Junior Predators 18U AAA Boys Team Riding 23-Game Unbeaten Streak

Nashville's NHL club isn't the only team currently on a tear in Middle Tennessee.
Even in the midst of all the challenges brought about by participating in a season during a pandemic, the Nashville Junior Predators 18U AAA boys squad is unbeaten in 23 straight games during the 2020-21 campaign, and they're not done yet.
The team has already won the Southeast District Championship for the second-straight season, and in a little more than a week, the group will head to Columbus for their final showcase of the year before traveling to St. Louis to begin their participation in the USA Hockey National Championship Tournament.
Head Coach of the 18U AAA club Steve Jennings had high hopes for his team, but just about everyone figures there will be at least one loss along the way.
Not for these Jr. Preds.

"These kids have been really resilient the entire year, which has been tremendous," Jennings, who is also the director of operations for Total Package Hockey in Nashville, said. "They've come together extremely well… and they're probably the tightest group I've ever coached, which is awesome, and it shows when we get on the ice."
The team was also victorious in the Tier I Elite League Playoffs, the best league in the country for the midget age group. That same weekend, the 14U, 16U and 18U Jr. Preds teams were all in the semifinals in the tournament, a first for the program.
"That was tremendous, and it just really put our program on the map," Jennings said. "People have talked about us, but everyone's sitting up and paying attention now, which is great."
The 18U AAA Jr. Preds team, which plays out of Ford Ice Center Bellevue, plays at the Tier I level, the most highly scouted and recruited youth division which produces the most players for non-pay-to-play junior leagues such as the USHL, NAHL and CHL. The team's roster has players from all across the country, but of the 23 players listed, 16 reside from the southeastern United States, including six from the greater Nashville area, and seven if Hayden Nichol, son of former Predators forward and current Director of Player Development Scott Nichol, is included.
Recent successes on the ice at the various age levels have allowed the program to flourish, just one more sign hockey in Nashville - no matter the organization - is alive and well.
"In prior years, we'd be worried about losing kids to other hockey areas, prep schools up north or maybe Detroit or Chicago, and now we actually sit and go like, 'What do you really need to go there for? What are you actually going to get?'" Jennings said. "Now, we can point to our rafters here and there's a couple banners hanging here. You walk into our locker room where we get the championship plaques around our door, and we don't need to worry about that anymore because we actually have people coming down here to watch our kids, which is great. In prior years we didn't have that, but now we have scouts reaching out saying, 'Hey, I'd like to see this event, can you send us the schedule, we want to get there,' which is tremendous."
Jennings is hoping his team can add to that collection of plaques and banners in the weeks to come, and if their showings this season are any indication, they'll likely find a way to do that.
Not only do teenagers have other things to worry about - schoolwork, off-ice relationships and everything else that comes with adolescence - but their hockey routine has also been affected. Things like having to get dressed in parking lots instead of locker rooms, and even wearing masks to play in a tournament in Michigan due to COVID protocols, as well as just a simple inability to get together as a team outside of the rink could have derailed a team's focus when it came to actual games.
Instead, they've done just the opposite.
"Say what you will about the video-game generation and all that stuff, but this is a super resilient group," Jennings said. "They have learned how to be flexible and how to be resilient and how to not use those challenges as an excuse to not be at their best. That's the best part about them.
"I've never had a crew like this, where they get scored on in the game, and they just answer back, and they do it quickly, and they don't get rattled. I do think some of that is a function of what they've had to go through this year. They've had to learn how to just say, 'Oh well, we'll just do whatever we have to do.' That has translated really into how they play and how they respond as a group, and this is a super tight group. They're the cell-phone generation, but these guys have actually used it in the right way right because they're texting with each other and talking with each other all the time. It's a good thing, and they're an entire team of kids without a clique, which is the best thing. That's the hardest thing with kids this age is killing the cliques off, but they're just not like that."
What they are is a team that simply finds ways to win - much like their NHL counterparts these days - and if the Jr. Preds can continue their streak, they might just become the best in the nation.
"For the program doing so well, it's just done wonders, and it's not just about the team," Jennings said. "We have some really dedicated families who spend a lot of time with us, and it's so rewarding to see them get rewarded for understanding and committing to the process and being patient with it. It's outstanding… [As we head to Nationals], the best thing for our city and for the Preds and our Junior Preds program, I can't think of better ambassadors that we can send into a place like that than with these kids."