Today’s broadcast schedule

MTSN GNASH Special Report: The New Season Begins - 12 PM BROADCAST LINK

Independence-Centennial vs. Nolensville - 8:05 PM pregame, 8:15 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

The game that MTSN will broadcast is in BOLD. Note that the games at Centennial have switched rinks.

Father Ryan vs. Brentwood-BA-USN - 4:45 PM @ Centennial A
The reigning Hine Cup champs were the youngest team in the league last season, with ten freshmen, six sophomores, only two juniors, and three seniors. They’re still a pretty young team this season, with only two seniors, six juniors, nine sophomores (the one freshman from last year who didn’t come back is Holt Thompson, who is now at Blue Ridge School in Virginia, focusing on lacrosse), and just one freshman. The Irish started last year decently, but then the youth and inexperience began to show. During the holiday break, Hudson Laux transferred over from James Lawson, and he was a big pickup, and Ryan probably don’t win the Hine Cup without him. He’s back, alongside their two superstar freshmen from last season, Gage Hart and Danny Libby. The goaltending tandem of Jack Karpynec and Zach Fonnesbeck is also back, and they’ll be hoping that Fonnesbeck shows more of the 2023-24 version of himself once again. There’s just one small issue: The Irish only have 18 players this season. We keep talking about how losing A-Game affected Brentwood and Centennial (especially Brentwood), but we never talk about the fact that Father Ryan also had their practices there because most of their players lived in Williamson County then. I’m not sure what the ratio is now, but it seems that it’s fallen for them, as well. If they suffer one long-term injury, it might ruin their season. I thought that they would get back into the Preds Cup this season, but now, I’m not so sure. It’s asking a lot of 18 [mostly young] players to try and get that high up. Youth might keep them in the Hine Cup for at least another season. Kyle Dora returns for his third season as head coach.

I didn’t find out until May, but shortly after Brentwood were knocked out of the Hine Cup by Station Camp-Liberty Creek, the program’s parent board decided to dismiss Chris Orem as head coach. 13 years, four Predators Cups, and four GNASH Cup regular season championships, all undone by two bad seasons. And now, for the first time ever, the Brentwood varsity program is having to co-op to stay alive (I mention varsity because in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Brentwood and Ravenwood had a co-op of B teams that won the Hine Cup both of those seasons, then some of those players went onto the separate varsity teams, and won GNASH Cups and Preds Cups), thanks to a string of large graduating classes that saw them inevitably unable to sufficiently fill the holes. Among the seven seniors that Brentwood had last season was their entire top line of Jack Schultz, Zane Cesarone, and Callahan Fielder. The likes of Andrew Sallee and Will Hubbard return, while Jonny Kelso, Brody Bohman, and Wilson Tucker will be looked at to step up. Brody Wales and Bryce Akright are among the BA contingent, and Joey Fried and Jayden Charnparnickarn will be representing USN. It’s a pretty good mix of players, but not a great one. The only new Brentwood HS player is freshman Jack Riley. The Bruins also have another problem: they only have one goalie. I’m told that they were supposed to get a backup through the pool, but that fell through. So, for a while at least, they’ll have to have a different goalie every game on the bench in case something happens to Sallee, or, one of the players will have to go put on the pads (something that has happened before). Sallee is a really good goalie, so, it’s good that Brentwood can rely on him for every game if need be, but they’re probably still looking for a backup (their backup from last season, Collier Owen, is now a permanent member of JPII-MLK-GCS). I should note that Brentwood changed the entire coaching staff, as Mark Layne (more on him in a bit) and Alec Tucker also departed. Ethan Burau is the new head coach, as he’s been heading up the USN and BA programs in their various co-ops for almost a decade. Despite patching together some pretty good players, I don’t see this team rising back up to the top.

Game prediction: Father Ryan

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Lebanon vs. Franklin - 6:30 PM @ Centennial A
Mt. Juliet had a very bad 2024-25 season. Their leading scorer from 2023-24, Jordan Antar, moved to New Jersey to play junior hockey, and all three of their goalies from the previous season didn’t come back, forcing them to take one from the Outlaws, and bring in a freshman to back him up. Fortunately, their graduating class was only four players strong (even if Bobby Kamos and Carson Slocum were among those four), so, they bring back a lot of notable players, like the Spencer twins, Shauyra Arora, Jackson Blevins, Parker Triplett, Alex Alsaker, and Anthony Giampaolo. And there’s even better news: Jordan Antar has returned for his farewell season. That is a massive boost for this team. They definitely missed his scoring touch last year. The only question is the goaltending. Jack Boyett, who mostly sat on the bench while their Outlaws goalie, Kaz Cronrath, kept the team from maybe going winless, is back, and they’ve managed to find him a tandem partner in Mt. Juliet freshman Shepard Hulsey, so the team’s goaltending is set for at least next three seasons. Boyett will at least get far more playing time than he did last season. This team should be better than last year’s, but, they’re probably still going to go through some things. Alex Walker returns for his third season as head coach.

After contending for the GNASH Cup and getting into the last four of the Preds Cup in 2023-24, Franklin weren’t at the top of GNASH last season, and weren’t a realistic contender, but they were still good enough to once again be among the last four vying for the Predators Cup. This season, the Admirals have championship aspirations, and they should. They are bringing back so much of their scoring talent, including Cole Wright, Hank Hayes, Will McCormick, and Ryan Mannion. Top defensemen like Quinn Spencer, David Unger, and Aidan Murphy are returning, too. But the best news of all for Franklin is that, after missing all of last season due to shoulder surgery, Michael Mannion is back for his final season. Like Jordan Antar for Mt. Juliet, this will no doubt be the offensive spark that the Admirals need to challenge for the top of the mountain. They just need to stay disciplined, because taking too many penalties derailed their Preds Cup hopes in 2024. They also successfully replaced Chad Janson, finding freshman Teague Spencer to round out their goaltending tandem alongside Grayson Butters. This is going to be a very good Franklin team, but how far can they go? It’s a long journey. Todd Grosse is back for his seventh season as head coach, which makes him the second-longest tenured boss in the league, behind JPII’s Justin Clark, who takes the title of longest-tenured following Chris Orem’s departure from Brentwood.

Game prediction: Franklin

Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson vs. Ravenwood - 6:30 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
I had been told towards the end of last season that Stephen Sullivan was likely going to step down as Commandos head coach, and he did, but was pretty quiet about it. Taking his place is Seth Lake, who returns to GNASH after spending the last three seasons on the sideline following his departure from Centennial after the 2021-22 season. The good news for Seth is, there’s not a lot of turnover from last season to this one for Hendersonville. Sure, they lost four really good players to graduation in Dom Harpole, Carter Morrison, Colin Smith, and Kaden Smith, but they bring back a decent crop, with the likes of Landon Croft, Braden Rose, Alex Williams, Merrick Mott, Gideon Drobnick, and Christian Dickens back on the squad. However, they have nine seniors this season, so, there will be some rebuilding for next year (although, Seth is one heck of a recruiter, so, he might find the right replacements). Until then, the Commandos will look to build on last season, where they started well, but collapsed at the end, missing out on a Top 4 Preds Cup seed, and being the second team eliminated from the tournament (losing Hudson Laux was probably the catalyst for that, though). They might be a dark horse contender this season.

The Raptors are back after a second straight finish to Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb in the Predators Cup Final. They lost a pretty good crop of seniors, Cooper Hill and Liam Powell being chief among them, along with Owen Appel and Jake Lapinsky. Unfortunately, they also lost another key component of last season’s team: Mason Reed. Reed put the Ravenwood offense on his back after Hill was sidelined for the rest of the postseason following a finger injury, and showed us a preview of what was to come this season. However, Mason has moved to California to play for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks U18 AAA team. As he is a senior this season, and last season was his first in GNASH, that makes him one of GNASH’s great One-Season Wonders™. But no fear. The Raptors are bringing back a great group of talent, including a dynamite junior class. You’ve got Cooper Friedman, Canon Kiser, Luke Pierce, Oliver Lutz (who returns after spending last season in Rochester, NY), and Keaton Moffitt. Then you have a senior class of Brady Friedman, Grady Fernan, Timo Holan, Jake Farrell, Anthony Maltese, and Lucas O’Leary. Don’t forget the goaltending tandem of Reese Mackenzie and Colin Gower. So, yeah, Mason Reed, Cooper Hill, Liam Powell, Owen Appel, and Jake Lapinsky might be gone, but they’ll be just fine for this season and next. James Gately returns for his third season as head coach, second full.

Game prediction: Ravenwood

Montgomery Bell vs. Tennessee Outlaws - 7:40 PM @ Centennial B
The Big Red were one goal away from playing in their first Predators Cup Final since 2021, until Mason Reed scored the overtime winner in the Losers’ Bracket Final. But if it weren’t for Hunter Wieck’s amazing goaltending, they probably don’t get that far. Wieck was one of six seniors that left MBA behind after last season. Unfortunately for the Big Red, their other goalie, Aiden Becker, also moved on to the college life. The other big loss was defenseman and captain Michael Datillo. They bring back good scoring depth, led, as always, by Trace Graham and Matthew Moore, playing their farewell seasons, along with Duke D’Alba, Abe Lasher, James Lehrman, Ethan Moore, and Andrew Frech. But the big question will be their goaltending. They bring in two freshmen: Tripp Bland and Parker Eaves, the latter of whom will be pulling double duty for the JV team. I’ve seen video of Bland, and he looks good, but is he at the level of Wieck quite yet, or close? If he is, then he can backstop the Big Red to another deep run. If not, MBA could be in for a tough season. The first big test will be on October 20, when the Big Red face Ravenwood. Max Wutzke returns for his second season as head coach, first full.

The Outlaws pulled off the best shock in GNASH in a few years, when, as the Preds Cup 8 seed, they knocked out 5 seed JPII-MLK on February 5. It was the highlight of maybe the best campaign in team history. Sadly, a lot of that core graduated, notably Dalton Alejandro, Elijah Freeman, and AJ Molloy. They bring back Josh Kuehn, James Daniel, Clive Keeler, Logan Wood, and Chaffin Baggott, but can this team get back into the big show? Malakai Hogan will be looking to step up. Another key returnee is Dawson Reynolds, who was a big part of last year’s team in goal. A sad departure is that of Anna Markova, who will spend her senior season in Dallas. I thought that Anna was one of the great stories of last season. She’ll be sorely missed, and, we’ll never see her score a goal in GNASH after coming agonizingly close a few times last season. In fact, the only female returnee is Alice Cox, as Elsa Anderson and Gabby Ballinger have also not returned. I think things will be a little bit tougher for this Outlaws team this season, but they’ll probably contend for a Preds Cup spot again. Chris Deming returns for his third season as Outlaws head coach.

Game prediction: MBA

Independence-Centennial vs. Nolensville - 8:15 PM @ Centennial A
I never said this publicly, but I thought that an Indy/Centennial co-op was a strong possibility when last season ended. Centennial lost more than half of their roster to graduation, and Indy had enough leftovers to help build something, along with bringing in new players. Centennial brought in the likes of Tate Butcher, Aiden Gardner, Avery Aziminia, and Nick Claas, while Indy mixed in Bryson Patton, Oliver Wiedman, and George Logozar, among others. David Busby will likely be the top netminder, after spending last season relegated to #2 by the returning Drew Stratton. Clive Neal completes the goaltending tandem. Connor McKenzie was set to coach this team, but he stepped down to spend time with his newborn. Taking his place? Mark Layne (who was originally going to be an assistant). It’s a return to head coaching for Mark, but also his return to the Centennial program, whom he was originally head coach of from 2007 [I think] through November 2013, when he stepped down due to disputes with parents over playing time. That hurt Mark, and it hurt even worse a few months later, when, as Brentwood assistant coach, he watched as Centennial beat the Bruins in overtime in a Top 3 all-time Preds Cup Final at Bridgestone Arena in March 2014. Centennial had success under Mark: They were runners-up in the 2010 Preds Cup Final to Ravenwood, and won the GNASH Cup twice, via the old GNASH Cup tournament in 2009, and as regular season champions in 2012-13, making Layne the only head coach in GNASH history to win multiple GNASH Cups by different stipulations. Now, he returns to a Centennial program that’s in danger of fading away, its numbers also hurt by A-Game’s loss. It will be interesting to see how he handles the challenge. Mark won four Preds Cup as Brentwood assistant, but his white whale is winning one as a head coach. Will he ever catch it? Also, you’ll be happy to know that the one FRA player left over from last season’s Centennial-FRA co-op, Carson Denning, has been grandfathered onto this season’s squad.

I had heard that Nolensville was probably going to depart their successful partnership with Ensworth and Lipscomb, and they did. The opening of Gary Force Acura Ice Arena in 2021 has helped grow the hockey community there (it also helps that it’s just two miles north of the Nolensville High School campus). Nolensville - and Ravenwood - will have all of their practices at the facility this season, making them the first GNASH teams to have GNASH-booked sessions there. Since E-N-L didn’t have any seniors last season, nearly every Knights player from last year (sans Weston Heringer) is on this new scholastic team: Henry Cravens, Jackson Malleus-Mayer, Heath Hudy, Joseph Simonetti, Emmett Szakos, Charlie Bohnert, Logan Campbell, Preds Cup Final OT hero Spencer Kern, and, oh yeah, netminding god Bingston Soundara, the Preds Cup Final MVP. They are joined by some newbies, all of whom are young (and three of whom, including Cravens’s younger sister, Annie, are 8th graders). This team will be relying on Soundara once again to defend their share of the GNASH and Predators Cups. They also had to dip into the goalie pool for a backup, bringing in Nashville Christian freshman Isaac Wenck from Station Camp-Liberty Creek-NCS. Ty Johns will be the head coach, making him one of two brand new head coaches for the league this season. And before I forget, he’ll have a good guide on the bench in Chris Orem as his assistant.

Game prediction: Nolensville

Rutherford Rampage vs. Station Camp-Liberty Creek-Nashville Christian - 8:15 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
Mike Jones stepped down as Rampage head coach in the spring, and a lot of the would-be returning talent seemingly followed him out the door. This includes William Haynes, and worst of all, Eddie Maze, whose loss will no doubt be felt. Key returnees include Logan and Kyle Wolfe, Lucas Bardo, Nick Hansen, Mason Matthews, Harry Segars, and Riley Brannom in net. New head coach J.R. Dunn (the other brand new head coach for the league) will have a tough task on his hands, as this team could finish near the bottom of the league. The team only has 19 players this season, which sadly jeopardizes it going forward. Hopefully J.R. can do some good recruiting in the future (although, the fact that that massive planned sports facility right off of 840 in Murfreesboro - which was to include two sheets - never broke ground didn’t help matters).

The Bison, meanwhile, look to build on their Hine Cup runners-up finish. Their key graduation losses were Joey Siciliano, Jadon Robertson, Aiden Kramer, and Mason Campbell, but they bring back Gavin Cole, Tommy Siciliano, Dom DeMaria, Dominic Reetz, Tobyn Mehaffy, McClain Gregory, Marshall McMurtry, Mikey Baranyay, and Andrew Grooms. That’s a great core. Integrating Nashville Christian into the fold also sees them add Josh Peffer. Carter Gilleece is back to mind the net, and although Miller Campbell is still on the roster, I’m told he’s still out with the knee injury that end his season last January. Britton Watson has been brought in as the third goalie. This team missed out on a Preds Cup spot via losing out on the goal difference tiebreaker to the Outlaws. Now, they look to go even higher. Keith Grooms returns for his second season as head coach.

Game prediction: Station Camp

Wednesday’s games

Both games will be played @ Centennial A. MTSN is planning to broadcast both games.

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Lebanon vs. Ensworth-Lipscomb-CPA - 7:10 PM
JPII-MLK-GCS vs. Page-Summit - 8:40 PM

Podcasts

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