Category: Sports

Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators

No Nashville Predators team has ever recorded 111 points. Until now.

Juuse Saros made 39 saves and the Preds defeated the San Jose Sharks, 5-3, on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The victory gives the Preds 50 wins and 111 points on the season, their highest point total for a single campaign in franchise history.

In addition, Thursday’s marked Nashville’s 100th consecutive sellout, a streak that began almost two calendar years ago and has seen the Predators post a 66-21-13 record at home during that span.

It was Saros who helped to send the fans home happy, facing a number of barrages on the way to his ninth win of the season. And although the Sharks got three by him, his impact on the contest was clear.

“Oh my goodness, he was phenomenal,” Preds center Ryan Johansen said of his goaltender. “It was pretty impressive being his teammate and watching him tonight. He’s definitely the reason that we ended up winning that game so he deserves if not all, most of the credit tonight.”

“Especially in the third period, when San Jose got the power plays and pulled the goalie and the penalty shot – there was just a lot that was thrown at Juice in that last 20 minutes and he was spectacular,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We’ll go back and look at it tomorrow, but there will be 12 times where we hit rewind and rewind and we’ll watch it over and over and just say, ‘Wow.’ He really did put on an unbelievable performance, especially in the third period.”

Both clubs tallied a pair of goals in the game’s opening period with Kyle Turris striking first for Nashville on his 15th of the season. Logan Couture evened the score minutes later, and after Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson converted on a 2-on-0 in tight for Arvidsson’s team leading 29th, Brenden Dillon tied the game once more before the period was out.

Craig Smith gave Nashville a 3-2 lead midway through the second stanza, and after Mikkel Boedker tied it once more early in the third, Ryan Ellis put the Preds ahead for good at 10:06 of the final frame. Nick Bonino sealed it with an empty-netter.

Facing one of the hottest teams in the NHL, the Preds snapped San Jose’s nine-game point streak and extended a 10-game point streak (9-0-1) of their own when hosting the Sharks at Bridgestone Arena, another win against the Californian foes in front of a sellout crowd.

“We could’ve been better, but you have to find ways to win hockey games in this League and we found a way to do it against a team that’s been playing really well,” Johansen said. “We’re definitely happy with the win and like usual, we’ll look at some stuff and try to improve on some errors but we’ll take the win and move forward.”

Simply the Best:

Another night, another rewrite of the record book.

As they’ve done all season, the Predators set another franchise mark on Thursday when they posted points 110 and 111 on the campaign, the most any Preds club has ever recorded. Entering the evening, the Predators also had 109 points through 76 games, the best pace in club history.

Nashville hit the 50-win mark as well, now just two victories away from setting yet another record.

The Predators have made it clear over the past few months the franchise marks aren’t necessarily top of mind, but they’re not ignored either, and the amount of pride this group feels to now go down as the best regular-season squad in club history is embraced, another notch on the journey that just keeps getting better.

“It’s a credit to everyone, not just the players in here,” Johansen said. “It’s a big achievement. We should be proud. We’ve put in a lot of hard work, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”

“It means a lot,” Laviolette said. “The guys have fought hard to get to this point, and they have been a very focused group. This is just part of where we are trying to get to. I think that they understand that the more we win, the better chance we have at securing home ice. Just playing in front of our fans and in our building is something that we have talked about. We want to get that done, so, that was something that could be done tonight and the guys played hard for it.”

Notes:

Prior to Thursday’s game, the Predators signed forward Eeli Tolvanen to a three-year, entry-level contract. Although he didn’t dress on Thursday, Tolvanen is expected to see some game action before the regular season is out.

Nashville’s home stand concludes on Saturday night when Phil Housley and the Buffalo Sabres come to town, and then the Preds will head to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning on Easter Sunday to begin their final road trip of the season.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

KNOXVILLE, TN – MARCH 27, 2018 – Wide receiver Alontae Taylor #6(in white) of the Tennessee Volunteers during spring practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics

Jobs are wide open and position battles continue as the Tennessee football team began its second week of spring practice on Tuesday at Haslam Field.
UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt told media following the Vols’ second practice in pads, and fourth overall, that everything a player does on the field is being evaluated.
The new staff has given each Vol an opportunity for a fresh start. Some players are even experimenting at new positions for the first half of the spring session.
Everybody has an opportunity to play – they just have to prove it on the field.
“Every day we evaluate all four groups,” Pruitt said. “We don’t have any starters. We don’t have any second or third team guys. We have a rep chart. Everything is being evaluated.”
Pruitt said the team will scrimmage twice before the DISH Orange and White Game on April 21 (1 p.m., SEC Network) – giving the Vols three chances to replicate what a game will be like this fall.
It’s clear, he wants to test his young team.
“(The coaches) are not there to encourage you,” Pruitt said about scrimmages. “They’re not there to correct you. You’re playing just your 11 guys on one side of the ball, so that in itself is new. You definitely have to do that. It’s kind of like a test. You go to class for a certain period of time, you get the information and then they test you on it to see what kind of knowledge you’ve retained. That’s what a scrimmage is.
“To me, when you have the Orange and White game, you add the element when you create a game-like atmosphere. There’s a little more excitement, a little more anxiety, a little more pressure, butterflies. Some guys perform better in those situations, some guys perform worse.
“We need to find out who those guys are.”
Offense “Kicks Defense’s Tail”
Pruitt said he was ‘ticked off’ walking off the field, but didn’t know if he was mad at the whole team or just the defense because “the offense kicked the defense’s tail.”
A defensive coordinator the last five years at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State, Pruitt is used to only coaching the defense and adjusting to managing the entire squad.
Still he knows effort when he sees it and the Vols’ coach wants more out of his team.
“One thing I did notice today was that we had a lot of guys that had two days off and did not respond the right way,” Pruitt said. “We have to fix that….I wish we had 30 of them (spring practice) so we could, but we only get 15. I’m not sure everyone took advantage of their opportunities today. We will watch the tape and see if that’s right or not.”
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Press Conference Transcript – March 27, 2018
Opening Statement:
“It was an interesting day out there today for me. Coming off of the field I was ticked off, I don’t know if it’s because I am mad at the way the whole team practiced or if it’s because the offense kicked the defense’s tail. I haven’t figured it out yet, so I have to watch tape and see. One thing I did notice today was that we had a lot of guys that had two days off and did not respond the right way. We have to fix that. We need to be having spring practice every day. I wish we had 30 of them so we could, but we only get 15. I’m not sure everyone took advantage of their opportunities today. We will watch the tape and see if that’s right or not.”
On the offense making big plays against the defense today:
“Sometimes you get beat because the other guy is better than you. Sometimes you get beat because you don’t execute the right way. If the other team beats us because they are better than us, that’s one thing. When you make mental errors, it’s another. We made a lot of mental errors out there today. It was not very focused in the meetings. We did not take what we went over in the meetings onto the field. That probably contributed to some of it.”
On the progression of the players who are testing different positions:
“We will look at their whole body of work. We are still installing. We will install for five days before we really slow it down. We will see after seven days if we want to let those guys scrimmage on the ninth day or if we should go ahead and move them back to their original position. They are learning both right now.”
On preparing for the Orange and White game:
“Every day we evaluate all four groups. We don’t have any starters. We don’t have any second or third team guys. We have a rep chart. Everything is being evaluated. There is only so much pressure a coaching staff can put on guys to see how they respond in adverse situations. When you go to a scrimmage, I have seen guys that practice really well, then go to a scrimmage situation so it’s new and they have anxiety so they don’t perform well at the stadium. You have guys that perform fine in all of the practice situations and then go to the stadium and there is 102,000 people in the stadium and they have anxiety there and they don’t respond in the right way. Sometimes you find guys who rise to the occasion. I want to create a game like situation for the team to see who the competitors are. That’s one of the things we talked about going into spring practice, it was finding the guys who love to compete when the game is on the line. The only way to figure that out is to put them in a game like situation and pick sides and let’s go. My goal is to treat it just like it’s a game for us. We want to prepare and get used to our expectations because everything is new. Everything is new to what these guys have been accustomed to. I don’t want our first time to be when we are heading to Charlotte. We want to get it the way it’s going to be the night before a game. That’s what we are going to do.”
On if there are any position groups that have stood out:
“I’d say every group does some things well at times and then some things poorly at times. That’s really the thing you’re trying to do is kind of create a standard, be detailed about what we want to get done and try to get the guys to do it over and over again. A lot of our guys are trying to figure out exactly what the standard is. We’re improving and they’re willing, but we’ve gotta continue to make strides and we’re definitely not good enough to go backwards in a day.”
On what he hopes to learn from scheduled scrimmages:
“Your practice is kind of like you go in there and have meetings, you go over what you’re gonna go over and then you go out to practice and you do walkthroughs, then you make your individual practice around the things that you plan on doing that day. Then you have, whether it’s half-line, tray drill or man to man drills, so you kind of take the next step. Then, whether it’s seven on seven, it kind of works its way into teams. From there, that’s practice. There’s a little difference when you go out there and the coaches aren’t out there on the field with you, and you gotta make the calls, you going get lined up. They’re not there to encourage you, they’re not there to correct you. You’re playing just your 11 guys on one side of the ball, so that in itself is new. You definitely have to do that. It’s kind of like a test. You go to class for a certain period of time, you get the information and then they test you on it to see what kind of knowledge you’ve retained. That’s what a scrimmage is. To me, when you have the Orange and White game, you add the element when you create a game-like atmosphere. There’s a little more excitement, a little more anxiety, a little more pressure, butterflies. Some guys perform better in those situations, some guys perform worse. We need to find out who those guys are.”
On if there are any position groups that are better than when he originally evaluated the team:
“When I watched the film when I first got here, I’m just trying to get an idea, first of all how to kind of go about the recruiting class, to have an idea. Can you move guys around? Can other guys play different positions? Because certain guys that were recruited here might not necessarily fit what I want to do with them. I didn’t really look at it as a group. I just kind of looked at it from an individual basis.”
On what he is looking for from defensive backs:
“We need all our defensive backs to be able to play more than one position. First of all, it helps them create value in themselves. If you’re going to play five defensive backs, you want your sixth best defensive back to be the first guy in the game if one of those five guys gets hurt. So, if your left corner gets hurt, and you got 10 guys, and it just so happens that the backup left corner is the 10th best player, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to put the 10th best guy in before you put the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth guy in. We want all our guys to learn multiple positions, and we teach things by concepts, so we’re working a lot of guys there.”
On how the process of installing new schemes has gone through four practices:
“I think the big thing for our guys is the meetings. I think the meetings are a little different than what they’re accustomed to. I do think the guys are trying hard to grasp it. Obviously it’s a different defense, so there’s not a lot of familiarity when you cross over. It’s a lot of new concepts, but it’s no different in any other place I’ve been. When you start in the spring and you start installing for the guys, if you have freshmen out there, which everybody’s like a freshman because it’s the first time they’ve ever heard it, usually it’s the second time through in the second week before they kind of start grasping everything.”
On who has stood out on offense:
“When we do a good job protecting, our guys have made some good throws. When we step in the right direction and play with good pad level up front, all of our runners are capable of creating positive plays. It’s hard to single anybody out, but when everybody is on the same page, good things have happened.”
On special teams:
“We are doing a lot of drills right now, a lot of fundamentals. For us to go out there and do a certain amount of teams as far as first team, second team, third team, we don’t even know who the best football players are yet. We don’t know who’s going to get on the bus and go to the first game, so for us, we need to teach as many fundamentals as we can. Stay with the basics, whether it’s how to protect and punt or hold up in punt return, how to stack kick-off return, how to press the ball in the cover game. We’re doing as many things as we can that way, and then as we build after the next couple of practices, we’ll get into more teamwork.”
On behind honored in his hometown of Rainesville, Ala. with the key to the city:
“I have a lot of pride in where I’m from, and I think the people in our community do. I was fired up about it and very appreciative of it, but the main thing I was fired up about is my old high school team won the state championship in basketball. That was a big deal to me and our community.”
On what he does to show his team they are picking up in things:
“Offenses create a lot of multiples when you talk about the defensive side and the way they move around. That’s the way the game is in college. Everybody is going fast, snapping the ball. You get a lot of rocket motions and unusual formations. You have to recognize formations, splits, backfield locations, whatever it is, so they’re creating multiples. The more multiples you have and the more multiples they have, it just becomes a lot of stuff. Communicating is a big deal. You have to be a good communicator if you’re going to play good defense, because the first thing nowadays is you have to get lined up, and everybody has to be on the same page. We’ll tell a lot more of that. There may be guys out here right now that can make the calls, do this and do that, but when we roll out there the first time to scrimmage, they may not can do it. When we have the Orange and White game, and hopefully we have the crowd that I’m expecting, the may excel or they may not. We’ll see, but we need to know that.”

Johnny Mangini, a freshman from Huntsville, and the Dyersburg State catcher and a fan watch the ball Mangini just hit clear the wall for a three-run homer during Motlow’s 5-4 win over Dyersburg State Friday afternoon at the Driver Baseball Complex. Mangini has hit eight home runs on the season and driven in 23 runs. The Bucks as a team lead the nation in home runs with 66. [Photo by Jeff Reed Photography]

The Bucks (26-11, 9-3) earned that sweep on the heels of a TCCAA conference sweep over visiting Dyersburg State last weekend. Motlow won Friday’s opening game of a doubleheader 5-4, then took the nightcap 6-3. Saturday, the Bucks came from behind a won a 10-inning thriller 9-8.

With the wins, the Bucks have moved into sole possession of second place in the TCCAA standings, 2.5 games behind Walters State, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. Motlow is one game ahead of Columbia State (20-11, 8-4), with the Chargers scheduled to visit the Driver Complex this weekend. Friday’s single game is set for a 2 p.m. start, with Saturday’s doubleheader beginning at noon.

Monday’s opener against Martin Methodist JV saw the Bucks trailing 9-7 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Chase Dixon doubled to left center field, Tre Bailliez singled and Nathan Sanders hit a three-run homer to center. Two batters later, Troy Weatherly added a two-run homer to give the Bucks the lead. Dallas Bryan pitched a perfect seventh inning to earn his first save of the season. Jordan Burdette (2-1) got the win, following Jase Carvell and Carson Pack on the mound.

Game two saw Motlow jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and lead 6-1 after two innings. Colin Smith (3-0) picked up the win, pitching five innings and allowing six hits with five strikeouts. Chandler Hardiman and Darin Keller pitched the final two innings, with Keller not allowing a hit and striking out two of the three batters he faced.

All three games with Dyersburg were close and hard fought. In Friday’s opener the Bucks led 5-1 heading into the top of the seventh, but the Eagles fought back with three runs to pull within one. Kobe Foster came on and recorded the final out, notching his fourth save of the season. Logan Walters (3-1) got the win, going six innings and scattering eight hits with five strikeouts.

The Bucks took the lead for good on a three-run homer from Johnny Mangini in the third inning. De’Andre Pitts added a solo homer in the fourth, providing much needed insurance. Mangini now has eight homers and Pitts seven, part of the ‘Launchburg’ brigade that has Motlow with 66 home runs on the season, more than any team in the nation.

Foster (6-0) was in complete command in game two against the Eagles, tossing his third consecutive complete game and allowing just six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. The freshman is among the top five pitchers in the TCCAA in wins, saves, strikeouts and earned run average.

Motlow got two hits each from Paul McIntosh, Colin Smith and Paul Rahman, with Rahman slamming a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Saturday’s single nine inning game was a wild affair that saw the teams tied 1-1 after one inning. Motlow took a 4-2 lead in the third, then led 8-4 after seven innings. Dyersburg tied the game with four runs in the eighth, but Motlow won it on a walk-off single by Patrick Music in the bottom of the 10th to complete the sweep.

Tyler Harmon started on the mound for the Bucks, lasting 6.1 innings and allowing six hits and three runs. Justin Parker and Carvell each tossed an inning before Bryan came on and closed the door on the Eagles, striking out all six batters he faced in the ninth and tenth innings.

Motlow got home runs from Weatherly, who is tied for the nation’s lead with 15, Colin Smith and Jake Chaney. Weatherly drove in three runs and Chaney a pair as the Bucks took advantage of seven walks and three hit batters.

Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at MotlowSports.com for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics on social media at MotlowSports.

Tuesday Prep Results

> CHS Softball lost to Milford, OH – 10 to 8(9 innings) – See the story HERE

> CHS Baseball defeated Lawrence Co – 4 to 1 – See the story HERE

Hayden Skipper of CHS baseball

The Red Raider baseball team hosted district rival Lawrence County on Tuesday.  Looking for a season sweep after a dominant pitching performance on Monday in Lawrenceburg, Coffee County sent sophomore lefthander Hayden Skipper to the bump.  Skipper tossed a complete game as the Raiders won 4 to 1.

Skipper was masterful on the mound as he retired the first 13 Wildcat hitters he faced.  After allowing his first hit in the 5^th, the Red Raider defense turned a 5-4-3 double play to erase any threat.  Coffee County tallied 2 runs in the 2^nd plus single runs in the 3^rd and 5^th innings to run their overall record to 8 and 1 on the year and 5 and 1 in district play.

Nathanial Tate swung the big stick for Coffee County as he had a double and a triple in 3 plate appearances.  A.J. Rollman had a triple while Skylar Bratcher and Ryan Stephens each notched RBI doubles.  Skipper threw 100 pitches to get the win surrendering 3 hits on the game to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.

Coffee County will return to the diamond on Friday when they open play in the Warrior Classic.  The Red Raiders will take on IC Catholic Prep out of Illinois at Wilson Central High School beginning at 11 AM.  They follow that up with a 1:30 PM game against Dickson County at Wilson Central.

Download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Roman Josi

The Predators thought they had won once. Turns out they just needed a few more minutes.

Pekka Rinne stopped all three skaters he faced in the shootout as Nashville defeated the Minnesota Wild by a 2-1 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result snaps Nashville’s three-game winless skid and sees them clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

After Minnesota tied it late, Ryan Ellis tallied in overtime – but after the goal was overturned due to an offside play, it took a shootout for the Preds to emerge victorious in a game that brought one of their best efforts in the past few outings.

“It was our best game for a while now,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “We played really well defensively. They didn’t have too many chances, and [Rinne] was there for us whenever they did have a chance. I thought it was a complete effort from us, and it’s good to be back in the win column.”

It took Josi less than three minutes into the contest to blast home his 12th of the season, but that was it for the next 54 minutes as Rinne and Devan Dubnyk stood tall for their respective teams. However, with 3:15 to play, Eric Staal potted his 40th of the season to force OT, and it was Kyle Turris who scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Preds prevailed.

Tuesday’s game marked the fifth meeting between the two this season – and second in four days – making the win all the more satisfying against a potential playoff opponent.

“You never know – in the first or second round or down the line, you might see these guys,” Rinne said. “At least the last two or three games against these guys, they’ve been pretty heated up and pretty physical too. You can tell there’s a lot of emotion when we play these guys.”

Although the losing streak was short-lived, it wasn’t something the Predators wanted to linger. Sunday’s effort in Winnipeg was something to build off of, and it continued straight on through to Nashville.

“We’re just excited to have a complete effort tonight, get a big win, and move on,” forward Scott Hartnell said.

Divisional Delights:

Predators General Manager David Poile stated earlier in the season he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to win a division title for the first time in franchise history.

His players have certainly done their part to try and make that a reality.

As the Preds defeated the Wild on Tuesday, it marked their 18th win against a division opponent this season, the most they’ve recorded in the past 10 seasons. Every game in the NHL is important, but when it’s a familiar foe across the ice, that magnitude increases tenfold.

And more often than not this season, the Preds rose to the challenge.

“We marked a schedule – I think it was 11 or 12 games out – and from that point I think we went 9-2-1 inside of our division,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “In order to try and secure that home ice for the playoffs for a round or hopefully two rounds, we knew we were going to have to take care of the division games.”

“Any time you play your own division, a lot of times it really is a four-point game,” Rinne said. “They’re always big swings when you’re playing in your own division. We’ve been doing a really good job and I think our coaching staff does a great job also preparing us and making sure that we understand that it’s a division game or even a Western Conference game.”

While the Predators remain atop the Central Division, second-place Winnipeg isn’t going away just yet and there’s still work to do to secure the top spot. But with that portion of the schedule coming to a close, Nashville’s ability to rise to the occasion when it matters most is noteworthy.

“One goal we set out at the beginning of the year was to win the Central Division and we took another step closer tonight to achieving that goal and keep on getting wins, and finish as high as we can,” Hartnell said. “It’s just been great efforts the whole year long, and especially tonight a big effort by everybody.”

Notes:

Preds forward Austin Watson and defenseman Yannick Weber were both listed as day-to-day with upper-body injuries and did not play on Tuesday. Defenseman Alexei Emelin returned to the lineup from his upper-body injury.

The Predators now have 109 points on the season, just one away from tying a franchise record.

Nashville’s home stand continues on Thursday when the San Jose Sharks come to town before the Buffalo Sabres visit Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Monday Prep Results
> CHS Baseball topped Lawrence County – 5 to 1 – See the story HERE
> CHS Softball fell to Warren Co – 5 to 4 – See the story HERE
> WMS Baseball lost to Cascade – 19 to 13 – See the story HERE

Tuesday Prep Schedule
12:00 PM – CHS Softball HOSTS Milford, OH – Thunder Radio broadcast
6:00 PM – CHS Baseball HOSTS Lawrence Co – Thunder Radio broadcast