The Greater Nashville Scholastic Hockey League (GNASH) is the premier high school hockey league in the Nashville metropolitan area. GNASH has not only seen the competitive nature of the league expand with the prolonged presence of a successful NHL franchise, but has also experienced a surge of players and youth athletes wanting to play goalie and the sport of hockey - thanks in part to Rinne.
"Pekka is the whole reason I ever started playing not only goalie but hockey," GNASH All-Star goaltender Mathew Thayer said recently. "I remember [my dad] taking me to a game and it was like the coolest thing ever… That's when I decided hockey was going to be my sport because when I came home after that game, I was like, 'Mom, I want to play hockey,' and I specifically wanted to play goalie."
Rinne has been such an icon for goaltenders in Nashville that for many, he is the sole reason as to why they took up the position. Having this inspiration that's rubbed off onto an entire generation is a testament to how influential he is to youth athletes in Nashville. This impact extends not just into GNASH, but into youth hockey at every level in the area.
"I was always a big Preds fan," Brandt Balz, a goalie for the Nashville U16 Flyers team in the Nashville Youth Hockey League (NYHL), said. "I've always looked up to him as another goalie."
Rinne's spectacular play during his time in Nashville certainly had plenty to do with his effect on young goalies in the area, but his demeanor throughout practice, charitable work or simple off-ice interactions meant just as much.
"He put in the time to wave to me and my family, and everybody who was watching," Gavin VanSickle, an 11-year-old goaltender for the NYHL's U12 Kings, said. "That just shows a lot about his personality, how kind he was, that he put in the time to do that."
"When he started the 365 Fund, I thought that was pretty cool. I saw that and said 'I want to do that'" Tripp Bland of the NYHL's House All-Stars said . "I thought that was amazing."
With Rinne's jersey forever hanging up in the rafters, players like Thayer, VanSickle, Bland and Balz will always have a reminder of the example they're striving toward anytime they attend a Preds game, and they'll be forever thankful for being a major influence on why they started to play hockey.
"Because of [Rinne] it's been nearly 13 years now of hockey," Thayer said. "My life has been amazing ever since I started playing hockey, and he's the one that inspired me to start. I love playing goalie, and I love playing the sport [because of Rinne]."
