Another State Championship--But In A Different Sport

Congratulations to the Father Ryan High School Ice Hockey Team!

They are Tennessee State Champions after winning the 2009 Predators' Cup this past weekend. Making the accomplishment even sweeter was the fact that the Irish won the title by defeating arch-rival, and two-time defending state champions, Pope John Paul II High School, 4-1.

It was the second victory of the year for Ryan over JPII. They defeated the Knights 5-2 during the regular season.

Ice Hockey is certainly a sport we didn't have when we attended Father Ryan 40 years ago. But like wrestling in our day, ice hockey is a sport that is catching at the high school-level on all over Tennessee. That's in large part due to the continuing success of the NHL's Nashville Predator franchise.

Professional hockey is not a new thing in Nashville. During our day, we had the Eastern Hockey League Dixie Flyers, a minor league franchise that played at the city's Municipal Auditorium (with its under-sized rink) from 1962 until the franchise folded in 1971.

Sure it wasn't big league hockey, but remember this was back in the pre-expansion days of the " Original Six" at the NHL-level, meaning that there was a lot of good talent available to the minor league clubs, because there were so few roster spots at the very top.

A number of the players for the Dixie Flyers stayed in Nashville and became a part of the community. That includes Flo Pilote, a French-Canadian, who for many years operated a restaurant in the Hermitage area called "The Penalty Box." There was also Ted McCaskill, who worked with my Dad at the Ford Glass Plant. McCaskill's son, Kirk, also had some national sports prominence as a big-league pitcher.

And, of course, who can forget the other Dixie Flyer greats such as goal-keeper Marv Edwards, who once had 15 shutouts in a single season, and played without a face mask (by the way, most of the players skated without helmets). Other memorable Flyers included player-coach Lloyd Hinchberger, captain Ken "Red" Murphy," Wally Sprange and Joe Zorica.

The Flyers did very well during our years at Father Ryan. They won EHL championships our freshman and sophomore years (1965-66 & 1966-67) and lost out in the finals when were seniors (1968-69).

Two years later, the franchise was gone as the NHL expanded and the sport struggled to find fans here in a "non-traditional" market. The same thing happened for the Nashville South Stars minor-league pro team here in the 1990s.

The Predators have had their struggles as well, although with new local ownership and an exciting, scrappy team once again fighting for a playoff berth, the future for the sport here looks bright.

That also include our FRHS state championship team. Go Irish!

If you have memories of the Dixie Flyers during our time at Ryan, please send them to me (pat.nolan@dvl.com) or post them below. That particularly includes my classmate Pat Bauer, who, along with his dad, took me to several Flyers game back in the day.