Members of the Vanderbilt Hockey Club joined the city’s biggest party of the weekend last Friday when the Nashville Predators and Mayor Karl Dean hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new Ford Ice Center located in Antioch, Tennessee.

The crowd attending the ceremony - a veritable who’s who from the Nashville hockey community that included Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, Predators defenseman Seth Jones, 20-time Grammy winner and country music star Vince Gil, and Predators broadcast personalities Pete Weber, Stu Grimson, and Terry Crisp – was beyond excited to see the initiative officially cross the finish line. The opening represented a 50% increase in the amount of ice available to the greater Nashville area, an increase to 6 ice sheets from 4.

Spot a few familiar faces? The club was thrilled to not only carve out a few spots in the crowd but also don their new jerseys for the event. They’ll never be whiter and fresher!

After hopping on the ice for the free community skate and also grabbing a quick bite to eat, the Vanderbilt hockey players definitely left with the same assessment as Seth Jones. The facility is truly world class and will be an amazing asset for the Nashville hockey community for years to come.