Four NCAA teams to play in Nashville

Boston College, Harvard, the University of Minnesota, and national champions Wisconsin are in for a smashing good time over Thanksgiving weekend.

According to BC Interruption, the four teams will head to Nashville for a showcase billed as the “Country Classic.” Schedules for the 2019-2020 season haven’t been announced yet, but tickets are available on the Nashville Predators’ Ticketmaster site.

Per BCI, the inter-conference matchups, which have been lacking in recent years, have been in talks for some time. Typically, ECAC and Hockey East teams only see maybe one or two WCHA teams in the regular season.

Based on the tickets for sale, the two East Coast teams will play the two Midwest teams but not each other. Games will be played back-to-back on Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30. They’ll be played at the brand-new Ford Ice Center in Bellevue, Tenn.

This is the second year in a row women’s hockey will be played in the neutral Nashville. The NWHL hosted their All Star Weekend there in February. Their skills competition was held at the Ford Ice Center, albeit a different Ford Ice Center than the one planned for the County Classic.

Youth teams and hockey fans showed up in droves for the NWHL weekend, which could predict a strong showing for the Country Classic. Add dedicated fan bases from all four colleges and the city of Nashville’s own strong appeal, and we could see another successful weekend of women’s hockey in Smashville.