Each day through May 26, TheGameNashville.com will post the Top 10 moments of the Nashville Predators’ 2015-16 season. We encourage your feedback. Feel free to tweet us your reaction to @1025thegame.
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Once every 30 years (sometimes more, just ask Buffalo), a city gets an opportunity to host an NHL All-Star Game. In January, 2016 became Nashville’s year and they made the event a weekend-long party.
From country star Dierks Bentley scoring in the skills competition to Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene picking up a guitar and sitting in with Lee Brice to the Vince Gill singing the National Anthem with his daughter, the city of Nashville and the franchise of the Predators set the bar extremely high for all future All-Star Weekends.
If that wasn’t enough, the League changed the format of the game to a series of 3-on-3 tilts in which the Eastern Conference division teams faced each other, the Western Conference division teams faced each other and then the winners of those games played for the $1,000,000 check. The tweak resulted in regenerated interest in what had become a rather boring product (for the hockey world, not the host market).
The Predators also made a little history as all four representatives (Pekka Rinne, James Neal, Shea Weber and Roman Josi) started in the Central Division’s game, marking the first time in League history that one team has boasted all starters in an All-Star Game.
And then there was John Scott. A fan-demanded write-in vote, Scott was included as a farce. He was told by guys like Jeremy Roenick that he didn’t belong anywhere near the festivities. All Scott did was go out, score two goals, fake a fight with Patrick Kane and win the All-Star Game’s MVP Award. In an awesome twist of irony, Roenick then had to interview Scott after the event and Scott — with class — burned him on live TV.
Below is a recap of the All-Star Game, courtesy of Nashville’s News Channel 5.
Below is SportsNet’s post-game interview with an incredibly candid Scott.
Below is a recap of the 2nd annual Mascot Dance-Off.
The entire All-Star Weekend comes in at #5 on our Top 10 Moments of the 2015-16 Season countdown.
Miss any of the previous moments?
CLICK HERE :: #10
CLICK HERE :: #9
CLICK HERE :: #8
CLICK HERE :: #7
CLICK HERE :: #6
