Tonight’s MTSN broadcast schedule

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb vs. USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture - 5:10 PM pregame, 5:15 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK
Brentwood vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA - 6:45 PM pregame, 6:50 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

Games being broadcast by MTSN are in BOLD.

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb (3-0-0) vs. USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture (2-0-1) - 5:15 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
It’s a battle of the two remaining unbeaten teams in Tier 2, both of whom haven’t been on the ice in game action since October 4. Ensworth have had a rip-roaring start to the season, scoring 20 goals and allowing just four in three games, all of those four coming in their recent 7-4 win over Independence-Ravenwood 2, after back-to-back shutouts of Hendersonville-Beech-Gallatin (6-0) and Station Camp-Liberty Creek (7-0) in the opening week. USN’s unbeaten start is easily the most impressive of the two: While Ensworth have easily the best offense in Tier 2, USN have managed to avoid losing a game while only having 10 or 11 skaters (not counting goalies) because of injuries and some off playing football. A come-from-behind 5-5 tie with Station Camp, followed by a tough 2-1 win over Indy, then staving off a Centennial comeback to take a 4-3 win with the winning goal coming just 37 seconds from the end, all have USN sitting in a good position for midseason promotion to Tier 1. But now, they face their toughest test so far this season. Ensworth have 16 skaters that have registered at least one point so far in just three games, and the Ice Tigers’ offense is fast-moving. Ben Schwarz will need to stand on his head to give USN a chance.

I’ll pick Ensworth to stay perfect.

Brentwood (1-3-0) vs. Pope Prep-MLK-GCA (2-3-0) - 6:50 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
After a three-game opening stretch, where, frankly, they got dominated (at least by Franklin and Ravenwood), and lost all three games, Brentwood got in the win column in a big way last Wednesday, with a stunning 7-0 win over Father Ryan where they completely crushed the Irish in every facet. Unfortunately, the Irish then got whipped 8-3 by Montgomery Bell on Friday, which means that Wednesday’s result says more about Ryan than it does about Brentwood. Still, that looked more like the Bruins we’re used to seeing: Totally relentless on offense and defense, especially on the latter, not giving the opposition an inch of ice. Clayton Ellsworth has integrated nicely with the Brentwood offense. Meanwhile, Pope snapped their own three-game skid in an emphatic manner, taking advantage of a Rampage team missing many of its travel players to defeat them 12-2 on Friday night. They did this despite having starting goalie Anthony Pellegrino being out of town on travel duties. Now, they get him back for what feels like a game that will be tough-as-nails, like the MBA-Pope game, or the MBA-Brentwood game; it will absolutely come down to goaltending. Pope have many young players, but they’re gelling pretty quickly.

I’ll say the Knights in a close one.

Franklin (4-0-0) vs. Montgomery Bell (5-0-0) - 7 PM @ Centennial B
Like Ensworth and USN, Franklin are finally returning to the ice, having last played on October 4. Since these two teams have already clinched spots in Tier 1 for the rest of the regular season, and Predators Cup berths for the postseason, thanks to MBA’s 2-1 win over Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill last Wednesday, this game is now firmly about the marathon that is the GNASH Cup race. A win for either team would give them a leg up on everyone else, especially MBA, who would improve to 6-0, with their first half finale against Ravenwood to come next Monday. The Admirals on course for maybe the best season in program history (as far as I know; I haven’t been around GNASH since it started in 1999, and going through Franklin’s past schedules dating back to to the 2007-08 season on the old GNASH website when it was hosted on Goalline, it seems it’s been a long time since they’ve been this good, if ever), and have already won one more game than they did all of last regular season. Thanks to only graduating three players (and only one of those - last year’s leading scorer Matt Yurjevich - being of consequence), many big-name returning players like Maclaine Butters and Quinn Lohse have been boosted by the production brought in by newcomer Hudson Richards (a senior, by the way, meaning that this’ll be his only GNASH season). It also helps that they finally have their own goaltenders instead of having to be loaned goalies from the Outlaws or Rampage via the goalie pool. Meanwhile, MBA have had their own steady march to perfection. After a tough 6-4 win over the Rampage to open the season, they’ve scratched out wins of 3-1, 4-1, and 2-1 over Pope, Brentwood, and Mt. Juliet, respectively, before their most comfortable win of the season so far, the 8-3 triumph over Father Ryan on Friday. Most of their offense has come from their top line of Lee Guy, Trace Graham, and Matthew Moore, but many others outside of that - particularly freshman Duke D’Alba - have begun contributing to the scoresheet. The Big Red will once again be without Ethan Moore, serving the third of his four-game suspension for a checking from behind match penalty against Brentwood.

Still, Franklin look like the more complete team at this point, so, I’ll pick them.

Station Camp-Liberty Creek (1-3-1) vs. Centennial (1-2-1) - 7:40 PM @ Centennial A
This is the first Tier 2 game this season with actual consequences at stake, as a Centennial win or the game ending in a tie means that Station Camp-Liberty Creek will become the first Tier 2 team to claim a spot in said tier for the second half of the regular season, and a Henry Hine Cup berth for the postseason. The Bison are coming off a dominant 8-1 over Indy last Wednesday. The victory was a long time coming, as they had gotten so close to beating USN on September 25 before Brody Wales scored the tie-forcing goal with seven seconds left. Outside of the blowouts they suffered at the hands of Ensworth and Summit-Page, the Bison actually have been better than they were last year (meaning I am taking back what I said about them in last Monday’s newsletter), as their 1-0 loss to a Hendersonville team that’s unbeaten in their last four attests to. Centennial, meanwhile, finally closed out a game last Wednesday, beat the Tennessee Outlaws 4-2. After making up a 3-0 deficit on USN, only to lose the game in the last minute, and taking a 4-3 lead over Hendersonville, only for them to score the tie-forcing goal in the last minute, the Cougars came back from 2-0 down on the Outlaws, and managed to hang on, getting an empty netter to confirm victory. The Cougars have a kind schedule this week, as after this game, they play Indy on Wednesday; they should win both games, giving themselves a shot at moving back into Tier 1 for the second half of the season.

I’m picking Centennial.

Father Ryan (2-2-0) vs. Rutherford Rampage (0-3-0) - 8:25 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
After opening the season with two impressive wins over Ravenwood and Pope, Father Ryan weren’t just pulled back to Earth, but smashed through it last week, with back-to-back losses of 7-0 and 8-3 to Brentwood and MBA, respectively. It was, frankly, quite shocking, as the Irish seemed to have everything put together, and looked like they’d be a contender. Now, it’s back to the drawing board, and they have a decent chance of ending the losing streak tonight before having to turn around and play Franklin on Wednesday. Poor Rutherford are coming off the blowout loss to Pope on Friday where they were missing 11 skaters because of injuries and travel, being forced to double-shift their skaters. What’s worse is, they do not have a single practice before the end of the first half, meaning they can’t get on the ice and work on what they’re doing wrong. Still, this could be a game for Rutherford to steal. The Irish’s defense has been very poor in the last two games, and Justin Dickinson got quite a few chances on Friday, scoring twice. As long as the Rampage’s goaltending and defense are good, they could swipe this game.

Still, I’m picking the Irish

Summit-Page (2-1-0) vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 (0-4-0) - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
This game also has consequences attached, as a Summit win or the game ending in a tie means that Indy will stay in Tier 2 when the second half of the regular season comes around, and qualify for the Henry Hine Cup. Summit are coming off a close loss to a Hendersonville team that’s found its footing in recent weeks. However, the Commandos do not play again until Wednesday of next week, meaning that Summit can go ahead of them in the standings (they play USN next Monday), and put Hendersonville in a must-win situation. Meanwhile, Indy are coming off the blowout loss to Station Camp that, honestly, baffles me. I know they’re a very young team, but they hadn’t exactly played poorly in their three previous games before last Wednesday. And it was actually a bigger blowout than the scoreboard showed, as the Bison had four times the number of shots on goal (48 to 12).

I have nothing more to add; I’ll pick Summit.

Standings

Wednesday’s schedule

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

Brentwood vs. Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill - 7:10 PM @ Centennial A
Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb vs. Tennessee Outlaws - 7:30 PM @ Antioch-North
Rutherford Rampage vs. Ravenwood - 8:15 PM @ Antioch-South
Franklin vs. Father Ryan - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Centennial vs. Independence-Ravenwood 2 - 8:40 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.

Sign up HERE to get GNASH games scores sent to your phone or email.

The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, October 24.