MTSN GNASH Newsletter for January 22, 2024

Middle Tennessee Sports Network
January 22, 2024

Tonight’s broadcast

Franklin vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA - 8:20 PM pregame, 8:25 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Senior Night ceremonies

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb are holding their Senior Night ceremony tonight.

Previewing tonight’s games

The game MTSN is broadcasting is in BOLD.

Both games are at Bellevue-Crisp.

The six Tier 1 teams who are competing for the GNASH Cup have two records: their second half record, and their GNASH Cup record. If a team has an asterisk (*) next to their GNASH Cup record, it means that they have been eliminated from GNASH Cup contention.

Father Ryan (2-3-0, 5-6-0*) vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb (3-1-1) - 6:45 PM
This was supposed to have been the final game of the regular season for both teams, but they were among the eight teams who had a game that was supposed to take place last Wednesday postponed by the winter storm (those four games have been rescheduled, by the way; see the update below). It’s a crucial game for both teams in terms of seeking a high seed for the Predators Cup. It’s a must-win for the Irish, as their recent defeat against Summit-Page on January 10 means that they are unable to claim the 1 seed. A loss plus a Franklin win over Pope tonight means that Ryan would be unable to be a Top 3 seed; a tie would still give them a shot at maybe the two seed, but they need to win this game to still have a real chance. This is yet another game where the Irish are taking on a team with far more depth than them, and the last two games where that’s been the case haven’t ended well. Those would be the 5-0 loss to Franklin on November 15, and the recent 5-2 loss to Summit. In both cases, Zach Fonnesbeck’s great goaltending kept them in the game early (they even scored the first goal of the game against Summit); but in the end, the lack of depth vs. a team with a lot of it caused the game to get away from them in the end. That might be the case again tonight. The Ice Tigers, meanwhile, are coming off of a 7-3 win over Pope on January 10. At this point, one would have to peg them as the favorites to be the Predators Cup 1 seed, though they need to win tonight, and then, beat Summit next Monday, along with Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill either losing or tying at least one of their three remaining games (should Ensworth and MJ finish the second half with the exact same record, MJ would get the Preds Cup 1 seed, as they beat Ensworth 6-2 on November 27). They’ve won the games that they should’ve won (except, maybe, the Mt. Juliet game). And I think that this one will be no different.

I’m picking Ensworth.

Franklin (2-1-1, 8-1-2) vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA (2-2-0, 5-5-0*) - 8:25 PM
The Admirals finally get back on the ice for the first time since their 3-2 loss to Ensworth on December 6. They’re on a two-game winless streak (the 2-2 tie with MBA on November 29, then the Ensworth loss) after two games, where, to be completely honest, they did not play their best. And because of this, the GNASH Cup race is much closer than it should be. They failed to take advantage of the beatdown MBA got from Summit; if they’d manage to beat Ensworth, they would’ve been on the verge of clinching the GNASH Cup tonight, instead of having to wait until at least Wednesday. They will be without Michael Mannion for the rest of the season, as he recently had shoulder surgery. They’re playing their three remaining games over these next seven days (after tonight, they play Summit on Wednesday, then Mt. Juliet next Monday to close out their regular season schedule), and they’ll have to run the gauntlet in order to stay in the race for the Preds Cup 1 seed (they only need to win two of their remaining three to win the GNASH Cup, though). They have come too far to end up with an unfavorable first round Preds Cup draw. They’ll be facing a Pope team fresh off of the defeat against Ensworth 12 days ago. The Knights were, of course, missing their star goaltender Anthony Pellegrino, as he and twin brother Nick were off on an annual mission trip mandated by the Grace Christian Academy curriculum. Pope actually did a great job of hanging tight with Ensworth, but the Ice Tigers grabbed a hold of the game early in the third, and ran off with it, as Jacob Benoit wasn’t able to fend off the attack. However, I liked what I’ve been seeing from Pope lately. They’ve got a lot of young players, but they’ve jelled pretty well. Joe Hiller is only a freshman, but he’s become one of the Knights’ scariest players to take on. The loss to Ensworth officially eliminated the Knights from GNASH Cup contention, and now, they can troll the fight this week, as they also play the only other remaining contender in MBA on Wednesday. In fact, if Franklin win this game tonight, then Pope could hand the Admirals the GNASH Cup on Wednesday by beating the Big Red. But Franklin have to win this game first. Franklin won the first meeting between these two 6-4 on October 4. The Admirals had a 4-1 lead after two, chasing Pellegrino, but relaxed, and allowed Pope back in. They absolutely CANNOT do that tonight.

I’ll pick Franklin to get back on track.

GNASH Cup note

Franklin can win the GNASH Cup this week. If they defeat Pope tonight, they can win it on Wednesday by 1) beating Summit-Page; 2) Pope defeating MBA first, since that game is at 7:10, and the Summit-Franklin game is at 8:30; 3) both games end in ties.

Standings

Wednesday’s schedule

MTSN’s broadcast schedule for Wednesday will be announced in tomorrow’s newsletter.

A team (that we know of) that is having a Senior Night ceremony on that particular night is underlined.

Pope Prep-MLK-GCA vs. Montgomery Bell - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
Summit-Page vs. Franklin - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill vs. Ravenwood - 8:40 PM @ Centennial A
Centennial vs. Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin - 8:40 PM @ Antioch-North

Schedule update

Last Wednesday’s games that were postponed by the winter storm have been scheduled as follows:

Summit-Page vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb - Next Monday - 7:40 PM @ Centennial A

Tennessee Outlaws vs. Rutherford Rampage - January 31 - 7:30 PM @ Antioch-North (there were originally no games at all scheduled for that date)

Independence-Ravenwood 2 vs. Centennial - February 5 - 7 PM @ Centennial B

Montgomery Bell vs. Father Ryan - February 5 - 7:40 PM @ Centennial A

Podcasts

All MTSN game podcasts will be uploaded exclusively to YouTube this season. To subscribe to our YouTube channel, 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.