Nashville Predators

It feels like the first time – Colton Sissons gets first NHL goal

By Jim Diamond

Early in the first period of Thursday night’s game, Predators rookie center Colton Sissons drove down the left side of the Buffalo zone with a good look at the net, lined up a wrist shot, and then promptly whiffed on 98% of the puck.

Soon that puck will be mounted and put on display as forever a keepsake for the 20-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C.

Confused? Don’t be.

The puck that trickled off the end of his stick found its way to Rich Clune in the faceoff circle, where he sent a solid backhand on Sabres goaltender Matt Hackett. Hackett made the save, but allowed the rebound to squirt out to the left side.

Undaunted by his earlier miss, Sissons kept driving toward the net and was rewarded for it when he jumped on the puck, and this time made no mistake, ripping a laser by Hackett for his first career NHL goal.

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“Of course, I didn’t fan on it at all,” Sissons said of the first attempt, with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Everything happens for a reason. I think I’ve been working pretty hard and fortunately got a bounce there to get my first.”

Following the game, Predators head coach Barry Trotz sounded proud of Sissons and fellow rookie Calle Jarnkrok, who also scored his first NHL goal Thursday.

“Both those young centermen are part of the future and they have come in here and done a really good job,” Trotz said. “Colton Sissons getting his first, he’s a really detailed player. I think his game will translate at the pro level.”

Playing in his 14th NHL game, Sissons admitted to wondering when that first one was going to come.

“As soon as the puck left my stick, there was a little slow motion portion,” Sissons said. “It was just crazy in the celebration after. My mind was going everywhere.”

As Sissons came together with linemates Clune and Eric Nystrom behind the Buffalo goal, Nystrom yelled at Clune to go and retrieve that special puck.

“We’ve bonded,” Sissons said of Clune. “We’ve played quite a bit together and I can call him a good friend of mine now. He’s a great teammate and I’m really happy to be playing with him.”

And how does it feel to get that first one?

“I can’t really describe it,” he said. “I’m on top of the world right now. It feels amazing.”

Del Zotto situation one that bears watching

By Jim Diamond

When Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz filled out his lineup card prior to Sunday night’s game at the United Center in Chicago, one name omitted was that of defenseman Michael Del Zotto. It was the second time in three games that Trotz made Del Zotto a healthy scratch, and for all intents and purposes, Del Zotto was basically a scratch in Friday night’s game in Calgary, seeing just 3:13 of ice time.

Against the Flames, multiple injuries up front forced the Predators to dress seven defensemen. He did post a nice assist in his very limited ice time in that game.

Acquired in a January 22nd trade with the New York Rangers that saw longtime Predator Kevin Klein sent to the other Broadway in return, Del Zotto has just four assists in 19 games played with the Predators.

On the day he made the trade for Del Zotto, Predators general manager David Poile said Del Zotto’s penchant for offense was one of the main reasons he made the deal.

“We’re a team that struggles a little bit offensively and a lot of our offense comes from our defense, and I think Del Zotto is another piece that will help us in that area,” Poile said at the time. “Del Zotto has a big time upside offensively and hopefully under our coaches, that will be fulfilled.”

Following Friday’s scratching, Trotz told The Tennessean that things weren’t working out the way he was expecting them to with Del Zotto. 

“You’re always competing for a spot. He’s not veteran enough to not compete for a spot,” Trotz said. “Every night has to be about consistency for him and we have some people we can pull in and out.”

Del Zotto has tremendous offensive upside, but Trotz is not a fan of one dimensional players, and he requires them to give effort at both ends of the ice.

With just ten games remaining in the Predators’ disappointing 2013-14 season, how Del Zotto is handled down the stretch could provide just another story line in what is setting up to be an interesting offseason for Nashville.

Whether this is just a short-term player/coach disagreement or if there is more to the situation still remains to be seen.

Del Zotto wanted out of New York following last offseason’s coaching change from John Tortorella to Alain Vigneault. The trade to Nashville seemed to be just the opportunity he was looking for.

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Del Zotto will be a restricted free agent at season’s end. Carrying a $2.9 million salary this season, the Predators would need to make him a qualifying offer of at least that amount just to retain his rights.

Following an all but decided second-straight finish out of the playoffs, changes to the front office and/or behind the bench seem like distinct possibilities. With so many of the team’s current players already under contract for next season, making major modifications to the roster will be an almost herculean task.

If whoever is running and coaching the team decide that they do not want Del Zotto back for next season and beyond, they have the option of not providing him a qualifying offer, essentially losing him for nothing beyond the games played here, or trying to trade him to another team.

Losing Del Zotto for nothing would not look good on the front office. Klein was a reliable defensive defenseman who is signed for four more years with a bargain of an average cap hit of $2.9 million.

There are lots of moving parts here, and the coming weeks will be interesting to watch, especially with regard to Del Zotto’s future in Nashville.

Generosity of hockey fans to reunite Michael Del Zotto with a special young fan

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Photo Credit: Deborah Traynor

By Jim Diamond

Most hockey players have certain routines that they go through before a game. Nashville Predators defenseman Michael Del Zotto is no different, but one of the things he does prior to a game stands out as a bit unique.

Each game day, Del Zotto checks his phone to read a text message from his 12-year-old friend Liam Traynor.

“He texts me before every single game, and says ‘good luck, go get em,’” Del Zotto said. “He gives me a little pep talk.”

Liam was featured as part of HBO’s “24/7” series leading up to the 2012 Winter Classic game between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. One of the documentary’s episodes profiled the special relationship Liam had with then-Rangers head coach John Tortorella.

Mostly known for his crusty exterior and testy exchanges with the media, Tortorella showed a much softer side in his interactions with Liam, who is living with Cerebral Palsy.

One of the scenes took place in Liam’s bedroom. He is shown maneuvering his wheelchair over to a Rangers jersey hanging on one of the posts of his bed. That jersey was Del Zotto’s number four.

“We met, I am pretty sure it was my first year,” Del Zotto said. “He came to practice and I just saw him there, came over to him, and gave him a stick. From then on, we’ve just become friends.”

Not long after that, Liam attended a Rangers game at Madison Square Garden and went down to the team’s locker room after the game. Del Zotto brought his friend to the team bench where they spent the next hour discussing all of the things that happened during the game and where they occurred on the ice.

Following one of Liam’s surgeries, Del Zotto surprised his friend at the family’s Rockland County, New York home so that they could play Xbox together.

One of the signs of a solid friendship is when one friend stands up for the other, and that’s exactly what Liam did during Del Zotto’s second NHL season when the Rangers assigned him to their American Hockey League affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut.

Not happy with seeing his friend and favorite player sent down to the minors, Liam called Tortorella looking for an explanation. To his credit, Tortorella called Liam back and explained the process that teams sometimes have to go through with young players.

A New City, A New Beginning

An offseason coaching change in New York made the start of the 2013-14 season a difficult one for Del Zotto. In late January, the Rangers sent him to Nashville in exchange for longtime Predator blueliner Kevin Klein.

“He texted me right away, and I knew he was pretty sad,” Del Zotto said of Liam. “I didn’t know what to say. It was a tough time obviously for both of us. He was pretty sad to see me go, but he is still watching every game. I am a little bit further away, but he is still watching. I can’t wait to have him down here to catch a game.”

Seeing his friend move close to a thousand miles away was difficult, but Liam has seen a dramatic on-ice change in Del Zotto early in his tenure with the Predators.

“I am very excited to see Michael and see a different approach to how he plays,” Liam said. “When he was in New York, when I saw him the last time before he got traded, you could see that he was very frustrated and he was not himself. Now to see him with the Predators, you can definitely see him relaxed and see him taking risks and knowing that he can make those plays.”

Liam also noted the instant chemistry Del Zotto developed with Seth Jones, who Del Zotto was paired with when he first became a Predator. And as a sled hockey defenseman, Liam definitely knows what he is talking about.

Knowing that Liam missed his friend, one of Liam’s fellow Ranger fans came up with the idea of starting an online fundraiser to send Liam and his family to Nashville to catch a Predators game.

“When we saw the site, we were like, ‘Oh my goodness,’” Liam’s mother Deborah said.

Success

In just 11 days, the online fundraising campaign raised over $4,000, enough to cover all of the transportation and lodging expenses for the entire Traynor family (Liam, his twin sister Shannon, seven-year-old brother Kieran, and parents Deborah and Richard) to head south and reunite Liam with Del Zotto.

Single donation amounts ranged from five dollars all the way up to $1,000, with all contributors electing to remain anonymous.

“Once I saw that we got $2,000 up to $3,000, I kind of started realizing that it was getting real and it was going to happen,” Liam said.

Since the Predators do not face the Rangers or the Vancouver Canucks, Tortorella’s new team, in Nashville again this season, the March 8 game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was selected as the target.

“It was really generous of the fans to raise money to send him down here,” Del Zotto said. “I know it means a lot to him, but it means even more to myself.”

Thanks to one Rangers blog, Liam will have proper attire for a game in Smashville. That blog sent him a Predators jersey, complete with Del Zotto’s name and new number. Liam says he can’t wait to get his friend to sign his new jersey.

Since Ryan Ellis wears number four for the Predators, Del Zotto needed a new number.

“He texted me one day, and I asked him if he was going to keep his number and he said he didn’t know yet,” Liam said. “He asked me what numbers would you choose and I said five, two, and 43. And he chose five.”

Del Zotto did not have too difficult of a decision to make; in fact, it was already made for him.

“You can tell he has a lot of pull with me,” Del Zotto said with a smile.

Nashville in Style

Thanks to a helping hand from the brass at 501 Broadway, Liam and his family will have their seats at the game upgraded. They will sit in the suite that Pekka Rinne and Shea Weber purchase for each home game, usually for use by families going through some difficult times.

“Whenever we get a chance to use this team to make someone’s night a little nicer or make them forget about some pain, it’s a good thing to do,” Predators president and chief operating officer Sean Henry said. “Sometimes you do things to make a kid smile.”

Still a diehard Ranger fan, Liam is now a big supporter of the Predators as well.

“His room is painted all in New York Rangers’ colors and theme, but now he says he wants to paint the other half the Predators’ colors,” Deborah said.

Liam has been doing some walking on the treadmill lately. He documents the workouts and sends the video to Del Zotto.

“Just to have him send me those videos makes me teary,” Del Zotto said. “He’s an inspiration to me just to see what he has gone through. If I am going though a tough time or having a tough day, I kind of look at him and see what he has gone through and how tough he has been, it’s unbelievable.”

With the Traynor family set to be in town for the game on the 8th, Del Zotto’s pregame routine will be a little different. He won’t have to check his phone for words of encouragement from Liam. He will be able to get them in person.

“He and his family talk about what an inspiration I’ve been to him, but for me, it is the other way around,” Del Zotto said. “I am just so happy to be able to call him my best friend.”

Pittsburgh’s Paul Martin meets with family of fallen soldier whose name was sewn into his Olympic hockey gear

By Jim Diamond

As you drive west on Highway 96 in Franklin just past Pinkerton Park headed toward the city’s historic downtown square, you will cross a small bridge near the Harpeth River. A small green sign alerts passers by that the bridge is the James W “Tre” Ponder III Memorial Bridge, named in honor of Army Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III.

Sergeant Ponder grew up in Franklin and was a graduate of Battle Ground Academy. He was stationed at Fort Campbell, KY as a member of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the Night Stalkers.

Sgt. Ponder was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005 when his Chinook helicopter was shot down while on a mission to rescue four Navy SEALs who were engaged in a mission against Taliban fighters. The mission was known as Operation Red Wing, and was profiled in the Lone Survivor book and movie.

While not widely publicized during the recently completed Olympics, members of the United States hockey team had the names of fallen members of the military stitched on a patch sewn into their shoulder pads.

“About two months before the Olympics, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation contacted us and said that the U.S. Hockey team wanted to honor fallen Special Operations soldiers, and randomly, my husband was chosen,” Sgt. Ponder’s widow Leslie said Tuesday night prior to the start of the Nashville Predators-Pittsburgh Penguins game at Bridgestone Arena. “They asked if we would accept that honor. We, of course, said, Yes.’”

Leslie, the daughter of former Franklin mayor Tom Miller, still lives in the city. She is a sixth grade English teacher at Christ Presbyterian Academy.

“We didn’t hear anything for two months, and about a week before the Olympics began, we were informed that Paul Martin from the Penguins was chosen to have Tre’s name underneath his uniform,” Leslie said.

Representing the U.S. in international competition is an honor for players, but to do so with the name of a fallen soldier stitched underneath their uniform meant so much more to Martin.

“As far as perspective goes, us as players definitely appreciate the opportunity to represent our country and what an honor it is,” he said. “But when you get to meet the true heroes, the men and women that defend our country and give us that freedom that you try not to take for granted, to have them lost in battle and be able to meet their family and the sacrifice they made, it is special to appreciate that.”

Following the Olympics, Leslie checked the Predators’ schedule and noticed that the Penguins were going to be in Nashville Tuesday night.

“I just sent a random email to the Penguins organization asking would it be possible to just thank him in person for the honor that he gave our family,” Leslie said. “We just feel blessed that the U.S. Hockey team chose to do a quiet tribute to these quiet professionals.”

Martin sustained a broken right hand in the Olympics, an injury that will keep him out of Pittsburgh’s lineup for four to six weeks. Injured players do not usually travel on road trips, but a special exception was made in this case.

“When I found out that Leslie had emailed our organization, I asked coach (Dan Bylsma) and our GM Ray (Shero) if there was a possibility that I could go and they said yes right away,” Martin said. “I’m definitely excited to meet them and thank them for sending out that email.”

Leslie and her two daughters Samantha and Elizabeth met with Martin outside Pittsburgh’s locker room prior to Tuesday night’s game. They posed for pictures, including one Martin insisted be taken with his phone. Leslie presented Martin with a Night Stalkers commemorative coin as well.

“I will cherish it and keep it close my entire life,” Martin said.

After meeting with Martin and speaking with the media, Predators Communications and Interactive Media Coordinator Jimi Russell, who is a Navy veteran, escorted Leslie and her two daughters to their seats. While waiting for an elevator on Bridgestone Arena’s event level, Russell shared his connection to the military. In addition to his service, Russell’s brother, Army Captain Drew Russell, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country when he was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2011.

Leslie said that the family was cheering for Team USA, and especially Martin, in the Olympics. Even though she is a fan of the Predators, she will continue to cheer for Martin to do well.