Tonight’s broadcast schedule

Franklin vs. Ravenwood - 6:55 PM pregame, 7 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK
Summit-Page vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA - 8:25 PM pregame, 8:30 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

Games that are being broadcast by MTSN are in BOLD.

For the six Tier 1 teams who can still win the GNASH Cup, two records appear: their second half record, and their GNASH Cup record.

Brentwood (0-1-0) vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 (0-1-0) - 5:15 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
These two teams meet for the first time in over 13 months, when Brentwood beat the Eagles 5-3 in their only meeting of the 2022-23 season on October 19 of last year. If anyone thought they’d meet this year, it would be as Tier 1 teams, with Indy having moved up. But here we are, and the reality is, they’re meeting as Tier 2 teams. There’s really no fierceness in this matchup; the Bruins don’t see Indy as a rival like they do Ravenwood or Centennial. Both teams are coming off second half opening losses: Indy to Rutherford (2-0), and Brentwood to USN (5-1). Catcher Greyson’s great work in the crease was the big reason that the Rampage didn’t crush the Eagles, while Ben Schwarz’s play in net was the big reason Brentwood got crushed by USN. On paper, Brentwood SHOULD win this game. They have way more depth than the Eagles do. Whether they actually will is another story. I have harped on the Bruins’ inability to score this season a lot, but it is THE glaring flaw for them. Aidan Pustizzi, Clayton Ellsworth, Jack Schultz, Trey Wilkins, and Zane Cesarone have all show flashes of being able to help lead the Bruins, but against good goaltenders, they have been stifled, and there seems to be no end in sight for them. Right when it looks like they get over the hump (beating Father Ryan 7-0), they get yanked back, not down to Earth, but, through the ground into its core (losing 4-0 to Pope Prep-MLK-GCA five days later). And Greyson is another goaltender who could frustrate the Bruins’ top guns. And laying in wait to make them pay for lack of scoring are Landric Mayeski and Torrin Kemble. Those two are scary in tandem. They were the reason that Indy were able to make up the 7-3 deficit on Centennial back on October 25 to get a 7-7 tie out of it. If Brentwood can’t score and those two get going, look out!

I’m picking Brentwood to win, but Indy winning would not at all shock me at this point.

Centennial (2-0-0) vs. USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture (1-1-0) - 6:45 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
This is an intriguing rematch. On October 4, USN jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the Cougars, which Centennial completely made up, tying the game at 3-3, before Ryan Barrett scored the game-winner with 37 seconds left. Centennial have started the second half well, with wins over Station Camp-Liberty Creek and the Tennessee Outlaws. It looks as if they’ll be relying on David Busby in goal for most of the second half, which means that they have a great shot at being the Hine Cup’s 1 seed. USN have had an OK start to the second half, opening with a close loss to the Outlaws, followed by the big win over Brentwood. This is going to come down to goaltending like the first matchup. Centennial will absolutely need to get to Ben Schwarz early (that is, if USN don’t decide to let Mattilda Cox have a go in net), then make sure Busby shuts down Barrett, Barrett Teasdale, Jayden Charnparnichkarn, Nick Venable, and Brody Wales to keep the Cougars on top. One big factor from the October 4 game was Centennial not having Rhett Gordon, as he was suspended, meaning the Cougars missed his physical presence. This is the beginning of a busy period for USN, as they will be playing four games over the course of these two weeks; as they’ve already played two games, that means that they will only have one game left in the regular season once the holiday break comes around, and they probably won’t play it until late January, as the league would almost certainly not want them to be sitting on the sidelines for multiple weeks before the playoffs.

I think Centennial get revenge in this one.

Franklin (1-0-0; 7-0-1) vs. Ravenwood (0-1-0; 3-5-0) - 7 PM @ Centennial B
On January 26, in the final game of the 2022-23 regular season, Ravenwood defeated the Rutherford Rampage 6-2 to win the GNASH Cup as regular season champions. That was ten months ago yesterday. If Franklin defeat them tonight, their GNASH Cup defense is over. Yep, you read that right: If the Admirals defeat Ravenwood tonight, the Raptors will be out of the GNASH Cup race with well over a month still to play in this regular season (Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill would also be eliminated, but, they’ve been hanging on by a thread for the last couple of weeks). And it is very likely; the Admirals absolutely smashed Ravenwood 7-3 on October 2. They were fast and physical, and merciless in end-to-end play. They had Ravenwood swapping goalies (Brady Miller for Colin Gower) in-between the second and third periods. They’ve kept up their great play in the nearly two months since that meeting. Ravenwood, meanwhile, have stayed inconsistent. The October 2 loss kicked off a three-game losing streak (it was followed up by a shocking 5-1 defeat against Rutherford on October 25, and a 5-2 loss to Montgomery Bell on October 30). They managed to beat Pope and Mt. Juliet to just barely avoid taking the drop to Tier 2, then opened the second half on November 15 with a 7-4 loss to an Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb team that looks similar to Franklin. The Admirals are coming off of a 5-0 win over Father Ryan on the same night. It wasn’t comfortable until late in the second, when they got two goals in 2:30 to have a 3-0 lead at the second break, but, that was because of Zach Fonnesbeck standing on his head in goal for the Irish. The Admirals look like they’re getting better as the season goes on. And that should terrify everyone else in Tier 1. Except maybe Ensworth.

I’m saying Franklin win, and knock the Raptors off the regular season throne.

Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin (1-0-0) vs. Rutherford Rampage (1-0-0) - 7:40 PM @ Centennial A
The Commandos come into this game on a four-game winning streak, and a seven-game unbeaten streak. The former streak dates back to October 18, and the latter back to October 9. They opened their second half schedule with a 7-5 win over Station Camp on November 13. The Rampage, as previously mentioned, kicked off the second half with a 2-0 win over Indy on the same night. This game could see the end of the winning streak for Hendersonville. The Rampage have some pretty decent forwards. Justin Dickinson leads them, of course, but they also have Eddie Maze, Tucker Wilhelm, and you can even throw in the likes of Carson Brownlow. This might be the best team Hendersonville has played since Ensworth on the first night of the season, September 25. It will be interesting to see how the Commandos’ leading scorers, Colin Smith, Gideon Drobnick, and Merrick Mott, match up with RuCo’s best.

I’m picking the Rampage to end the Commandos’ streak.

Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill (0-1-1; 2-5-2) vs. Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb (1-0-1) - 8:25 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
It’s been a strange start to the second half for the Bears: an ugly 11-7 loss to Summit-Page was followed up by a 3-3 tie with MBA where the Big Red were the ones coming from behind. Now, they have to face an Ensworth team that, as mentioned, looks similar to a Franklin team that beat the Bears 6-0 on September 27. It’s safe to say that MJ will have their work cut out for them. The Ice Tigers are as good as advertised, opening the second half with a 2-2 tie against MBA, then clobbering a stagnant Ravenwood 7-4 two nights later. The Bears are going to have to figure out how to shut down Ben Sonkin, Justin Nozko, JT Borland, Spencer Kern, and Hudson Honeybone. I don’t see it happening.

I’m picking Ensworth.

Summit-Page (1-0-0) vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA (0-1-0; 3-5-0) - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
If Franklin beat Ravenwood, the Raptors and Mt. Juliet will be out of GNASH Cup contention. But there is another team whose (fading) hopes of being regular season champions might also turn to dust tonight if that happens: Pope. The Knights cannot lose to Summit if Franklin beat Ravenwood, because, then, they would also get the axe in the race for the regular season championship. Pope are coming off of a gut-punching 7-6 loss to Father Ryan on November 13, where the defense was the aspect that let them down the most. They have to go up against a Summit team that beat Mt. Juliet 11-7 that same night, and have a lot of scorers themselves: Hunter Haley, James Gilmartin, Aiden Garner, Zach Ellis, just to name a few. The Knights’ defense will absolutely have to be on their toes, because they cannot suffer another repeat of the Ryan rematch. Meanwhile, the Spartans’ goalie, whether it’s Seth Wagner or Brady Tessier, will have to be ready to face Erik Kihlberg, Joe Hiller, Clayton Roach, and Nick Gentile.

I think the Knights bounce back in this one.

Standings

Wednesday’s schedule

The game that is being broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

Ravenwood vs. Father Ryan - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
Station Camp-Liberty Creek vs. USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture - 7:30 PM @ Antioch-North
Montgomery Bell vs. Franklin - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Tennessee Outlaws vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 - 8:40 PM @ Centennial A
Rutherford Rampage vs. Centennial - 9:15 PM @ Antioch-North

Podcasts

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The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, November 28.