MTSN GNASH Newsletter for September 18, 2024

Middle Tennessee Sports Network
September 18, 2024

Tonight’s MTSN broadcast

Brentwood vs. Ravenwood - 6:30 PM pregame, 6:40 PM faceoff BROADCAST LINK

Previewing tonight’s games

The game that MTSN is broadcasting is in BOLD. If a team doesn’t have a record next to their name, it means that this is their first game of the season.

Station Camp-Liberty Creek vs. Centennial-FRA (0-1-0) - 5:10 PM @ Centennial A
The Bison, as far as I’m aware, were the only team to make a coaching change this offseason, with Joe Siciliano being replaced by Keith Grooms. This is Grooms’s first coaching job in GNASH in a decade. He previously coached the old Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central co-op to a Henry Hine Cup in 2014, but was dismissed midway through the 2014-15 season, and his replacement, Gary Guay, led the Golden Bears to a repeat. (That’s some ancient GNASH history, as it was the first year of Ford-Antioch’s existence.) The Bison only lost three players to graduation last season: Reese McCormick, Connor Jenne, and Sam Wiseman. However, some notable names that didn’t graduate and aren’t on this year’s roster include Braydon Croxford, Tommy Siciliano, Riley Hunter, and Austin Givens. Those are some pretty big names that are missing. Joey Siciliano and Jadon Robertson lead this year’s senior class (the other five are Mac Miles, Keaton Howard, Mason Campbell, Dylan Karandjeff, and Aiden Kramer). Toby Mehaffy, McClain Gregory, and Mikey Baranayay should lead the non-seniors. I’m thinking this Bison team should be better than last season’s. We’ll see.

David Busby was great for the Cougars for about the first 25:30 of their 6-0 loss to Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb on Monday night, but then the Ice Tigers figured him out (to be fair, though, two of those goals were tip-ins, and another went in off a Cougars stick). The rest of his team…wasn’t. Now, to be fair to them, Bingston Soundara was his usual excellent self, but 15 shots (I actually thought they were shorted a couple) won’t get it done against a team like Ensworth unless some of them go in. The good news is, I think the Cougars will score some goals tonight.

Pick: Centennial

Brentwood (1-0-0) vs. Ravenwood - 6:40 PM @ Centennial A
The Bruins got off to a nice start on Monday, with a 5-2 win over Montgomery County. But, GNASH experience had to have been a factor. With the exception of some players who were previously members of the Tennessee Outlaws, none of the Rangers had played in the league before. This game will likely determine how far Brentwood can reach up the latter.

The Raptors fell short of a Preds Cup three-peat back in March. Their senior class last year (Will Gallagher, Jack Ready, Bennett Nichols, and Brady Miller) didn’t see them lose any big names, but this year’s? Hoo boy! Cooper Hill, Liam Powell, Owen Appel, Jake Lapinsky, and Zeke Landkammer will be the ones departing after this season (it would be six if Lucas Bradey were on the team this season; not sure what’s going on there). Jake Farrell is also back for his junior year, and most of the promising young players from last year are back, too: Both Friedman brothers (junior Brady and sophomore Cooper), Keaton Moffitt, and goaltender Colin Gower. One of last year’s star freshmen, Oliver Lutz, has moved to Upstate New York, and is playing in the Rochester Coalition program. I think this Ravenwood team should be considered the Predators Cup favorites. James Gately, who was hired to replace Mike Driscoll last November, returns for his first full season as head coach. (Quick note: None of the three players Ravenwood loaned to Independence last season as part of the co-op aren’t on the varsity roster; Rishi Patel transferred to Ensworth for lacrosse as it becomes a TSSAA sport this spring, and Colin Ramsour and Ian Murray look to be focusing on football; the fourth player, goaltender Kade Henderson, who was sent to Centennial to be their backup, graduated.)

This is the second straight year these two teams have met on the second night of the regular season, but then they didn’t play each other again, thanks to Brentwood’s midseason relegation to Tier 2, and Hine Cup qualification. Will that be the case again this season?

Pick: Ravenwood

Montgomery Bell vs. Montgomery County Rangers (0-1-0) - 7:30 PM @ Ford Clarksville
This will be the first official GNASH game to take place at a rink outside of Davidson County since February 3, 2016, when games were held at A-Game Sportsplex in Cool Springs for the last time, which was unexpected, but the battle between the facility’s owners and the hockey programs that used it got ugly, and the locks to the building were changed overnight after those GNASH games. Since the battle looked to be going on for a while (it lasted a week), GNASH moved any games that were scheduled at A-Game to Antioch or Centennial. The league is slowly starting to feel the effects of that, obviously.

Ford Clarksville will become the sixth venue to host an official GNASH game, joining A-Game, Centennial, Fords Antioch and Bellevue, and Bridgestone Arena. A GNASH jamboree was held in Clarksville two days before the first day of the regular season last year, but jamboree games are not official contests.

The GNASH Cup holders Big Red begin the post-Lee Guy era. Their leading scorer of the last two seasons got his diploma, and so did Graeme Rutter and Brandon Fremgen. The good news is, the other two-thirds of that top line, Trace Graham and Matthew Moore are back, and they’re only juniors. Other younger players from last year returning include Duke D’Alba, James Lehrman, Abe Lasher, Andrew Frech, and Hunter Musser. MBA’s senior class is five members strong (it would be seven if Caleb Kirkland and Eli Stark had come back): Hunter Wieck, Michael Dattilo, Edwin Bass, Emmett Casteel, and Aiden Becker. I think this MBA team will be even better than last year’s. JP Dumont returns for his fifth season as head coach.

I’ll say this for the Rangers: At least they scored a goal the other night (two!). Centennial couldn’t even manage that. Still, it looks like this will be a season of learning.

Pick: MBA

Tennessee Outlaws vs. Franklin - 8:30 PM @ Centennial B
Longtime Outlaws board rep Tom Spychalski told me last season that he thought adding a Montgomery County supplemental team might kill off the Outlaws once and for all. I knew he had nothing to worry about, because as long as there are schools that can’t form their own teams, there will be a need for the Outlaws (although, he will have something to worry about if anymore Frankenstein’s Monster supplemental teams like Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian keep popping up in the future). Anyway, the Outlaws had quite a bit of turnover this offseason, from losing four seniors to graduation (Jacob Schenk, Michael Petak, Blake Rhodehamel, and Brennan Lorinc), and also seeing their leftover Montgomery County players become members of the Rangers. Still, the Outlaws are bringing back some pretty decent players, chief among them Josh Kuehn, but also AJ Molloy, Clive Keeler, James Daniel, and Logan Wood. Goaltenders Justin Iannuccilli and Dawson Reynolds are also back. The senior class doesn’t look half-bad, either: Molloy is one of them, but also you have Elijah Freeman, Aiden Kemp, Jack Restey, Nico Pulley, Gabriel Hill, and most of all, Dalton Alejandro. This is an Outlaws team that could hang in the midpack. Chris Deming returns for his second season as head coach.

Franklin were GNASH’s nearly team last season. They were heading right for the GNASH Cup, until a three-game losing streak right at the end of the regular season derailed those hopes. Their Preds Cup campaign was no better, starting with a first round loss to MBA, surviving the axe against 1 seed Summit-Page and then Father Ryan, before being knocked out by a Ravenwood team they swept during the regular season. Franklin had a big senior class last season; nine players strong: Quinn Lohse, Cole Poynor, Gavin Akers, Maclaine Butters, Brandon Mills, Grant Hays, Owen McGroarty, Cael Lewis, and Hudson Richards. Nearly all of them were big-time scorers. Quinn Lohse’s younger brother, Hudson, not a senior last year, isn’t returning to the team, either, another blow to the Admirals. Michael Mannion, who would’ve been a senior this season, didn’t come back, either. This Franklin team goes from very experienced to kinda young, with only four seniors (Chad Janson, Kasper Thuresson, Sheng Morton-Cox, and Brodie Marchy), and mostly juniors and sophomores. Notable returnees who aren’t Janson and Thuresson include Hank Hayes, Will McCormick, and Josh Yurjevich. Goaltender Grayson Butters is also back. I don’t think this Franklin team will be as good as last season’s, but they’ll be near the top. Todd Grosse is once again head coach.

Pick: Franklin

Standings

Summit-Page 1-0-0, 9 GF, 1 GA +8 GD
Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb 1-0-0, 6 GF, 0 GA, +6 GD
Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson 1-0-0, 6 GF, 1 GA, +5 GD
Brentwood 1-0-0, 5 GF, 2 GA, +3 GD
JPII-MLK 1-0-0, 3 GF, 2 GA, +1 GD
Franklin 0-0-0
Montgomery Bell 0-0-0
Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central-Green Hill 0-0-0
Ravenwood 0-0-0
Station Camp-Liberty Creek 0-0-0
Tennessee Outlaws 0-0-0
Father Ryan 0-1-0, 2 GF, 3 GA -1 GD
Montgomery County Rangers 0-1-0, 2 GF, 5 GA, -3 GD
Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian 0-1-0, 1 GF, 6 GA, -5 GD
Centennial-FRA 0-1-0, 0 GF, 6 GA, -6 GD
Rutherford Rampage 0-1-0, 1 GF, 9 GA, -8 GD

Tomorrow’s game

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

Monday’s final scores

The game that was broadcast by MTSN is in BOLD.

Ensworth-Nolensville-Lipscomb 6, Centennial-FRA 0 PODCAST LINK
Summit-Page 9, Rutherford Rampage 1
JPII-MLK 3, Father Ryan 2
Hendersonville-Beech-Lawson 6, Independence-BA-USN-Nashville Christian 1
Brentwood 5, Montgomery County Rangers 2

Podcasts

As we did last year, game podcasts are being exclusively uploaded to our YouTube channel for this season. To subscribe so you don’t miss out, 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.