Report from Nashville: Game 6 and the Off-Season

Marie Meisel is a Nashville Predators season ticket holder and a guest contributor to Lisa's Lounge. Read along as she wraps up with the final Preds game this post season, and looks ahead to the summer...

by Marie Meisel

After the nail biter that was game 5, the Predators were welcomed Sunday May 8th by several hundred fans at the airport. It was great to see the guys smiling and enjoying their welcome home. http://video.predators.nhl.com/videocenter/


Monday was game night. Game 6, do or die time. We had our towels, we had our vocal cords and we had our passion for our team. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and the Predators Magical Playoff ride ended in a 2-1 loss. We stayed for the traditional handshake and saluted our team with one last “Let’s Go Predators”.

It was sad to see the season end. No more trips to the arena, no more comparing notes with fellow fans between periods, no more overpriced concession stand pizza. All that was left was a round of hugs and wishes for a good summer to the various members of my hockey family.

But this playoff run was a huge step for the team and for us as a fan base. The team finally got over the first round hump. They took the best team in the regular season to 6 games, five of which were 1 goal games. Pred Nation finally received a measure of respect from many fans around the league for our passion and knowledge.

The Canuck fans who posted on our message board were respectful and appreciated our online version of southern hospitality. And many Canadians got to see what many of us already knew, hockey is alive and well in this part of Dixie. How about calling Nashville a new traditional market? We’ve borrowed a few traditions from other teams and put our own twist on them. We took Detroit’s octopus and made it our own by using a catfish. We have used the rally towel that Vancouver started. And we have our chants and the well known TV timeout standing ovation which are uniquely ours.

Now it is off season for the citizens of Pred Nation. We will enjoy the warmer weather. Get around to all those things that got neglected during the season. Get reacquainted with non hockey loving family members. For myself, I am in the process of buying my first home. I will be doing some traveling. I will catch up on my professional reading by going through the pile of nursing journals on my bedroom floor. I will drop by Lisa’s Lounge periodically to add columns on road trips and playing fantasy hockey. And perhaps even read a non hockey related book or two.

I will be checking various message boards though perhaps not as frequently. I will follow the playoffs as they progress towards the awarding the Stanley Cup. Good luck to Lisa’s Canucks. I will get together with my friend Robin to watch the NHL Awards show to check out the players all cleaned up. And see if any our guys: David Poile, Barry Trotz, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne get an award.

Then the NHL Entry Draft in late June, though there is less excitement this year since we don’t have a first round pick. Wait to see what players are re-signed (especially our captain, Shea Weber) and who is let go. In July, there will be prospect camp. And as the calendar rolls around to August, training camp will start.

Until we meet again, in the words of Paul McCann our arena announcer...

Good night and good hockey!

Vancouver Canucks/Nashville Predators….so Much in Common!





By Lisa Ovens

I dub this series “The Series of Distinguished Acknowledgements”. Look at the potential hardware both teams are up for winning in June at the NHL awards…

The Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year (Alain Vigneault, Barry Trotz)

The Vezina Award for Goal Tender (Roberto Luongo and Pekka Rinne)

The Norris Award for best defender (Shea Weber and his fabulous playoff beard)

The Selke Award for Best defensive forward (Ryan Kesler)

The Hart Trophy for most Valuable Player (Daniel Sedin)

Now that’s a lot of acknowledgement! (Please note I only listed nominees from the teams in this series)

Little Engines that Could

On a more mental level…if there is one big similarity between these Semi Final opponents, is how they both finished their first rounds….on incredibly high notes! The Predators had to win Round One. There was no other way. After losing their way out of the playoffs via the first round during five other attempts, it meant the world to their resilient fans to finally get through to the right side of the Quarter Finals. Heck I remember when the Preds had a devil of a time trying to secure a playoff win on the road! So having that Game Six victory, and at home in front of their chant crazy fans, was the bomb.

On the other side of this series, the Vancouver Canucks, stuck in what felt like a never ending post- season tango with the Chicago Blackhawks, also had to win Round One just so they could say “we beat them…we finally beat the Hawks in the playoffs!”. There was no other way. It took until an overtime goal in Game Seven to pull it off., and it all went down in front of the hometown fans. Talk about a high note!

Now these two teams are facing each other after both exercising some Stanley Cup Playoff demons. But for these best of seven games, the Predators are in unchartered territory, and the Canucks, not so much: they now have to exercise another demon, getting to the winning side of round two. The Nucks haven’t done this since 1994.

Where's The Love?

Thanks to the two days of the local media billing this as a boring hockey series before a puck was even dropped, the Nucks and the Preds might not be feeling the love they deserve right now. If you saw game one on Thursday night, you would have noticed the empty seats at Rogers Arena. It was the game no one wanted to attend. Are the ticket prices too high, or are we just not a serious hockey town, populated by superficial people that demand confirmation this will be good hockey entertainment prior to committing any time, emotions or cash. All I can say “It’s Playoff Hockey people, what more do you really need?”

Anybody But the Canucks!!

So Canuck haters have quickly jumped onto the Preds bandwagon. May the Nashville Predators enjoy this new found popularity and may it make their first Semi Final appearance all the more special.

On my turf, it’s pretty clear the Canucks are not Canada’s team. Too many Canadian hockey fans dislike us out here on the left coast and can not bring themselves to cheer with us. Cyberspace is full of hate. Oh yeah, I’ve been walking through it, and much like avoiding dog poop on Yaletown sidewalks, I’m stepping aside the steaming piles around the cyber space hockey communities.

All of this hate, kind a makes it more fun!
Go Nucks!

Random Sports Talk in the Third Week of July...

by Lisa Ovens

To begin, I'd like to share a very pleasant email I received late last week. It made my day that day, and isn't it a sweet surprise to have something make your day? Consider this a reminder: during the dog days of summer, take some time to make someone's day; with a compliment, greet stranger with a smile and a hello, or let someone know you think what they are doing is great...

“Lisa and the staff at Hockey and High Heels have created a great atmosphere for women interested in hockey and hockey fans in general. I am a huge fan of what you guys are doing for the sport. Keep it up!” - Mike Turtur, Hockey Director, mysportsdreams.com

Thank you Mike!

I heart pools...

And now for the Random...

ESPY Awards

For the first time in my life I caught the ESPY Awards, and what a slick affair. Sure makes the televised NHL Awards Show look a little on the hokey side. To put it into Entourage terms: the ESPY's get Ari Gold and the NHL Awards got "E". That pretty much says it all right there.

I still will give some props to the NHL for honoring its stars with a 1.5 hour telecast every June, unlike the other big, pro sports leagues. The NHL just needs to tighten up it's production. With two more kicks at the can hosting the event in Las Vegas, the NHL really needs to get it right in order to bolster it's image in the United States market. Get the tape for review...and get Samuel L. Jackson...y'all know that mother ****** likes the hockey!!

Shaq Attacks other Athletes

Okay, not literally, but he's taking on some the biggest and brightest sports stars...on their turf, playing their game. Beginning August 18th, 2009, B-Ball star Shaquille O'Neal will compete against pro's from the NFL, MLB, Volley Ball, Tennis, Boxing and Swimming. Shaq Vs. will air on ABC. Mark your calendars to see just how much game Shaq's got.

Brush with Shaq...many moons ago, I saw Shaq buy a carry case for his camcorder. We passed each other in the store. He's tall and I am small, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't speak about a brush with me :o(

Roller Derby Movie

I am a big fan of Drew Barrymore, and she’s directed her first movie. The film is titled Whip It and it’s about Roller Derby. This sport has been around since the early 1900’s, but as of the year 2000, women are ruling the Oval.

The film stars Ellen Page, and according to the Women and Hollywood blog...”think Juno on skates and without the pregnancy.” The release date is October 9th, so we can expect some members of the male sports media to reduce the movie to whatever their sexual fantasies might be at the time.

On Air Feud in Vancouver Lights up the Message Boards

It was a typical Monday afternoon in Vancouver. Sports fans were tuned into the Team 1040 for the Pratt and Taylor Show. During Dave Pratt's High Five segment, Pratt spoke about and praised older athlete's competing against the almighty youth (Golf's Tom Watson at the British Open was mentioned, along with a 79 year old poker player, Doyle Brunson and others) and wound up saying winning a poker tournament is one of the toughest prizes in sports". Don Taylor really took exception to Pratt labeling poker a sport.

Their sentences ran into each other's, their voices became louder, sarcasm spewed, leading to a "fumbling sound" from the microphone and Pratt leaving the studio. (Time for a really long commercial break) a little while later, Pratt is back and finished the show without Don Taylor. Neither host showed up for work on Tuesday.

Can you hear that? That's the sound of diehard sports fans around cyberspace arguing about what is a sport and what is not, courtesy of the Pratt and Taylor feud. Some of the arguments are histerical, debating what some people perceive to be gray areas like race car driving, curling, hot dog eating, chess, video games and more!

And can you hear this? This is the sound of media savvy diehards claiming the whole fight was staged. Yes, just like everything seems to be these days...


Big Ben Roethlisberger

The Pittsburgh Steeler's quarterback has a little situation on his hands: he's been accused of sexually assaulting a Nevada hotel concierge employee. I am not going to get into any the legalities of this lawsuit, but I would like to remind all people staying in hotels, especially you guys, and only because this case is similar to the Kobe Bryant situation a few years back: If you have a problem with any of the amenities/ features in your room, you are supposed to call the front desk first, who will then send a maintainnance worker to your suite.

And if you are a woman working in a hotel, and a guest asks you to enter their suite to fix something and you are not a maintainance worker, politely decline and call the front desk to arrange a maintainance worker to fix the problem. Please save yourselves from suffering though potential situations like this, people...don't give the world any more news to gossip about than it already has.
End random.


thank you for reading...BTW, you are fabulous...look at you there...fabulous you!
- Lisa