Tonight’s broadcast schedule

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb vs. Montgomery Bell - 5:25 PM pregame, 5:30 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Brentwood vs. Tennessee Outlaws - 7 PM pregame, 7:05 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Rutherford Rampage vs. Station Camp-Liberty Creek - 8:30 PM pregame, 8:35 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Scenarios for tonight

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb will clinch a Predators Cup berth if they DEFEAT Montgomery Bell, OR they LOSE TO OR TIE WITH Montgomery Bell, AND Centennial LOSE TO OR TIE WITH Montgomery County Rangers. These scenarios happening would also mean that Centennial-FRA would be eliminated from contention for the GNASH Cup regular season championship.

Montgomery County Rangers will claim a Henry Hine Cup berth if they LOSE TO Centennial-FRA, AND Tennessee Outlaws DEFEAT OR TIE WITH Brentwood.

Previewing tonight’s games

The games that MTSN will be broadcasting are in BOLD.

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb (9-0-1) vs. Montgomery Bell (6-2-1) - 5:30 PM @ Centennial A
So, the Ice Tigers squandered their first opportunity to clinch a Predators Cup berth on Friday with the tie with the Outlaws. The problem is, it won’t be easy to try and do it again tonight. They absolutely have to beat MBA, because there’s no way Centennial are losing to the Rangers. The Big Red have been finding their game the last few weeks, only losing 3-1 to Ravenwood, before blowing out Brentwood 9-0, and recently beating Centennial 2-0 in a game that was only that close because of Drew Stratton’s usual brilliant play in goal (they’re actually on a three-game winning streak, because they bounced back from the Ravenwood loss with a 3-0 win over Rutherford). This is going to be another grind-it-out game for Ensworth…and I think the unbeaten season ends tonight.

Pick: MBA

Brentwood (3-6-1) vs. Tennessee Outlaws (4-3-2) - 7:05 PM @ Centennial A
What a week the Outlaws had last week. First, they dominated the reigning Hine Cup champs Rutherford in a shutout win to jump back into the Top 8, then banked a massive point towards Preds Cup qualification by tying the reigning Preds Cup champs. I know I said that the Rampage were the favorites to take the last Preds Cup spot, but I now think the Outlaws have taken that over. They have more depth than their four closest persuers (Rutherford, Brentwood, Centennial, and Father Ryan), plus their goaltending is on the level of those four. Meanwhile, Brentwood are coming off of a week where they needed Andrew Sallee to rescue them against Station Camp (I’m still not used to them being this position), then lost to JPII. I can’t help but wonder who they throw in goal tonight - Sallee or Collier Owen? I feel like Chris Orem wants to get back into the Preds Cup, but I’m not sure if he wants to do it with this team, because outside of their three leading scorers (Jack Schultz, Callahan Fielder, and Zane Cesarone), they have zero depth, and you need depth to compete with the big boys. The Outlaws have depth, the Bruins don’t. But if Brentwood want to get back into the Preds Cup, they have to win this game, because the Outlaws’ next game is against Mt. Juliet, who they should beat.

Pick: Outlaws

Franklin (8-2-0) vs. Ravenwood (6-1-0) - 7:40 PM @ Centennial B
If the race for the last spot in the Predators Cup weren’t so interesting, I’d be broadcasting this game. This game is bigger for Franklin than it is for Ravenwood. If the Admirals win, then they place themselves firmly in the race for the GNASH Cup regular season championship, and the Predators Cup 1 seed. If Ravenwood win, it feels like their ascension to the top of the table becomes more inevitable. Franklin swept the Raptors in the regular season last year, but Ravenwood got the better of the Admirals in the Predators Cup Losers’ Bracket Semifinal. Franklin had a few more offensive weapons last season that they unfortunately lost to graduation. They’re still a good team, but Ravenwood’s top weapons are better than theirs. This could be a repeat of the Ravenwood/JPII game from just a few weeks ago.

Pick: Ravenwood

Centennial-FRA (3-5-0) vs. Montgomery County Rangers (0-9-0) - 8:30 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
This game was originally scheduled to be played on Friday, December 6, until being rescheduled just a couple of weeks ago. In all my time in GNASH, I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a game being moved forward in the schedule rather than backward. Jack Haight returned to the lineup for the Rangers last Wednesday against Summit after his four-game suspension was completed. That’s all I have to say about this game.

Pick: Centennial

Rutherford Rampage (4-6-0) vs. Station Camp-Liberty Creek (1-6-2) - 8:35 PM @ Centennial A
So, the Rampage’s hopes to getting into the Predators Cup took a blow last week with the loss to the Outlaws. They were dominated, with the Outlaws suppressing them on puck possession, forcing turnovers, and Dawson Reynolds being so good in goal. Now, they have to take on a Station Camp team that have proven to be tough to beat, despite their record (their biggest loss was 5-1 to Hendersonville on October 14). Both teams’ leading scorers have similar stats (Joey Siciliano has nine points, Eddie Maze has ten). Neither team has a lot of depth, and they both have good goaltending, so, I expect this to be another good one.

Pick: Station Camp

Standings

Wednesday’s games

All games are being played @ Centennial. The game that MTSN is planning to broadcast is in BOLD.

JPII-MLK vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb - 7:10 PM on Rink A
Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian vs. Rutherford Rampage - 8:30 PM on Rink B
Brentwood vs. Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill - 8:45 PM on Rink A

Thursday’s game between JPII and Station Camp has been rescheduled for Monday, January 13 @ 5:30 PM @ Centennial A.

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, November 19.