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Saturday, October 10, 1998
Expansion team plays first NHL game
But coach Barry Trotz likes what he's seen of Brooks in skates.
"He's a banger," says Trotz. "He's aggressive."
The hockey coach and the country and western singer have become friends.
The friendship goes back two years to when Trotz was coaching an AHL team in Portland, Me. There was a Brooks concert at the arena one night and Trotz, when he heard that the singer and some of his band members were hockey fans, helped arrange ice time afterwards.
"We played shinny till 3 a.m.," Trotz recalls. "We had a great time."
When the band performed in other cities where there were hockey teams, and if Trotz knew the coach, he'd call ahead and help arrange ice time for Brooks.
"From then on, we stayed in contact," says Trotz. "He'll show up for games here."
Brooks threw a barbecue party for Trotz after the Saskatchewan native was hired by the NHL expansion team last year.
"You know, he probably would be a good hockey player," says Trotz. "I haven't seen him skate in two years but he's as fit as an athlete and he plays hockey just like his shows -- all out."
Brooks has season tickets for Predators, as do fellow recording artists Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Amy Grant and Deanna Carter. Mindy McCready was to sing the anthem prior to the first game Saturday night.
Billboards in the Nashville region pushing season tickets have pictured some of them -- with a front tooth or two blacked out.
"Garth doesn't have an ego," says Trotz. "When you're around him, he treats you like the star."
The players arrived at the Nashville Arena Saturday afternoon in a procession of military-style vehicles called hummers.
"I guess you could call them hockey limousines," Trotz said.
A red carpet led from the curb to an entranceway made up to resemble a glacier. Fake snow on the concrete looked surreal on the 25-degree afternoon.
Fans in Predators jerseys and caps cheered their arrival, muffling the twang of guitars from bars down the street. Passersby, some wearing cowboy hats and unaware of the team's opener, gawked.
The players, underdogs against the Florida Panthers, were determined to put on a good show for a sellout crowd of 17,500.
"This last year has been a long road," Trotz said. "It seem so far away, and now it's here.
"Everybody is jacked up emotionally."
The Predators played no exhibition games in the city. They wanted the team's first appearance to be in a game that counted in the standings. Most of the players have yet to establish a profile in the community. But they sense something good happening.
"People don't realize how big hockey is going to be in Nashville," said forward Scott Walker, who was claimed from the Vancouver Canucks in the expansion draft.
Notes: This is the eighth NHL team for defenceman J.J. Daigneault . . . Pro teams have flocked to Nashville. The NFL's Tennessee Oilers, the Nashville Kats arena football team, and the Nashville Noise women's pro basketball club vie for attention. University and high school football is huge, too . . . "That's one area we'll be good at this season," Trotz joked about the lineup of country and western singers volunteering their services. "We're deep in anthem singers." . . . League commissioner Gary Bettman flew in for the opener.
