Report from Nashville: A Hockey Franchise Grows Up

By Marie Miesel

Let’s rewind 72 hours. It’s Easter Sunday in the buckle of the Bible belt. A day usually spent at church and with family. But this Easter was also a high holy hockey day. Game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. After a dramatic Good Friday OT win, the Preds came home with a 3-2 series lead. A chance to win a playoff series for the first time in 6 tries. Having exorcised the ghost of last season’s Game 5 meltdown in Chicago, we were ready to watch hopefully a handshake on our home ice where we were the winning team. Such dread and such hope mixed together. The crowd was large for the pregame warm-ups. Questions loomed. Could we contain the Finnish Flash and the Perry Express one more time? As a previous year’s playoff slogan went Questions Will Be Answered. With our gold rally towels in hand and Pierre Maguire Inside the Glass, we settled in.

We got off to a rocky start with Teemu Selanne scoring his 6th goal in 6 games. I have always liked him as a player, was happy when he finally won a Cup in 07 but man did he make our team look silly. In the previous 5 games, the team that scored first won the game. Nerves were wound a little tighter. Nick Spaling a 3-4th line guy and PKer extraordinaire put a pass from Jordin Tootoo in the last minute of the first to knot the score at 1-1. In the second, the 2 old men and kid 4th line (Steve Sullivan, J P Dumont and Blake Geoffrion) put us up 2-1.

We give the Ducks a PP (very bad idea) near the end of the second period. Jason Blake makes it 2-2 going into the third. It looked like we had gone up 3-2 when Patric Hornqvist appeared to score on a deflection. It was waived off due a high stick. Nick Spaling and Jordin Tootoo team up again and the Preds go up 3-2. Hope was getting a little stronger. But then, (cue music of doom) Mike Fisher goes off for tripping at the 8 minute mark. It was one of the longest 2 minutes I’ve ever experienced. After that, it was holding on for dear life and watching the clock wind down.

Anaheim pulls their goalie. But Saku Koivu gets called for interference on Sergei Kostitsyn in the last minute. The countdown was on. David Legwand, our very first draft picks and EN expert, put home the final nail, 4-2 Preds. It was a very emotional moment. People were crying, hugging and cheering their hearts out. We have waited so long and endured so much to get to this moment. A shout out to the Day One fans who stuck with it through the horrible expansion years, the Balsille takeover attempt and the aching disappointment of 5 first round exits.

Lisa’s Canucks are now on our dance card. They will be favored, as they should be, being the best team in the league this year. But don’t count the Preds out. We are led by Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Pekka Rinne and cast of mostly unknowns who play their hearts out every night. And a fanbase who’s passion can no longer be overlooked.

Many hockey elitists have wanted us moved, have called us uneducated rednecks, have put down our city and our state. To all you, have a nice day because the Preds are playing in May!

Pierre McGuire from TSN comments on Nashville...

 "It was a spectacular event and I have to tell you guys this right now. What blew me away more than anything else was post game. The amount of people that were crying because they were happy. The amount of people that said thank you for supporting our franchise. The amount of people that said we really appreciate your network covering our games. I was blown away by the hospitality, by the humbleness, by the polite nature of the fan base here and it’s not just me. There were so many Canadian people at this game. A lot of people obviously view Nashville as a destination type area where you come and you watch … go to museums … you go to the Grand Ole Opry … you listen to country music. It’s just a destination location. And it’s a lot of fun. I was blown away by how many people enjoy this team, by how many people care about the future of this franchise, and by the passion of their fan base. This is a winner. Nashville is a winner. Hats off to Gary Bettman. He had the vision to let this thing play itself out. It’s playing itself out right now. This is one of the better franchises in the league in terms of talent on the ice. This is a very positive thing for the league. Very positive".

Report from Nashville: The Agony and the Ecstasy

Games Four and Five

by Marie Miesel

Game 4 was also in Smashville. Good crowd though a little nervous. Could the Preds take a 3-1 series lead? Would our Vezina trophy candidate goalie get back to his regular season form? Would our D hold up under the onslaught of the Perry Express and the Finnish Flash? For two periods we held on, but in the third the flood gates opened starting with a shorthanded goal from Corey Perry. When it was all said and done the Ducks came away with a 6-3 win. Visions of previous playoff failures danced in our heads that night.


Game 5 was back in Anaheim. We scored the first goal; a pretty pass from Jordin Tootoo to Kevin Klein put us up 1-0 after one. The Ducks Jason Blake scored on the PP to even things up in the second. Poor Shane O’Brien. He’s taken a penalty in every game and the Ducks have scored on the ensuing PP each time. Love his toughness but his hockey IQ perhaps isn’t the highest. Tied 1-1 going into the third, Pred Nation held it’s breath as the period began. Forty seconds into the period, Bobby Ryan, back after a two game suspension, scored what many consider to be the goal of the playoffs so far. Poor David Legwand, he was still looking for his shorts on the way to the plane. And can I just say that I really hate it when our team ends up being on someone else’s highlight reel.

We fought back. Joel Ward tied it up. The Ducks re-took the lead on another Jason Blake goal. Most of us figured oh well we’re done. Another playoff failure. But something magical happened. History was made. With 38 seconds left, with our goalie on the bench, Mike Fisher wins the faceoff in the Ducks zone. The puck makes it way to our Captain Shea Weber who wrists it past Ray Emery. Tie Game! Less than 2 minutes into the overtime period, Jordin Tootoo fishes the puck out from the left half wall and puts it on Jerred Smithson’s stick. Jerred buries it for a 4-3 win. The first Game 5 win, the first OT win, and the first time we have been up 3-2 in a series. NHL.com even has a “History will be Made” commercial for us now. History believes in firsts.



Now for fans like Lisa Ovens and Jan Snyder, Game 5 wins and first round series wins are old hat. They’ve been there before. We haven’t. We’ve watched the handshake with the winning team on our ice five times. We are a blue collar, non superstar team from a small non-traditional market. As I said in a previous column, these guys are our family. We rejoice and mourn with them. We fought tooth and nail to keep the team here when everyone outside of Nashville wanted them moved. And to be this close to breaking through and proving that we do belong is exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

 But at 5 pm CT today, the Bridge will be rocking once again. And I and my fellow citizens of Pred Nation will be there, hoping that history will be made once again.

Report from Nashville: Game Three in Smashville

by Marie Meisel

Unlike Lisa and Jan, my boys started their quarterfinal series in Anaheim, California. Game 1 was a 4-1 Preds win. Our captain, Shea Weber scored on the power play and they bore down after that. Game 2 was a 5-3 loss with the last goal being an empty netter. They got behind the 8 ball in the first 5 minutes by putting the Ducks on the power play. Two goals later and the Preds were fighting for their lives. They pulled back to within 1 at 4-3 but couldn’t force the overtime. The Ducks definitely play with an edge and sometimes they cross the line. Late in the game Bobby Ryan stomped on Jonathan Blum’s foot trying to get the puck away from him. This was a costly decision as he is now suspended for the 2 games in Nashville.

Which brings us to Sunday and Game 3 at the Bridgestone Arena and TSN was in the house. The area in between the team benches are usually sold seats but we got Pierre Maguire Inside the Glass instead. The team put on a pre game party on the plaza in front of the arena. But at 5 pm CT, we were ready to rock the Bridge. I hope the folks watching the game on TV got a sense of the intensity of the crowd. Hopefully, it will put to rest some of the critics who say we don’t “get” hockey down here. You better believe we do. We were loud from the player intros on. It was amazing to be a part of such passionate crowd.

Jerred Smithson took a penalty in the first 5 minutes and the Ducks dangerous power play went to work. We managed to kill it off and got on the board with our first goal on the power play. We have had a power play goal in each of the 3 games which is amazing considering our power play has been an Achilles heel for us all season. Jordin Tootoo put a puck home mere minutes later. In fact, our arena announcer (Paul McCann) was announcing Erat’s goal when Jordin scored. We were up 2-0 after one and feeling pretty good. The second period saw the parade to the penalty box continue. Then the ducks went on the power play again and Teemu Selanne made us pay. He scored again 30 seconds later when the puck took a funny bounce off our boards and popped right onto his stick. We took the lead back with a goal from David Legwand. The ducks tied it up. Mike Fisher scored the game winner and the last 8 minutes were tense as we held off the Ducks. The relief and joy that roared through the building when the final buzzer went off was awesome.

Many citizens of Pred Nation were hoarse, nursing upset stomachs and feeling their heart rates return to normal on Monday after such a game. But you can be sure that we will be back loud and proud again on Wednesday night for Game 4.

Skate of the Union

Nashville Predators State of the Franchise Meeting

By Marie M.

-Nashville Tennessee

I ducked out of work early on July 23rd to attend the state of the franchise meeting for my beloved Nashville Predators. I arrived just after 5 pm and got in the autograph line. JP Dumont and two of our prospects, Cody Franson and Mark Dekanich were signing. I had brought my jersey. I asked Cody if we were going to see him in our "laundry" this season and he said he sure hoped so! He’s been working out at local training facility getting ready to make his debut with the big boys. I met up with my friends Robin and Tony a little after that. We ran into different folks we knew, saw Steve Sullivan aka "Sully" with the Masterson Trophy posing for pictures. There was also an equipment sale but neither Robin nor I were interested in that.

There was a highlight reel playing on the Megatron. Some clips included Willie O’Ree’s visit and our rivalry with the Wings. The meeting started with some nice highlights from last year and features on Colin Wilson and Ryan Ellis. The meeting was moderated by Pete Weber our play by play guy. David Freeman from the ownership group spoke first. He talked about the Predator Way: 1. Scouting and developing talent; 2. consistency with our coaching staff; 3. David Poile’s steady and classy management; and most important of all, the passionate and knowledgeable fan base. He wouldn’t trade us for any other fan base in the league.

Second was Ed Lang for the business side of things: the 2/20 plan had done well.(The plan allows you to purchase season tickets for 2 years at the current rate and have 20 months to pay it off). He reviewed the schedule which includes 15 Sat games, a Friday and a Sunday game. We will also have our own version of March Madness with 17 games in the month with 10 of them at home. They are looking to repeat some promotions like the Military Mondays (discounted tickets for the military, Fort Campbell, home of the 101st is just up the road so the military is a big deal around here). The usual promises to upgrade concessions were made (yeah, right). Among other things he mentioned were that we sent 13 squirt/pee wee players to the Ace’s Got Skills national competition and 3 came back national champions. (Not bad, eh!)

David Poile was up next. He spoke about re-signing Sully and Joel Ward and how important it was for the team. Sully twitters so one of Poile’s staff knew the deal was made before Poile had a chance to tell him. We hired former player Martin Gelinas as director of player development. Martin was very popular here the one year he played and was an excellent mentor to Jordin Tootoo in particular. Our first goal is to get back to the playoffs. To do that, we will be relying on our core group of players, Sully, Arnott, Dumont, Erat, Legwand and our stud D corp. of Suter, Weber and Hammius. These guys will supplemented by our younger guys from Milwaukee who Poile feels are ready to get their chance at the Big Show. He, of course, was Mr. Positive that we can and will get back to the playoffs this coming season.

Lastly we heard from Sully and JP. Both were incredibly complimentary about the city and the fans. They love playing here and living here. JP said, “You made us feel welcome and part of your families.” They both spoke about the now tradition of a spontaneous standing ovation during a TV timeout. It started at the end of the ’08-‘09 season during our last home game with St. Louis when we knew we had made into the playoffs after a season of turmoil, fears, tears and joy. We don’t do every game, but when the crowd senses the boys need a lift, we get it going. Opposing players are amazed and perplexed by it, of course. Our guys love it and totally feed off it.

The guys were positive about the upcoming season and look forward to getting back on the ice. There was a Q & A session afterwards. Mr. Poile confirmed that Alexander Radulov is not coming back this season. Mr. Freeman acknowledged the need to get more butts in seats to increase our revenue. JP likes watching Alexander Ovechkin on the highlights.
And on a more personal level: Mr. Poile became a grandfather this summer.

The turnout was not great but it was a weeknight. I think we had around 1000 fans there, which is still pretty good for the middle of summertime in Nashville.