Last night’s broadcasts

Recapping last night’s games

Henry Hine Cup Final
Independence-Centennial 5, Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Lebanon 3
With just under six minutes left in the first, Cash Branyan took the puck from behind his own net down the bleachers side of the ice into the Mt. Juliet zone down the right wing, and from the bottom of the right circle, shot it into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, as Bears goalie Shepard Hulsey was caught against his left-hand post. 80 seconds later, Mt. Juliet won a draw in the Indy zone to the left of goaltender David Busby, and Trenten Gorrell took a shot from the right point that Busby stopped; Busby attempted to cover the puck, bringing his left arm (his glove arm) over his right arm to try and do so, but couldn’t, and Parker Triplett crashed the net, and banged the rebound into the wide-open cage. With 10.8 seconds left in the first, the Eagles regained the lead in a strange way: from the left point, Nick Onusaitis took a shot that hit the skates of Jackson Blevins in front, came up the slot, where Caleb Mills took a one-timer that went over the net, with the puck hitting the glass, and landing behind the cage, where it was taken by Aiden Gardner; Hulsey didn’t know where it was, and moved to his right, allowing Gardner to come to the left-hand side of the net, and slip it in, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead after one. Just two seconds past the halfway point of the second and regulation, MJ won another faceoff to Busby’s left; Gorrell passed across to Anthony Giampaolo at the left point, and he immediately fed the puck across to Cade Ellenburg in the right circle, and he took a one-timer that Busby stopped, only for the puck to come up the slot to Ethan Smith, who smacked in the rebound, and it was 2-2 after two, as both teams headed back to the dressing room for the ice resurfacing. Nearly four minutes into the third, Hank Walker had the puck on the left wing side of the Mt. Juliet zone just above the left wing corner, and he took a shot that hit the roof of the net. Just over six minutes later, Mt. Juliet had gotten a power play, and won the faceoff to Busby’s right; Ellenburg attempted to pass the puck down the left wing side from the left point, but Mills immediately blocked this pass, then poked the puck out to center, where Walker grabbed it, carried it down the Mt. Juliet slot, and took a shot that leaked through Hulsey and in. 41 seconds later, Walker completed his hat trick with a shorthanded empty-netter, but the scoring wasn’t done quite yet: with just under two minutes left, and the Bears on another power play, Ellenburg took a shot from the right circle that Busby stopped with his right leg pad, but the rebound came out to Giampaolo below the left faceoff dot, and he fired it into the back of the net for the game’s final goal. For Independence, it is their third Hine Cup title, tying them with Franklin for the most all time; they previously won the Hine Cup in 2017 (in a co-op with Summit) and 2021 (in a co-op with Spring Hill). For Centennial, this is their second Hine Cup title, having previously won it as a scholastic team in 2023. Walker was named the Sandi Chadwick MVP for his third period hat trick, although, there’s a big argument for having him and Busby share it, because Busby was the reason that game was tied at 2 when it went to the ice cut break. There’s precedent for co-MVPs: just two years ago, the Rampage beat Brentwood 4-0 in the 2024 Hine Cup Final; Rampage goalie Alec Dawes and star forward Justin Dickinson shared the honors after Dawes pitched a 37-save shutout, and Dickinson had a hat trick that he completed in the third period (although, unlike Walker, Dickinson scored the game’s first goal in the first period). Congratulations to the Eagles on winning the Hine Cup, and to Mark Layne on making a triumphant return to the GNASH bench as a head coach.

Predators Cup Final
Montgomery Bell 2, Nolensville 1
With just under five minutes left in the first, the Big Red won a draw in front of the Nolensville bench, and Matthew Moore brought the puck into the Nolensville zone, handed it off to Conner Mazzoni, and he fired it into the back of the net past the blocker of Knights goalie Bingston Soundara from the left edge of the slot, and MBA led 1-0 after one. Just under three minutes into the second, Nolensville were on a power play; Spencer Kern took a shot from the bottom of the right circle that MBA goalie Tripp Bland stopped with his right leg pad, only for the rebound to come right to Judah Campbell in front, and he pounded it in, and it was 1-1 after two for the ice cut. With just under five minutes left in regulation, Trace Graham fired the puck up the bleachers side of the ice from deep in his own zone, where M. Moore successfully snared it at the Nolensville blue line, carried it down the left wing and took a shot that Soundara stopped, only for the rebound to come to Mazzoni in the right circle, and he fired it into the wide open net. Nolensville wanted the goal waved off for goalie interference; as Moore was going to the front of the net to chase the rebound, he and Emmett Szakos made contact, with Moore going down and sliding into Soundara, causing the netminder to slide out of his crease to his left, and Mazzoni held the puck long enough to take the shot (I went back and watched it on the MBA student broadcast). The Knights’ arguments went unheeded, and MBA held on from there.

Next game for both teams: Tomorrow in the Predators Cup Final If Necessary Game @ 5:30 PM @ Centennial A

Brackets

Predators Cup

Henry Hine Cup

Tomorrow’s games

Both games will be played @ Centennial A.

Predators Cup Final If Necessary Game
#7 Nolensville vs. #2 Montgomery Bell - 5:30 PM
MBA are the home team because they won the previous game; there will once again be an ice cut following the second period.

2026 GNASH All-Star Game - 7:45 PM

Requiem for the Runners-up

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Lebanon
Departing Seniors: Alex Alsaker, Jordan Antar, Jackson Blevins, Anthony Giampaolo, Trenten Gorrell, Jayson Tippens, Parker Triplett, and Jacob Turner
What a difference one player can make; if Cade Ellenburg had been on the roster to start the season, MJ would definitely not have lost their first six games of it. Now, they wouldn’t have been threatening the top of the league, but they might’ve been in for a shout at a higher Hine Cup seed. Once Ellenburg came along, the offense picked up immensely. Shepard Hulsey also morphed into the top goaltender as the season went along. Antar, Giampaolo, Gorrell, and Triplett are big losses, but Ellenburg comes back next season, along with the Spencer twins, Shaurya Arora, Ethan Smith, Dallas Radel, and Wynston Hudson. I don’t know if the Bears will move up the standings any further, but they might be a Hine Cup threat again. By the way, Alsaker, Antar, Blevins, Giampaolo, and Triplett were all freshmen on the Mt. Juliet-Green Hill-Lebanon team that lost to Ravenwood in the 2023 Preds Cup Final, so they began their GNASH careers playing on a team that went to a final, and end their careers in a final.

Celebrating the Champions

Independence-Centennial
Departing Seniors: Cash Branyan, Nick Claas, Oskar Dubon, Aiden Gardner, George Logozar, Nick Onusaitis, and Bryson Patton
What a weird season for the Hine Cup winners: they started out 2-1-0, suffering a heartbreaking loss to Nolensville to start the season, beating Father Ryan in a goalie duel, then stomping a very talented Page team. It felt like maybe they would stay near the top as the season went on, but then came the five-game winless streak (two ties sandwiching three straight losses) that was their downfall as far a Preds Cup berth was concerned. They snapped this streak by beating eventual GNASH Cup regular season champions Ravenwood, but couldn’t grab the momentum from that win, losing four of their last six to snuff out any hopes of making a run at the Top 8. Outside the group of seven seniors, they were pretty young, with only two juniors (David Busby and Wilson Heep), and everyone else being freshmen or sophomores. Mark Layne suddenly took over the team as head coach right before the season started as Connor McKenzie stepped away to spend time with his newborn, so a change in coaching philosophies at the 11th hour probably didn’t help matters at first. Hank Walker may have been the Hine Cup Final MVP, but Busby is the MVP of their Hine Cup run, as his backstopping helped them win squeakers over the Outlaws and Father Ryan, then absolutely helped them against Mt. Juliet last night by only giving up one goal to the Antar-Ellenburg-Smith line. Busby will be back next season for his farewell campaign (meaning it’s probably time to start shopping for a successor, since Clive Neal was only a loaner from the Outlaws), along with Walker, Caleb Mills, Tate Butcher, Spencer Pacholko, and Easton Romano, among others. Depending upon how they fill the gaps the seniors leave behind, maybe they’ll challenge for a Preds Cup spot next season, but it’ll probably be another season before they make a run at the top (if they can find the right successor for Busby, that is).

Podcasts

Like always, game podcasts are uploaded exclusively to our YouTube channel. 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 game scores sent to your phone or email.

The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, March 4.

Thank you to our Buymeacoffee members! Learn how to get in on our championship game coverage and All-Star Game coverage below!

Full season memberships
$5 a month/$20 a year (previously $50 a year, then $40) (Receives newsletter mention)
Don Holecek
Alex Hyatt
Michael Iannuccilli
Christina Karpynec
Richard and Ruth Marshall

$10 a month/$40 a year tier (previously $100 a year, then $80)
(Receives newsletter mention, on-air shoutout for games involving team that they support, and a downloadable MP3 of every game broadcast featuring team that they support)
Bri & Hayden Bland
Glen Bland
Victor Bohnert
Tom and Marsha Cravens
Jenny and Greg D’Alba
Drs. Marti and Ron Ellis
Mike and Stacy Gower
Don and Stacey Graham
Chris and Amy Hart
Mark Hayes
John and Leslie Hooper
Thomas Laux
Tori and Ludo Ragancik
Bing and Lisa Soundara
Jacqueline and McClain Towery

If you would like either of these perks, sign up at our Buymeacoffee page HERE, and scroll down to “Become a member” do what the bold text down below says.

If you would like to make a one-time donation instead, you can do so through our Zelle or Paypal. Please reply to this email to get the proper Zelle or Paypal contact.

There are just TWO GAMES LEFT in the 2025-26 GNASH season, and we want you to get in on the action! If you’re a fan of either Nolensville or Montgomery Bell, and you didn’t purchase a Buymeacoffee membership, here’s one more chance to get in on it! For just $5, I’ll give you an on-air shoutout at the end of the game broadcast, plus you’ll get a downloadable MP3 of the game at no extra charge! Not a fan of either team? That’s OK, because I’m selling on-air shoutouts for the All-Star Game, too! Just click on the link above, then in the box on the right side of the page, enter $5 in the amount box; if it’s for the Preds Cup Final, let me know who you’re rooting for! If it’s for the All-Star Game, tell me it’s for that! Either way, thank you for showing your support this season!