner on the left-hand side of the cage, and Hendersonville led 3-1 after two. Nearly two minutes into the third, Croft found Drobnick all alone in the Irish slot, and fed him the puck, which Drobnick shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the game. Sisco scored the game’s final goal with Hendersonville shorthanded with just under three minutes left, when Almeida cleared the Hendersonville zone, and the puck came to Sisco on the bleachers side of the ice at center; he carried it to the Irish net and fired it in past Karpynec. The result of the game means that the Commandos will be the 2 seed for the Predators Cup. They end the regular season on a nine-game unbeaten streak.

The Irish now need some help, either from Franklin or their big rivals JPII to get a Preds Cup berth. If either one can win or tie their final game (Franklin against Station Camp, JPII against Ensworth), Ryan would get a Preds Cup berth. But winning last night was imperative, because if Ensworth beat JPII, they would jump over Father Ryan in the standings, and if Camp lose to or tie with the Admirals, that would leave the Irish in eighth place, meaning a first-round showdown with…Ravenwood. In their November meeting, the Irish got within 3-2 of the Raptors early in the second, only for Ravenwood to then score four straight, then two more before the period ended, eventually winning 9-5.

The craziest thing about this closing stretch to the regular season is, one team above a points percentage of .500 is going to get the last Hine Cup spot: the Irish’s final points percentage for the regular season is .600 (won 18 points out of a possible 30), while Ensworth are currently at .607 (17 won out of a possible 28), and the Bison are currently at .571 (16 won out of a possible 28). Here’s the other question: Do the Irish or (seeing as how things have gone for them lately) Station Camp even want to play in the Predators Cup? I’m sure they want to test themselves against the best, but I can’t see either team even winning a game at this point in the big dance, while either team would be a favorite in the Hine Cup (I think, though, that Ryan would be a much bigger favorite than Station Camp, who have lost to Mt. Juliet, Brentwood, and JPII, three teams who will make up the Hine Cup field, while the Irish have beaten six of the seven Hine Cup-qualified teams, only losing to Independence-Centennial 2-0 on September 29).

The Irish were 4-1-0 after their first five games of the regular season, with quality wins against MBA, Ensworth, and Nolensville, whom they all beat consecutively. MBA and Nolensville have qualified for the Predators Cup. Across their final ten games of the regular season, the Irish went 5-5-0, with those five wins all coming against Hine Cup-qualified teams, while four of the five losses being against Preds Cup-qualified teams (Franklin, Ravenwood, Page, and Hendersonville, in that order, with the other loss being to Station Camp). It was a promising start, but then it turned into a roller coaster. It’s a shame, because they have improved this season, but not enough (they only allowed 33 goals, though, which, for a team that lost five of their last ten, is pretty good). The playoffs can be a fresh start, so, there’s still time to get it right, but I think they’d be better off in the Hine Cup again, then making another charge next season, since they’re only graduating two players when this season is done, while Ensworth, Nolensville, and perhaps Franklin (whose future is uncertain right now, as Todd Grosse, who worked hard to get the program to the point that they’re at, has been dismissed as head coach following another multi-game suspension; more on that in the future because things there unfolded in a crazy fashion in the last couple of weeks), Hendersonville, and maybe even Ravenwood will drop down the order, as they’re all graduating a lot of experience this season.

Soon, four teams will being moving on to next season, having been the first ones eliminated from the postseason. Will the Irish be one of them? Time will tell.

Next game for both teams
Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson: Predators Cup first-round game vs. 7 seed, date and time TBA, opponent TBD
Father Ryan: First-round postseason game, date and time TBA, tournament and opponent TBD

Standings

Postseason tournaments contention tracker

Wednesday’s final scores

The game that was broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

Nolensville 9, JPII-MLK-GCS 5
Ravenwood 5, Station Camp-Liberty Creek-Nashville Christian 1 PODCAST LINK
Montgomery Bell 12, Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Lebanon 1

Remaining games

Since it’s definitely looking like we won’t be having games on Monday (thanks, Old Man Winter, for not holding off until Tuesday night), I’ll just list the remaining games here in the order for which they are currently scheduled. The teams who are to be holding their Senior Night ceremonies are underlined like always.

Ensworth-Lipscomb-CPA vs. JPII-MLK-GCS
Brentwood-BA-USN vs. Rutherford Rampage
Independence-Centennial vs. Montgomery Bell
Page-Summit vs. Tennessee Outlaws
Franklin vs. Station Camp-Liberty Creek-Nashville Christian

Podcasts

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