Tonight’s MTSN broadcast

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb vs. Centennial-FRA - 5:10 PM pregame, 5:30 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

The game that MTSN will broadcast is in BOLD.

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb vs. Centennial-FRA - 5:30 PM @ Centennial B
The reigning Predators Cup champions bring back much of their title-winning core, including goaltenders Bingston Soundara and Reuben Allen, offensive talents Jax Dooner, Trex Hooper, Lucas Tarquine, and Spencer Kern, and defensive stalwart Hudson Honeybone, but they had more turnover than expected. They only lost two players to graduation - leading scorer (for the team and the league) Ben Sonkin, and Grant Ranck. However, two other key members of their offense also departed: Justin Nozko has transferred to Fairview for football, and JT Borland is has gotten a spot in Shattuck St. Mary’s prestigious program. Cam Fowler also appears to be focusing on football at Lipscomb this season. The Ice Tigers will be the only team with no seniors, as the two players who would’ve been their 12th graders, Will Brothers and Reese Avery, also departed during the offseason. Tim McAllister is back behind the bench for another season as head coach.

Drew Stratton returns to play his senior season in goal for Centennial after spending last season in Indianapolis playing for the Indy Elite’s U16 AAA team. It’s a big return for the Cougars, as they have some pretty good offensive players coming back, like Alex Aziminia, Brendan Mitchell, and Aiden Gardner. However, the loss of four players to graduation (Rhett Gordon, Aiden and Blake Knecht, and Cooper Davis), plus the seeming departure of Calvin Zacharias, who would’ve been a senior this season, left Centennial needing to fill the holes. However, they didn’t have enough players in the pipeline to fill them (again, the A-Game effect), so, they have formed a co-op with FRA, bringing Sean Advani, Carson Denning, and Cabell Cunningham into the squad. I think this Centennial team could finish in the Top 8. But, they have the biggest senior class in the league this season, with ten. Eight of those players are Centennial kids (Advani and Cunningham are the two FRA seniors). This means that 2024-25 could be the last season for Centennial to have a shot at glory for a long time. Connor McKenzie returns for his third season as head coach.

It’s a promising goaltending showdown between Soundara and Stratton, but I tilt the offense in Ensworth’s direction.

Pick: Ensworth.

Summit-Page vs. Rutherford Rampage - 5:40 PM @ Centennial A
The Spartans will be looking to bounce back from the tough manner in which their 2023-24 season ended, going two-and-out as the Predators Cup 1 seed, the earliest exit ever for a Preds Cup 1 seed in any format since GNASH took over the tournament during the 2010-11 season. Their graduating class from last season was pretty strong, especially James Gilmartin and Cam White (also getting their diplomas were Daniel Lawrence, Preston Hart, and Gavin Smith). Still, they bring back quite a bit of firepower, such as Zach Ellis (now a senior), Aiden Meyer, Aiden Garner, Hudson Halters, and Hunter Haley, just to name a few. Goaltenders Seth Wagner and Brady Tessier also return. Greg Sauers is once again head coach. Another great season looks to be in order, but the Spartans will definitely hope to rewrite last season’s final chapter.

The reigning Henry Hine Cup champions begin the post-Justin Dickinson era. In addition to Dickinson, they also saw Carson Brownlow, Colin and Carter Burnette-Vice, Jackson Felts, Kaya Plante, Abby Ricalday, and Taz Takayama take the cap-and-gown walk. And, as soon as he showed up, Alec Dawes, the goaltender the Rampage picked up for the second half of the regular season, going 6-1, picking up the Hine Cup 1 seed, and then having him in goal for all four of their Hine Cup games, seems to be just concentrating on play with the Jr. Preds this season. Tucker Wilhelm, one of the team’s five seniors this season, should be the one leading the offense now, with help from the likes of Kelvin McClendon and William Haynes. Nick Hansen and Brennen Tellez should lead the defense, and Jackson Wilson will likely go back to being the #1 goaltender after having bad luck with injuries. Mike Jones remains as head coach.

I think the depth battle in this game leans to Summit.

Pick: Summit

Father Ryan vs. JPII-MLK - 7 PM @ Centennial B
The Irish have a very young team this season, with ten freshmen, and only three seniors (Parker Causey, Chapman Smith, and Colin Sullivan, who will likely be called to lead the offense). Had Jack Halloran opted to not focus on just baseball this season, they would’ve had four. Last year saw the Irish say goodbye to leading scorers Colton Edwards and Austin Hester, along with top defenseman Jacob Boron, second line leader Harper Howard, Carter Middleton, and Jack Sudderth. There is great news for the Irish, though: They have their own goalies this season. And one of them is Zach Fonnesbeck. That’s right, after playing for the Irish last season on loan from the Tennessee Outlaws, Fonnesbeck is now a Father Ryan student. Freshman Theodore Kapynec will be the backup. Unfortunately, because this Irish team is so young, I’m not sure if they’ll take advantage of Fonnesbeck’s great goaltending to steal games as much this season. Kyle Dora is back for his second season behind the bench.

The Knights’ had a senior class of only four last season, but they were all pretty good players: Jack Davis, Erik Kihlberg, Jacob Sullivan, and Nick Gentile. They had a good team, but inconsistency kept them from being great. The good news is that the likes of Clayton Roach, Nick Pellegrino, David Bavas, Joe Hiller, and Nick Hollis are back (Pellegrino and Hollis are among the seniors, along with Coleman Glidewell, who couldn’t take part in the Senior Game on August 26 due to injury). The [very] bad news is that star goaltender Anthony Pellegrino has moved to Massachusetts, and has enrolled in the Boston Hockey Academy. This means that both of their goalies are from the pool: Matthew Simmons, and last year’s backup Jacob Benoit. They’re also seniors, meaning that Justin Clark - back for his eighth season in charge - will be looking for new players for the blue paint once this season ends.

The Knights are more experienced, but I’m not sure about the goaltending.

Pick: Father Ryan

Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian vs. Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
GNASH’s Frankenstein’s Monster of a supplemental team swaps FRA for Independence for this season. Both Independence-Ravenwood 2 and USN-BA-Nashville Christian-FRA-Goodpasture had small graduating classes (Indy only lost Jax Greyson and Torrin Kemble, while USN only lost Drake Hughes, Ryan Barrett, Nick Venable, and Mitchell Proffitt), but neither had enough players to field a team this season, so, they have combined resources, and put together what I think is a pretty solid group. One player who won’t be a part of it is goalie Ben Schwarz, who has moved to Connecticut to enroll in The Frederick Gunn School for soccer. Trent Pavlik and Catcher Greyson will be the goalies, and they are among seven seniors on the roster (the other three from Indy are Jonas Martorell, Jackson McCoy, and Landric Mayeski, while Barrett Teasdale is the lone BA senior, and Vasili Santas - once he gets back from football - is the only Nashville Christian senior). So, once this season ends, Indy might be looking to keep this arrangement going. Add in Brody Wales, Jayden Charnparnichkarn, Bryce Akright, and Joey Fried, and you’ve got the makings of a team that’ll hopefully be much better than last year. Ethan Burau will be the head coach.

After having representation on the Outlaws last season, James Lawson High School (a second-year Metro Nashville high school built to replace Hillwood) joins up with Hendersonville and Beech (if only Jacob Schenk hadn’t graduated last year). It’s quite a surprise, considering the fact that Gallatin is in Sumner County, but two of the three Gallatin players didn’t come back for this season (Patrick Sullivan is just not playing, while Gage Salamy, who began last season as a junior, earned enough credits to graduate, and has enrolled in Bethel University in McKenzie, where he’ll play roller hockey); only Carter Morrison is back for his final go. The other seniors this year will be Colin Smith, Kaden Smith, and Dom Harpole, the one remaining Merrol Hyde player on the team (Sullivan would make it five seniors if he were playing this season). The Commandos last year said goodbye to Justin Schaefer, Jared Shirden, Jackson Brodrick, Nate Luke, and Harper Dienna. But, in addition to the seniors, they’re bringing back Merrick Mott, Gideon Drobnick, and Landon Croft, just to name a few. The Commando haven’t played in the Predators Cup since 2020; this could be the year they finally get back. Stephen Sullivan will be the head coach once again.

This game is closer on paper than it looks, but I’m not afraid to pick a winner here.

Pick: Hendersonville

Montgomery County Rangers vs. Brentwood - 8:30 PM @ Bellevue-Crisp
GNASH’s first brand-new team in a long time brings some new players into the fold. The Montgomery County-based players who played for the Outlaws last year and didn’t graduate have shifted to this team (Cam Wells, Owen Roder, and Andy Lietz, along with Caleb Martin, who was on the Outlaws’ JV team that won the JV league title). Riley Barnes, an Outlaws player who backed up Zach Fonnesbeck in the crease at Father Ryan last year, is one of the team’s two goalies. In a crazy twist, the second is from the Outlaws, as the Rangers somehow couldn’t find a second goalie of their own. That goalie is Dickson County junior Thomas Redden. Not including Redden, the Rangers will only have 16 players on the varsity team, so, it will be a season of learning, I think. They’ll play just two games at Ford Ice Center in Clarksville (Wednesday against MBA, and December 4 against Hendersonville), and travel to Davidson County for the others. Josh Tobin will be the head coach; he, like the team, is new to GNASH.

It’s been over eight months since the Bruins lost to the Rampage in the Hine Cup Final, and it’s still a weird thing to process. Brentwood had their worst season in years last year, as consecutive large graduating classes caught up with them (along with the A-Game effect). The Bruins had to say goodbye to Aidan Pustizzi, Owen Seeley, Graham Engelhardt, Ty Essenmacher, Hill Houston, and Trey Wilkins. Unfortunately, the Bruins will be without Clayton Ellsworth, who made a big impact on the team’s offense last season after coming over from the Outlaws. He would’ve been a senior. Brentwood will once again have a big senior class, with seven (Isabella Quigley, Callahan and Payne Fielder, Jack Schultz, Zane Cesarone, Caden Wernick, and newcomer John Nance). Aside from six of those seniors, other key returnees include Jonny Kelso and Brody Bohman. Surprisingly, Payne Fielder will not play in goal; instead, he will be a defenseman. Backing up Andrew Sallee will be a pool goalie, Goodpasture sophomore Collier Owen, who comes from Indy-BA-USN-NCS. Could this be a bounce-back year for Brentwood? I don’t think it will be, sadly. Chris Orem returns for his 14th season in charge, making him GNASH’s longest-tenured head coach.

Brentwood have more experience, obviously.

Pick: Brentwood

Wednesday’s schedule

The game that MTSN will broadcast is in BOLD.

Station Camp-Liberty Creek vs. Centennial-FRA - 5:10 PM @ Centennial A
Brentwood vs. Ravenwood - 6:40 PM @ Centennial A
Montgomery Bell vs. Montgomery County Rangers - 7:30 PM @ Ford Clarksville
Tennessee Outlaws vs. Franklin - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B

Thursday’s game

Station Camp-Liberty Creek vs. Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill - 8:30 PM @ Antioch-North

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The next newsletter comes out tomorrow, September 17.