The Nashville Jr. Preds 16U Girls and 18U Boys teams are showing that success with the Predators isn’t only happening at the NHL level.
On April 7, Nashville Jr. Predators 16U girls earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Malone Adirondack 46ers in the title game of the 2024 Chipotle-USA Hockey Girls Tier II 16U 1A National Championship.
Not to be outdone, the 18U boys team with a title of their own, defeating the Anchorage North Stars 3-2 for the title at the 2024 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 18U 2A National Championship. Aidan Pustizzi, Barrett Teasdalea and Colin Sullivan each tallied a goal to help earn the program’s first national championship since 2012.
In the 16U girls title game, Lily Lambert and Presley Davies scored a goal apiece and Reese Mackenzie turned away 29 shots. The Preds won despite being outshot 30-17, including 14-3 in the second period when they took a 1-0 lead.
“Nationals is a special place to have the opportunity to compete against the best teams in the country,” 16U Head Coach Mekenzie Steffen said. “It brings out a new level in our girls. Anyone who has been there understands that getting to the championship game is a mental and physical grind. For the girls, it is the ultimate reward following a season of relentless effort. Winning not only validates their hard work throughout the year but also highlights the remarkable unity that they’ve cultivated as a team, forming an unbreakable bond. I am so proud of the girls.”
This is the second year in a row that the Jr. Preds girls program has won a national championship. Last year, Head Coach Kahlie Singletary led the 19U girls to a championship. Fast forward to 2024 when Steffen won the 16U National Championship, while all three Jr. Preds teams advanced to the playoff rounds of the national tournament.
The girls Jr. Preds programs have made significant progress recently. All three of the girls teams made it to the semifinal game at the national tournament. It is only the second year having the 16U team in the Jr. Preds program.
“Everything the Nashville Predators are doing to introduce more girls to the game of hockey in Nashville and the surrounding Southern states is incredible,” Steffen said. “Girls hockey in the south has really taken off over the past few years. This is the second year in a row that our girls program has won a national championship, which speaks volumes to the growth of the game. I am so thankful for all of the amazing coaches, leadership, mentors we have within our program who are developing these girls as not only players, but as confident women.”
Led by Head Coach Tom Murphy, the Jr. Predators 18U boys team entered the tournament as a dark horse coming in with a 26-17-1 record. That left them closer to the bottom than the top of the field in terms of point percentage and rankings.
However, like most successful teams during the postseason, they got hot at the right time. The Jr. Preds held a 23-6 scoring margin during the three pool play games. They had to rally from deficits in both the semifinals and final to eventually earn the championship.
It took a long time for the Jr. Preds to reach the top of the mountain again. Since 2021 when the 18U program was restructured, the Jr. Preds earned a spot in the national championship game three times. After losing in the title game in 2022 and 2023, the third time was the charm to finally capture the championship.
“There’s a lot of kids that have grown up within the Jr. Preds program since the time they first put on skates and it gets more and more challenging to make the sacrifices that all of these kids make year after year, especially as they get into high school, have plans for college or university, friends, relationships," said Zach Jackson, Nashville Jr. Predators Tier 2 Director. "The travel and time that it takes to play AA hockey, it’s a commitment and a sacrifice from other important things in life. We’ve had an amazing group of families and players the last few years and to see these young men achieve something that they’ll never forget is beyond words. There’s a bond amongst hockey players and wherever everyone ends up, you’ll always remember the game winning goal or the blocked shot or the unbelievable save in those high pressure games."
