Fisher, Preds Foundation Host Annual Clay Shoot to Benefit Community

There are plenty of charity golf tournaments and charity races, but not many can say they have been to a charity clay shoot.
However, for the third straight year, the CATCHIN' DEERS Mike Fisher Celebrity Clay Shoot, presented by Cooper Steel, was nothing but a success at the Nashville Gun Club on Wednesday. Forty different teams of celebrities and Preds supporters and sponsors joined former Nashville Captain Mike Fisher for a bit of fun on the course in support of the Preds Foundation empowered by SmileDirectClub.

"We've definitely branched out through the Preds Foundation on events," Preds Vice President of Community Relations Rebecca King said. "We've started doing a fishing tournament, we've always done a golf tournament, we've always done wine tasting, but to figure out how to reach out to a different demographic in our fan base - fishing and hunting definitely does that for us…. This is a passion of theirs, so the fact that they get to combine the love for the Preds with the love for shooting guns at a clay shoot is just a nice meld of everyone coming together for a great cause."
After raising a combined $140,000 for the Foundation during its first two iterations, this year's event is on track to raise nearly $100,000 on its own for various Middle Tennessee charities. The day brought plenty of fun on the range and was quite impactful off of it.
"It has been a fantastic day. Blue skies, great weather, raising money for local Middle Tennessee charities," King said. "Mike Fisher combines his efforts with the National Predators and the Foundation to put on this great event. It's been hugely successful, we had a really great turnout with 40 teams today and it's going to raise significant dollars for our community."
Fisher, who recorded 195 points in 341 games for the Preds over eight seasons in Nashville, continued his partnership with the Preds Foundation and the Nashville community despite being off the ice for over three seasons now.
"The Foundation - they do such a great job and they do a ton of work, so they deserve all the credit," Fisher said. "I enjoy supporting some of these ministries, supporting the Foundation, doing whatever I can and getting some of my friends out here to shoot and raise money for some great causes. But I'm just happy to still be able to do it."
"We always want to maintain relationships with our alumni," King said. "The fact that they keep coming back and wanting to participate in these fun events and supporting the organization but also engaging with our fan base and just keeping that connection with the Nashville Predators. We're just grateful for their support and for their participation, and it just makes it an even better event having them involved."

The Nashville community showed up in full force for Fisher and the Preds Foundation - as it has throughout the Foundation's events this year. Notable attendees at Wednesday's shoot included comedian Henry Cho, former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, former Vanderbilt All-American basketball player Shan Foster, former Preds players like J-P Dumont and Martin Erat, and of course, a number of the Preds broadcasting team members including Hal Gill, Chris Mason and Terry Crisp.
"It's great when you have the city we're in - we're the Volunteer State - but when you have guys like Mike Fisher and his wife, Carrie Underwood, putting on a thing like this every year - it does nothing but raise money for charity," Crisp said. "This is the most giving city I've ever been in... When you realize how many charities there are in the city of Nashville and yet every one of them, when they have an event, they get full support. That tells you what this city is all about."
Along with the 100-bird course clay shooting tournament, guests were treated to some Hunt Brothers Pizza for lunch and Puckett's for dinner. There were a number of intriguing items up for silent auction as well, including various Pekka Rinne memorabilia, a number of different signed pucks and plenty of Fisher-signed items, too.
"The team does such a good job to get guys involved. This community has so many great causes, so many other events like this golf events, you name it - that stuff's contagious," Fisher said. "That's why this community, Nashville and Middle Tennessee, is so special because there's so many of these events, and I'm glad to call this my home and to be part of the Preds Foundation and do stuff like this. It's really a blessing for me."
The former Preds centerman continues to build a deeper partnership with the Preds Foundation and alongside the Forsberg Clinic, the Week of Giving and many others, the Fisher Clay Shoot is becoming a staple in the Foundation's calendar.
"This is a fun event in that it's [Fisher] and his friends and some of his corporate partners and buddies," King said. "It's Preds supporters and corporate partners, its Foundation supporters and sponsors and for everyone to come together to raise money for the Preds foundation and for initiatives that Mike Fisher and the Preds Foundation want to support - it's just a great day."
The CATCHIN' DEERS Mike Fisher Celebrity Clay Shoot presented by Cooper Steel silent auction will be live online through next week, and fans can text "PREDS" to 76278 for a chance to bid on a number of items.