Preds Put on a Show

So as you all know, I visited Nashville in the fall of 2016.  If you didn't well read my last blog and we will accommodate you well.  Anyway, one of those trips in Nashville was to see the Nashville Predators NHL team.  For fans of the NHL, you know the Predators well.  For fans of the AHL, or if you are from Wisconsin (such as I am) you will know Nashville from their AHL affiliate the Milwaukee Admirals.  If you aren't a fan of hockey, well just reading the last two sentences have made you more aware of the Nashville Predators and the Milwaukee Admirals.  Anyway, this will be my recap of what I thought of downtown Nashville the night of the game, what I thought of the arena, and what I thought of the game itself.
  Downtown Nashville is something really wonderful.  When you park downtown, you have a host of options to go eat, park, and so much more.  One spot, you have the Country Music Hall of Fame, another is the Musicians Hall of Fame, another is the Nashville Sounds ballpark, and so much more to see and do.  It is no coincidence then that the Nashville Predators not only play downtown but in a great venue like Bridgestone Arena.  The downtown area is just absolutely amazing for parking and they were currently in the process of building another parking structure which would make it even better for the city as the parking options when I was there were limited.  However it is affordable at times, anywhere from 10 to 20 dollars will suffice.  Now that you have the back drop of the city in hand, let's talk about the game itself.

The rink at Bridgestone Arena at game time

  The Predators play at the aforementioned Bridgestone Arena.  Upon entering the building I thought with a pre-season game that there would not be more than 7 to 8 thousand people in the seats and it would be a sparse crowd.  However, I was very wrong on this thought.  There were close to 12 to 13 thousand people I believe at this event.  Much of it could have been due to star defenseman P.K. Subban being traded to Nashville and the resonating effect was more people coming to the arena.  Whatever the case with this, Subban scored for the Preds and the arena went absolutely berserk for him.  Nashville added another couple of goals and won the game 3-1.  This again was a pre-season game so not much really came of it other than really cheap seats and a night out in Nashville that was really awesome.  With that, it's time to review Bridgestone Arena.
  Bridgestone Arena to this writer is a nice arena.  I know they are looking at renovating the building, but when I went there it was quite nice.  The concourses are wide so you don't get jammed up by people standing in the middle of the way.  The team store is quite large, and they have certain sections so you aren't really going four or five different places to find one or two things.  They have a large selection of items so you likely would be able to find your own stuff you want.  The concessions are vast, though with pre-season the selection was not as high as they would be during the regular season and the pre-season is a way to work out the technical and technological glitches.  Overall, I thought the staff did a fine job working with the glitches and the new technology.  Overall, I would recommend this arena to anyone.  If they do mass renovations like what is being reported in the media at points in the last year, I can't imagine it wouldn't be one of the hottest arenas to attend afterward.
  All in all, I think Bridgestone Arena and the Nashville Predators can be proud of themselves for the product they have on the ice and in the arena.  While it'll be a while until I can come back to Nashville, I hope I can come back during the times of hockey again and have a lot of fun.  Until then, kudos to all of the Predators staff, the concession and store staff and the fans of the Predators.  Without all them, a pre-season game would not be nearly as fun as it was that night.