Jack Beachboad is congratulated after his race on Friday by his coaches. Left to right: Lana Ray, CCCHS head swim coach; Jack Beachboard, Shawn Daniels, Manchester Makos swim coach (Photo Provided)

Jack Beachboard shaved a full 2.2 seconds off his personal best time in the 200M Individual Medley on Friday morning in the preliminary heat of the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association State Championships being held at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville. The Coffee County freshman qualified with a time of 2:11.99 and cut through the water at 2:09.79 on Friday to capture a 43rd place finish overall.

On Saturday, Beachboard trimmed 0.41 seconds off his qualifying time in the 100M Breaststroke as he completed the preliminary race at 1:06.21 to finish with a 41st place finish. The freshman’s appearance marks the 5th consecutive season that Coffee County has had a high school swimmer qualify for the state meet.  The Coffee County Swim team is coached by head coach Lana Ray and assisted by Mike Ray.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators goalie Carter Hutton

Goalie Carter Hutton made the most of a rare start for the Nashville Predators and got a lot of support from his teammates.

Calle Jarnkrok scored two goals, and Hutton made 22 saves in the Predators’ 5-0 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Saturday.

Hutton was making his ninth start of the season and first since Jan. 27 in place of No. 1 goalie Pekka Rinne with Nashville playing the second game of a back-to-back. It was his second shutout this season and the fourth of his NHL career.

“Whenever they give me starts, I play,” Hutton said. “Anything I can do to help our team win. I understand my role. At the same time, just any way I can contribute is what I try to do.”

James Neal had a goal and an assist, and Miikka Salomaki and Shea Weber scored for Nashville (26-21-9), which had lost four of five, including 4-3 in overtime against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday. Mike Ribeiro and Roman Josi each had two assists.

Nashville was 2-for-3 on the power play after going 2-for-20 in the previous five games. Florida was 0-for-4 and has failed on all 13 opportunities in its past four games.

“I thought we controlled it pretty good once we got it in there,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said of their power play. “Right now, [the Panthers have] given up a few goals and we talked about that, trying to exploit it. But they’ve got good penalty-killers over there. Right now, they might be in a little bit of a rut, so we were able to take advantage of it.”

Jarnkrok’s second goal of the night and 11th of the season made it 5-0 at 13:48 of the third period. It was Nashville’s sixth goal while shorthanded and Jarnkrok’s fourth in the past five games.

Roberto Luongo, in his second start in two nights, made 23 saves for Florida. He was pulled following the first period Friday after allowing three goals on 13 shots in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues, and has allowed at least three goals in each of his past five starts.

Panthers coach Gerard Gallant disagreed with the notion that Luongo is struggling.

“No, our team is,” Gallant said. “He hasn’t been as sharp as he was, but it’s our team the last couple of games.”

The Panthers (32-18-6) have lost four of five following a 17-3-1 stretch. They were shut out for the fourth time this season and second time in four games. The loss Saturday was their first at home by more than two goals.

Florida was 11-1-1 in its previous 13 home games before the back-to-back losses against St. Louis and Nashville.

The second period was stopped with 32.1 seconds left after a puck sent over the glass by Hutton struck a young girl in the face. Hutton gave the girl his goalie stick before she left the arena under her own power.

“Obviously, you feel bad,” Hutton said. “It [stinks]. At first, I didn’t even realize. All I’m trying to do is make sure I get glass on it so it’s not a penalty, and it hits a little kid. I didn’t really see if it was a boy or a girl; someone just said it hit a little kid. So I just tried to get a stick over to give to the little kid. I’m sure at that point, they probably wanted to break the stick. It was the least I could do. Obviously, I felt pretty bad. It was one of those things, unfortunately.”

Florida forward Quinton Howden left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury after Nashville defenseman Anthony Bitetto’s shoulder hit his face on a body check in the neutral zone. Bitetto was not penalized on the play.

Panthers forward Brandon Pirri left with an apparent left-ankle injury with 2:21 left in the third period after crashing into the boards fighting for position with Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis.

The Florida bench was assessed a bench minor for abuse of officials after that play, and Gallant was assessed a game misconduct.

Nashville led 2-0 after its first multigoal first period in 22 games.

Jarnkrok opened the scoring at 6:18 when he took a feed from Neal, skated in from the right wing and beat Luongo with a shot to the glove side from in tight.

Salomaki made it 2-0 at 8:24 after Austin Watson won a battle along the boards and fed him in the right circle. Salomaki skated to the left of the faceoff dot before beating Luongo high to the glove side with a wrist shot.

“You do play a little bit of a different game (with a lead),” Laviolette said. “It hasn’t happened a lot lately. We’ve been in a position where we’re always coming from behind or we give up a couple goals or whatever it might be, so it was nice to get the lead and play on top. It’s a different mindset.”

Neal made it a three-goal lead at 10:24 of the second period with a power-play goal. Ryan Johansen’s deflection of a hard Ribeiro pass squeaked past Luongo and was sliding toward the net before Neal came in from the side and made sure.

The goal came with Panthers forward Reilly Smith in the penalty box for high sticking, a penalty that occurred on the faceoff after Howden was injured.

Hutton, who made 29 saves in a 3-0 victory against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 16, made a spectacular save later in the second period when he slid across the crease to stop Jonathan Huberdeau’s redirect on a 2-on-1.

“I kind of read the pass and just tried to extend as far as I could and was able to get my blocker on it. Obviously, at that point in the game, sometimes it’s not as many as you make, it’s kind of the timely ones. And we were to roll from there and get a couple of big power-play goals that kind of put the nail in the coffin.”

Weber made it 4-0 at 7:59 of the third period after Florida defenseman Brian Campbell was called for playing with a broken stick. Weber scored on a one-timer from the left dot.

After going 1-0-1 on its fathers’ trip, Nashville will be home for its next game, Monday against the Dallas Stars.

“It was a big win for us with a real tough loss yesterday against Tampa Bay,” Jarnkrok said. “We wanted to end the road trip the right way.”

The Predators return home for a Monday night game with Dallas.  Face-off is set for 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

The CHS Basketball Seniors were recognized on Friday Night. (Photo by Will Davis)

The Coffee County Central High School Red Raider basketball team has had its ups and down this season.  But a revenge win over Tullahoma on Friday night helped ease some of the hurt on Senior Night.  Coffee County led the entire game to capture the 36 to 24 win before a large and rowdy crowd at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The Red Raiders used five 1^st National Bank 3 pointers in the game to earn a season split with the Wildcats.  Coffee County was led in scoring by senior Wyatt Day who finished with 19 points as he was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center player of the game.  Senior Kohl Young finished with 6 points while senior Caleb McKenzie had 3 points and senior Boone Riddle scored 2.

The Lady Raiders completed a season sweep over the Lady Cats with a 52 to 47 win over Tullahoma.  Coffee County was 14 for 19 from the free throw line in the 4^th quarter to hang on for the hard fought win.  Bailey Morgan led the Lady Raiders in scoring as she netted 14 points, including 6 free throws in the 4^th quarter to earn the Gateway Tire and Service Center player of the game honors.  Allliyah Williams finished with 11 points and Aerial Williams added 8.

Both Coffee County teams travel to McMinnville on Saturday for a non-district matinee at 3PM.  This game is a makeup of Tuesday night’s contest.  Thunder Radio will bring you exclusive coverage of all the action beginning with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 2:50.

Dist 8AAA Bracket(Updated 2/13/16)

Coffee County also found out their matchups for next week’s District 8AAA tournament on Friday as the boys will take on Tullahoma on Tuesday night at 7:30 PM in Tullahoma.  The Lady Raiders will travel to Franklin County to take on the Rebelettes on Thursday night.  That game begins at 6 PM.  As always, Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all of the action.

Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal late in the third period, Tyler Johnson won it 1:04 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Friday night for their ninth straight home win.

J.T. Brown and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning. Ben Bishop made 27 saves to give him a victory over all 30 NHL teams.

Nashville got goals from Mike Fisher, James Neal and Filip Forsberg. Pekka Rinne stopped 24 shots and is 5-1-1 against Tampa Bay.

Johnson got the winner after skating in from the right wing and beating Rinne from in-close.

Stamkos pulled the Lightning even at 3 on a goal from above the left circle with 26.6 seconds to play in the third. It was just his second in the last 11 games.

After Neal scored his 20th goal during a breakaway at 4:01 of the third, Forsberg put Nashville up 3-2 7:46 into the period on his fourth goal in the last three games.

Neal has 20 or more goals in all eight of his NHL seasons.

Brown (8:22) and Kucherov (10:07) both scored on rebounds of their own shots 1:47 apart in the second to put Tampa Bay up 2-1. Kucherov’s goal came as he was being held by defenseman Ryan Ellis.

Brown has four of his seven goals over the last seven games, while Kucherov has a point in 19 of his last 23 games.

Fisher opened the scoring from the top of the right circle 9:40 into the first.

Neal almost made it 2-0 with 5 minutes left in the first, but his shot went off Bishop and hit the post.

Rinne made a nifty glove save on a first-period left circle shot by Ryan Callahan, who played in his 600th NHL game.

The Predators are back on the ice on Saturday night when they take on the Florida Panthers in a 6 PM contest.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast on the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network

On Tuesday, March 29, First Tennessee Park will host a neutral site college baseball game between a pair of Nashville universities when Belmont takes on Vanderbilt in a 6:30 p.m. contest at the home of the Nashville Sounds.

“We are thrilled to work with both of these outstanding universities for the first collegiate game to be played at First Tennessee Park,” said Garry Arthur, Sounds COO & General Manager. “This is a meaningful matchup to us because each school has a long history of working with the Sounds. We are excited to welcome the Bruins, Commodores, and their supporters to our new ballpark for this inaugural intercollegiate contest.”

Tickets for the Vanderbilt-Belmont game will be available to the general public beginning on Monday, February 15 through the Sounds’ website at www.nashvillesounds.com, and beginning on Tuesday, February 16 at 9 a.m. through the Sounds’ box office at First Tennessee Park or by calling 615-690-4487 ext. 2.

Reserved seating will be available in sections 108 through 118 for $15 per ticket, while the remainder of the main concourse seating bowl (sections 101-107 & 119-124) plus the grass berm in left field will be general admission seating for $8 per ticket.

Additional seating options will include:
• 4-Tops seating located near the Band Box, which are priced at $50 per table of four
• An all-inclusive ticket for $26 that includes an all-you-can-eat picnic buffet from 5:30 to 7:00 plus general seating at the Hyundai Deck in left field

Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. for the contest, during which Vanderbilt will serve as the home team.

Single-game tickets for the 2016 Nashville Sounds season will not go on sale until March 7th. Complete information about the upcoming season is available at www.nashvillesounds.com.

CHS Swimmer Jack Beachboard(Photo by Jay Bailey of the Manchester Times)

CHS swimmer Jack Beachboard will compete at the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association State Championships this weekend being held at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville. The Coffee County freshman will compete in the 200M Individual Medley on Friday morning and the 100M breaststroke on Saturday. Friday’s preliminary race is the 6th race scheduled for the 9:30 AM session with the finals scheduled for the 6 PM session. On Saturday, Beachboard will race his preliminary in the 10th race of the 9:30 AM session with the finals contested in the 6 PM session. Beachboard’s appearance marks the 5th consecutive season that Coffee County has had a high school swimmer qualify for the state meet. A website to catch the live scoring AND a video feed of the meet can be found at:

https://www.teamunify.com/EventShow.jsp?id=549070&team=senac