Tonight’s broadcast schedule

Father Ryan vs. Franklin - 8:35 PM pregame, 8:40 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

Game that is being broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

Four of the six Tier 1 teams that can win the GNASH Cup will have two records posted: their second half record, and their GNASH Cup record. As this is the first game of the second half for both Franklin and Ravenwood, only their second half record is posted in today’s newsletter. Two records will be posted for them in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Centennial (1-0-0) vs. Tennessee Outlaws (1-0-0) - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
Both teams started their second half campaigns victorious: the Cougars beat Station Camp-Liberty Creek 6-2 last Wednesday, and the Outlaws beat USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture 3-2 on Monday. I am once again wondering if Kade Henderson will get the nod in goal tonight. Putting David Busby in the crease against the Bison last week was an interesting call to me; are Centennial actually chasing the 1 seed this time? Keep in mind that their game started 15 minutes after the Ravenwood-MJ game got underway in Antioch, so, they had no way of knowing who would be coming down to Tier 2 with Rutherford until their game was over. These two teams met on October 18, and the Cougars won 4-2, erasing a 2-0 first period lead for Tennessee.

I’m picking the Outlaws, because I believe Kade Henderson will start in net tonight for Centennial.

USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture (0-1-0) vs. Brentwood (0-0-0) - 7:30 PM @ Antioch-North
Brentwood (2-4-1 in the first half in Tier 1; relegated due to having a lower goal differential than Mt. Juliet) begin life on the other side as a Tier 2 team. I know. I still can’t believe this is happening, either. The Bruins should absolutely have the best roster in Tier 2. I think, though, they’re somewhat akin to Centennial; they have some goalscorers (Clayton Ellsworth, Aidan Pustizzi, Jack Schultz, and to an extent, Zane Cesarone, Callahan Fielder, and Trey Wilkins; compare that to Aiden Knecht, Calvin Zacharias, Brendan Mitchell, and to an extent, Rhett Gordon, Alex Aziminia, and Cooper Davis for the Cougars). I don’t, however, think that they’ll tear through everyone in the tier as predicted; their scoring woes won’t magically disappear just because their competition is “lesser". Take their opponent for tonight, for example. It would not surprise me if Ethan Burau put Ben Schwarz in net just to tell Brentwood that it won’t be as easy as everyone says it will. And the Bruins got frustrated by a number of goalies in the first half: Franklin’s Grayson Butters, Ravenwood’s Brady Miller, Montgomery Bell’s Hunter Wieck, and Pope Prep-MLK-GCA’s Anthony Pellegrino. Schwarz has the ability to do the same. And, like the previously mentioned opponents, USN have players who can take advantage of any good play Schwarz has in net: Ryan Barrett, Barrett Teasdale (who played for Brentwood as a freshman in the 2021-22 season), and Jayden Charnparnichkarn, just to name a few. So, no, I don’t think it will be a total walk in the park for Brentwood in Tier 2. USN are coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Outlaws on Monday night.

I’ll pick USN to win this one.

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill (0-1-0; 2-5-1) vs. Montgomery Bell (0-0-1; 6-0-2) - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
We’ve only just started the second half of the regular season, and yet, one of the six remaining GNASH Cup hopefuls (though, they’re not much of a hopeful, considering their odds were the lowest of the bunch) could officially be eliminated from contention for the regular season championship tonight. If MBA win, then Mt. Juliet are out of the GNASH Cup race with at least two months left in the regular season. That’s pretty crazy that the number of hopefuls could drop from six to five so quickly. The Bears are coming off a ego-smashing 11-7 loss to Summit-Page on Monday night, where the Spartans jumped out to a 4-0 lead near the halfway point of the first before the Bears fought back. Again, it’s a head-scratching result, because, despite their lack of scoring, MJ have been pretty good at not allowing too many goals. They only allowed 17 in the first half of the regular season, then in one game, gave up nearly two-thirds of that. And now, they have to face an MBA team that beat them 2-1 last month on October 18. An MBA team that is coming off being dominated by Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb, but managing to get a tie out of it because of Hunter Wieck’s amazing play in net. The thing for me is, both of these teams are set up similarly in terms of offense; they both have a great top line (Antar-Slocum-Triplett for MJ; Guy-Graham-M. Moore for MBA), and a couple of reliable scorers outside of the top line (Bobby Kamos and Anthony Giampaolo for Mt. Juliet; Duke D’Alba and Ethan Moore for MBA). Goaltending is the difference for me. Hunter Wieck might be the best goalie in the league. I think results for the Big Red would be VERY different this season without him; they know it, too.

I’ll pick MBA to complete the season sweep.

Father Ryan (1-0-0; 4-4-0) vs. Franklin (0-0-0) - 8:40 PM @ Centennial A
The Fighting Irish are coming off of a big 7-6 win over rivals Pope Prep-MLK-GCA on Monday night. Now, they face a Franklin team (6-0-1 in the first half) opening the second half, and looking to begin their march to the GNASH Cup and the Predators Cup 1 seed. The Admirals won the first meeting between the two 3-0 on October 25. Zach Fonnesbeck didn’t make it easy for Franklin, though. The Admirals scored the first goal early in the first, then didn’t score again until early in the third. The stingy Franklin defense only allowed nine shots on goal in contrast. They’ll need a repeat performance, especially against the top line of Hester-Edwards-Sullivan.

I think it’ll happen. I’m picking Franklin.

Ravenwood (0-0-0) vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb (0-0-1) - 9:15 PM @ Antioch-South
I don’t think we have truly explored how close Ravenwood (3-4-0 in the first half) came to being relegated. If they had lost to Mt. Juliet last Wednesday, they would’ve taken the drop and not Brentwood. In fact, you can make a case for any of the four teams not named Franklin or MBA dropping after the first half. If Father Ryan don’t catch a Rutherford team without its top goalie; if Anthony Pellegrino doesn’t stand on his head against the Bruins in Pope’s case. Now, the Raptors open the second half against an Ensworth team with more depth than them. If Ravenwood aren’t careful, this could be a repeat of the Franklin game: Tons of fast skaters buzzing around them, being physical, not afraid to shoot the puck. Ensworth were a spectacle on Monday against MBA, and they didn’t force shots, either. They were very patient with the puck. They were also incredible to watch in 50-50 puck battles. Numerous times, an Ice Tiger defender beat Lee Guy or Trace Graham to a loose puck inside the Ensworth zone.

I’m picking Ensworth here.

Standings

Monday’s final scores

Games that were broadcast by MTSN are in BOLD.

Father Ryan 7, Pope Prep-MLK-GCA 6 PODCAST LINK
Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb 2, Montgomery Bell 2 PODCAST LINK
Summit-Page 11, Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill 7
Tennessee Outlaws 3, USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture 2
Rutherford Rampage 2, Independence-Ravenwood 2 0
Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin 7, Station Camp-Liberty Creek 5

Podcasts

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The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, November 16.