Smashville tradition gets credit for weekend win

On Saturday night, newest Predator Mike Fisher was welcomed to Smashville by experiencing the tv timeout standing ovation. Fisher says he had no idea what was happening once it started. “No. I heard the standing ovation but I missed part of it,” Fisher said with a huge smile, “It was very loud. I hadn’t felt like that in a while, that’s for sure.”

It’s a tradition that started in Smashville on April 3rd, 2008 when the Nashville Predators defeated the St. Louis Blues in game 81 of the season, guaranteeing a playoff spot if Edmonton lost that night to Vancouver (they did).

Both exciting and emotional, the deafening sound in the Arena when every fan in attendance stands and continuously cheers on the home team for the entire timeout is simply hard to put into words.

‘A battle every night’ in the Western Conference: Dany Heatley

San Jose Sharks forward Dany Heatley acknowledges the competitive nature of the Western Conference. It would seem that as each day passes, the Western Conference standings get more and more muddled with no obvious playoff picture emerging.

“I don’t know exactly what it is but there is different styles from the East and the West,” Healtey explained, “Top to bottom in the West you have pretty good teams, all the teams can skate, you are in for a battle every night. It’s definitely a tough Conference.”

Vancouver will win the Northwest Division and it is likely Detroit takes the Central. Edmonton will have another top 5 draft pick and the chances of Colorado or St. Louis making the post season continues to slip away. But positions three through twelve in the West are up for grabs.

The Fisher Way: ‘Intensity, hard working, good solid team game’

 

Bridgestone Arena will be packed for Saturday night’s game between the Nashville Predators and the Colorado Avalanche as Smashville gets set to welcome its newest member, Mike Fisher.

Fisher was traded from the Ottawa Senators to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. The 30 year old center is a consistent 20-goal scorer and will help Nashville in the areas of the game that needed improving, offense and depth at the center position.

Going back to Ottawa is Nashville’s 2011 first round draft pick. The Predators also owe Ottawa a conditional draft pick in 2012. If the Predators win one playoff round this year, Ottawa gets a third round pick at next year’s draft. If the Predators win two or more rounds in the post season, that conditional pick moves up to the second round.

The Peterborough, Ontario native said Wednesday was a “crazy day,” that it was hard to process everything so quickly and saying goodbye to teammates was tough.

Mike Fisher coming to Nashville

 

It is no secret that the Nashville Predators have been hurting at the position of center this season. Thursday morning, the Predators announced that they had traded picks for Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators.

Bad luck had hit Nashville pretty hard this season at center. The off season move of signing unrestricted free agent Matthew Lombardi has yet to pan out. Lombardi suffered a concussion and has not played a game since their second of the season against the Chicago Blackhawks. Cal O’Reilly is out with a broken leg. David Legwand missed time this season and last night in Detroit Marcel Goc left the game with an upper body injury. Goc also missed time earlier in the season with a separated shoulder.