As Cody Glass stood on the bench after being named the first star of the game he soaked it all in. He scored his first hat trick in the NHL and the crowd loved it. They let him know how special it was to watch him find his stride.
No doubt.
Glasser speaks to @KaraHammer after being named the first 🌟 and, trust us, you don't want to miss it! 💛@PredsNHL l #Preds pic.twitter.com/nwG51mtTEP
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“I think it’s mostly the team, we’re all rolling, connecting, and having fun,” Glass said of his play and the win streak. “When the team is doing good then the individual success comes along. It’s not just me, Roman is having a great time, Juuse is playing great, and [Novak] is doing great. It all comes out in win streaks.”
It’s the simple things that have allowed Glass to thrive since the winning streak started.
For the last 10 games, Glass has been playing as a winger and this season head coach Andrew Brunette has tried to work through his lineup decisions. Sometimes those are the choices that have kept him up all night wondering if it was the right thing to do.
“It’s hard, you learn a lot about yourself as a coach at the same time,” Brunette said. “You want the best for your players every one of them, you want them to be the best versions of themselves. There are a lot of sleepless nights wondering if you did the best for the young player.”
While it’s been difficult at times to decipher what to do the right things have come to Glass in this winning streak. He’s skated alongside veteran Colton Sissons the most through his transition to play on the wing and that’s stuck out.
“A little bit here and there, guys that are younger boys for sure up in front,” Sissons said of being there with his teammates. “They have guys to look up to like O’Reilly, Forsberg, Nyquist, to just chat with. I’m trying to be a reliable linemate to Glass and hopefully have some small part in that success. He’s put in a lot of work himself, proud of him.”
Sissons pointed to how when the lineup stays the same it also warrants superstitions to be the same as well.
“It was difficult for us to find that consistency throughout the forward lineup, we had a lot of movement earlier in the year which is difficult for everyone,” Sissons said.
Part of that has seen Glass out of the lineup injured or scratched 11 times this season.
Perseverance is something Glass is not foreign to, not only on the ice but also in his life away from it. His father Jeff and brother Matthew were all there for each other when life wasn’t easy.
As a younger player, Jeff wanted to do what he could to put Cody and Matthew through hockey and he made it work for them.
Sportsnet’s video on Glass before he was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights revealed his parents divorced when he was 10 years old and subsequently went through a custody battle.
Hockey was an escape for Glass and today he’s made the most of the chances he had in the NHL and right here in Nashville.
Jeff won the case and then as Cody and Matthew moved up the ladder playing hockey it was difficult financially to keep the boys on the ice.
Cody’s late grandmother, Judy, pitched in to house her son and grandsons. Not only that but assisted financially to keep her grandsons playing the game they loved.
Judy passed away in August of 2016 after a battle with cancer, and to this day Jeff, Matthew, and Cody are eternally thankful for what she did.
“I’m not just a hockey player, I’m a son and brother. There’s a lot of adversity that goes on away from the rink,” Glass said. “We have that brotherly bond I should say, just the two of us, It’s been great through thick and thin. I always give my dad the credit but my brother I give him a hard time but he’s been there for me through it all as well.”
Today Glass is taking the rest of the season one day at a time.
Nashville currently sits in a Wild Card spot with the Los Angeles Kings as of Tuesday and the Predators hope to maintain their efforts.
“All four lines have been buzzing. That’s how we want to play, we want to wear teams out that way,” Glass said. “We want to be in your face, play fast and when it comes to the third period be able to outskate them. Our practices have been hard but It’s been for a good reason.”
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X:Â @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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