True to her musical roots, Wright says just the sound of hockey brings back memories of her childhood in Merlin, a small farming community near the "metropolis" of Chatham.
"When you put a hockey game on, no matter where you're at, there's just a sound that comforts me and takes me back to my childhood," she said. "There's something about the sound of hockey … the puck hitting the stick. I like to say it's a Canadian thing, but I think many Americans could relate to that, growing up and watching hockey themselves. It's something I take pride in. I take ownership of that game as a Canadian.
"When I hear the sound of hockey, it takes me places. I grew up watching it and went to a few games at Maple Leaf Gardens. I don't know that I can recall my first game, who it was, but I feel that it was Montreal against the Maple Leafs."
It's with great passion that Wright sees and shares country music's love of the Predators. The playoffs have featured global superstars singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" game after game and other entertainers towel-waving the crowd into a frenzy immediately following the anthem.
On Saturday, country giant Alan Jackson performed for a teeming, raucous crowd of thousands outside Bridgestone Arena, not something you'd see every day.
Years ago, Wright was asked by the late, legendary country songwriter Harlan Howard to perform the anthems before a Predators game.
"But I was on the road, unable to do it," she said with a sigh. "It would be quite the thing to sing the anthem in Bridgestone Arena, for sure."