Dierks Bentley is a huge hockey fan and is happy that Music City U.S.A. has become a major hockey town!
The Predators have made the postseason 10 times in their 19 years in the National Hockey League (NHL). They just got to play in the team’s first ever Stanley Cup Finals series since joining the NHL in 1998. Unfortunately for Predators fans, Nashville lost the finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4 games to 2.
If you have followed Dierks Bentley more than casually, you know he is a huge hockey fan. He loves to play the game as well as watch it on every level. Obviously when hockey came to Nashville, Dierks became an instant fan of the Predators.
While he was unable to celebrate the team’s first Stanley Cup since they didn’t win it, he does feel like the NHL has to be grateful to the Music City for what it has given to hockey.
“I’ve got some friends who work for the NHL,” Dierks shares talking about the Stanley Cup Finals games played on the Predators’ home ice, “and they said they’ve never seen an atmosphere like the one here in Nashville.”
He elaborated on what his friends meant, “They said it’s like collegiate – the chants, the way everyone chants together and the volume is the loudest they’ve ever heard it anywhere in the country.”
While Dierks would have rather his team won the championship, he thinks there is something beyond getting the trophy that Nashville and the Predators fans can be proud of.
“It’s not so much about what the Stanley Cup means to Nashville,” he explains, “it’s more about what Nashville is doing for hockey. I mean we’re doing a lot more for the NHL is doing then what the NHL is doing for us. We’re showing really the NHL what a really great hockey town looks like.”
If you watched any of the coverage of the Predators in the NHL playoffs, you know what Dierks is referring to in “Smashville.” You can tell that Nashville has really become a major hockey town, and Dierks is happy about that.
I pass this one piece of comfort along to Dierks and all of the fans of the Predators. There is an old sports adage that says you have to lose a championship before you can win one … you have checked off the first box in the adage.
By: Buck Stevens
