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.

With attendance up, is Nashville slowly becoming a hockey market?

The Nashville Predators have always been considered a part of a “traditional” hockey market of sorts. It’s a tradition for the media to group struggling hockey cities together, suggesting they be relocated to Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton or even Kansas City, Las Vegas or Seattle.

Nashville Predators game attendance is up so far during the 2010-2011 season (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

Always on the move

It seems every other month Ken Campbell from The Hockey News has the Predators on the move. Either Nashville is looking for investors or are about to be sold and moved to Kansas. Just last March, Campbell’s rumor was that the “Nashville Predators have reached an agreement with the Metro Sports Authority to keep the team in Nashville for at least another two seasons, but the deal has yet to be signed and there are rumblings Kansas City is making a serious push for the Predators to relocate there.”