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NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL: PREDATORS VS PENGUINSJune 11, 2017Luke BryanPittsburgh, Pennsylvania STEVE MAYER: Hello, everybody, and welcome to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. We have all recognized how spectacular it's been here in Nashville since the beginning of the Playoffs. It's obvious the atmosphere is something to take in from Game 1 against Chicago all the way through tonight's game against Pittsburgh. The atmosphere today with the CMA Fest in town and the Stanley Cup Final converging is also something else, and we're expecting over 100,000 people on Broadway. We recognize how the country music community has taken to hockey, and we in hockey have certainly taken to the country music community. And today we think we've got a moment that many of you won't forget. We are going to open tonight's telecast worldwide with a very, very special performance from the rooftop of Tootsie's World Famous Orchid Lounge. It will go, as I said, throughout the world. We also just found out that they are completely sold out tonight in Pittsburgh, in PPG Arena, and every screen throughout Nashville will also have tonight's performance and game on it. This is a very, very big night for the NHL, and we are super excited that to kick off our evening, we've got one of country's biggest mega stars. He's a two-time ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year; and earlier this week, he won the CMT Performance of the Year at the CMT Music Awards. This guy has more than 10 million albums sold, 3 billion music streams. The NHL is honored that tonight to perform, to kick off our show worldwide, Luke Bryan. LUKE BRYAN: Thanks, guys. You're getting me nervous over there. Thank you all for being here. This is exciting. I've got some excited children ready to watch a hockey game, so good deal. Q. How does a Georgia boy fall in love with hockey? LUKE BRYAN: South Georgia boy falling in love with hockey, yeah, that's quite a stretch when you'd never seen snow on the ground and maybe a puddle in your yard would freeze once a year. But yeah, I think it's been a slow learning process to go from certainly South Georgia, to move to Nashville. It's amazing how many years it takes you to get all your Georgia loyalties to sports, which I'm still a big Bulldogs and Falcons fan, but certainly a huge Titans fan, and always -- I never will forget the first time I saw my first Predators game, and you can never anticipate the speed of the game and the noises and the hitting of the sticks. It just totally hooked me right off the bat. From there, going to your first live game, to actually learning the game and learning how they set up plays and learning icing and offsides and your penalties, it takes quite a few years. And I think that's what's exciting about what's going on here in Nashville is it gravitates fans to, A, you have people all across everywhere -- I mean, pulling for the Predators, and they're learning the game even better in the process. Q. When was that first game you saw, and how has it grown for you over the years? LUKE BRYAN: Well, for me, it was -- I guess it was probably -- I moved to Nashville in the fall of 2001, and I would say it was 2002, that hockey season. And like I said, what's interesting, the best way to learn hockey if you're a Southerner is go get the NHL Live video game. The best way to learn a sport that you're not familiar with is certainly go get the video game, and it kind of self -- so we started having -- out on the road started having huge battles, NHL Live battles. So that kind of taught us the game. And like I said, through the years, I've really been impressed with, gosh, there were years that the Preds would give season ticket holders rebates if they didn't make -- this town has worked hard to get to this moment, and the owners of the team and the players. It's so inspiring to see where they started and where they've come, and when you think about a southern team getting this far, it's such a rarity. And like I said, I don't want to spend -- it's not like I know all the nuances of hockey, either, I still have a lot to learn. But I'll tell you, it is so amazing watching my boys, just their passion for it, and you know, they're hooked. They'll be hooked forever. And that's what's going on now. Nashville is laying a foundation for all these kids to start wanting to watch at home, and that's exciting for the whole franchise and I believe the whole NHL. Q. You mentioned the Southern game here. Do you notice any similarities between college football, both the game and the way the fans and the city sort of rally around it? LUKE BRYAN: Well, yeah, this atmosphere that we've had the whole Playoffs in Bridgestone has -- I don't know if you could mimic it anywhere. I guess you could -- the only thing I could compare it to is the SEC Championship-type moments and certainly National Championship moments in college football, and that's where I draw a lot of my sports. You look back over your lifetime of huge sports moments, and I've used this analogy a lot, being a Georgia kid, when the Braves took off in 1991, and if you didn't have a Braves t-shirt walking down the hall of your high school, you weren't in the cool club. And that's the best kind of analogy that I've compared this Predators craze to. You know, you see every -- you see furniture stores around here selling Preds gear. So, yeah, I mean, totally it's that vibe. Certainly just a crazy, energetic vibe in Bridgestone. And I'll tell you, you know, when they clinched to -- I was at the game where they clinched to go to the Finals, and I mean, we had people in our suite crying, and it was really emotional. A lot of energy. It's been an amazing ride. So fun. Q. You've had a pretty busy week with CMT and CMAs. What's it like to bridge the gap between Nashville's two biggest events this week with playing here tonight? LUKE BRYAN: Yeah, I think it adds kind of to the fun. I mean, you know all the bars in the whole city of Nashville is loving all this. I mean, first of all, it starts by the CMT Awards having to scramble and change venues. But the main thing with me, I did CMT awards, I did CMA Fest. I went on stage at like 12:00 midnight, then I took my bus to Little Rock, Tulsa last night, and back here. But, hey, that's the life of a working country music musician. And when we got the opportunity, when the call came in that NBC wanted to do this thing, I was like, hey, I've got to pull out any stop I can do to get some tickets, get in the room. No, but we -- I said, certainly, I don't care if I'm worn down and haven't slept. If my voice is half gone, I'm going to get up there and have fun. I was just honored to be a part of the celebration, and I think it's -- I mean, I think there were some numbers circulating that it was the -- what was it, quote me if I'm wrong, but like the second most viewed here in Nashville -- second highest viewed Stanley Cup Finals. You know, to be a part of such a high viewership and get to showcase your music and create a vibe -- I'm looking at you, but you asked the question, sorry. To set the tone and the vibe and hopefully help the Preds pull this one out is -- it's going to be a fun night. I've had an interesting -- I did the Super Bowl, and the Falcons were in there, so I had to bridge the gap because I have a huge following in New England, so I had to pull for the Falcons, but I had to -- I knew I was going to make some New England fans mad, so now I'm trying to delicately pull for the Preds without making my Pittsburgh fan base a little too mad at me, but hopefully they'll understand. Q. If you could play the game today, what position would you play and why? LUKE BRYAN: Oh, gosh. I guess -- ooh, that's a tough thing. I think you've got to take the highest pressure situation and be the goalie. I mean, I'm just amazed at Pekka's resiliency, having been pulled two times. And when they pulled him the first game, that's when I got on the phone to my hard-core hockey buddies that really know the psychological situation behind pulling a goalie, and I was like, why would they -- and he broke it down, and now I understand it more. But I think you've got to rush in there -- hey, I'm kind of tall. I wouldn't say -- I'd probably pull a groin, though, really quick. But yeah, I'd have to take the high-pressure spot of being the goalie. Q. So you came up in this business playing the honky tonks and trying to work to bigger stages and now you're coming back on this great big stage. Talk about that opportunity the NHL has given you. LUKE BRYAN: Well, yeah, to be at Tootsie's, certainly everybody that's ever been to Nashville I think at some point has filtered through Tootsie's at some point. And I certainly early in my career, back when I was going to my first hockey game, I was frequenting Broadway quite a bit, and I did -- I'd get up on stage every now and then, have some buddies playing up there, get to do some Haggard songs and some Willie and Waylon up there and some Alabama songs. Now to go full circle -- that was back when Tootsie's was only two levels. Now we kept going up levels and levels, and to be up top and looking out over Broadway and to watch just where Broadway has come from eight honky tonks to just thousands of people down there and a lot of energy, and for me to kind of be at the epicenter of it all, trying to fire up the town, it's surreal. I mean, certainly one of these moments I'll never forget, and certainly humbled and honored to be a part of it, and like I said, hopefully we'll be in this situation many more times in the next few years. Q. You mentioned the cool thing. Like we see country stars all over the place at these games. Do you bump into other ones? Do you talk hockey? Why do you think it got that way? Why have you embraced this? LUKE BRYAN: Well, what's funny is the last -- the clinching game I was at, I think a lot of the local -- a lot of our booking agents, these firms or performing rights organizations, they have suites in Bridgestone, so they're wanting to -- they like to extend the invitations, and I was in the BMI suite. And me and Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldridge and several of my song writer buddies, we were in there, and then down at the William Morris suite was a whole 'nother set of artists. You know, I think -- the only thing, the only reason why I haven't been to any home games is if I was on the road and it pulled me away. It's just obviously we know Terry has been here every game, and then watching Keith and Nicole and certainly -- I mean, Vince Gill has been the most loyal -- certainly I would say the most loyal country music musician and singer, and he's been with the Preds and nobody has banged on the glass and cussed out more opposing -- I guess I shouldn't say -- I guess Vince probably cusses a little bit. He looks like he's down there when he's beating on the glass. But he's certainly been a big fan. But I think the artist community, we're wrapped up in Nashville. We're so thankful for Nashville because we got to come here and follow our dreams and make our dreams come true, and it's just about hopefully creating an overall fun vibe. You know, when they asked me to -- when the Preds asked me to do the anthem, I was like, Heck, yeah. I walked out there, I was more nervous doing the anthem out there than really when I was at the Super Bowl. It's a big stage out there. Q. Quick question about the anthem: Who do you think will actually sing the anthem? Tonight there's not many artists left, so any guesses? LUKE BRYAN: You know what, my makeup artist, she's predicting Dolly, which would be amazing. But I think they've done really well at keeping it a secret. And I also forgot to mention Dierks. Heck, Dierks played hockey for years, but as far as -- I don't know, we may have to go with Dolly on that one. And Paula, my makeup girl, who is Canadian, she's loving this hockey thing, too. I may have to pull some strings for her and let her meet Gretzky if he's in the house tonight, I don't know. Q. You mentioned your boys; how many do you have, how old are they, and what are they doing hockey-wise? LUKE BRYAN: Oh, so three weeks ago, I'd been promising, I said, Boys, we're going to get geared up for some house -- for some living room hockey. I got them up. We went into town. I won't name the sporting store we went to. But you know, I went and got the sticks, got the tape, got the -- I got the mini-goals indoor, I got the big goals. And my wife and I for the last three weeks, we have been -- we don't need an alarm clock. All we do is hear feet stomping. We hear "goal." And so they are building -- we come into our living room and they have picked our couch up and moved it over 15 feet, and they have a full -- they take all the cushions off the couch, built the rink, and that's what they have been doing for three weeks. I'll tell you, one night, we got pretty heated in there, and watching my six-year-old be the goalie, and they got so good at being the goalie, we had to make a new rule where you had to stand up, you know, because we went like 15 minutes without a goal getting scored. But when they got up on their feet -- but we've had a blast. I've sat there and watched them three hours one night. Yeah, my nephew lives with me full time. He's 15, and he's in there bodying up, and I just calm him down every now and then, so my 15-year-old, my nine-year-old, my six-year-old. We're going to probably need a new rug in the living room before it's all said and done. Q. So the Predators have had a lot of success here at home during the Playoffs, so do you have any predictions for how the game is going to go here tonight? LUKE BRYAN: Well, you've got to feel good about home ice. I would have liked -- you've got to predict that Pittsburgh is going to hold serve and keep -- keep winning at their house. I would have preferred it to have not been such a blowout. But hey, I mean, that stuff has gone on the whole Playoffs. Home ice is certainly a big deal, and I've got to go with the Preds. I mean, I think -- I haven't looked at any Vegas odds or anything. I'm not much of a sports better, but I mean, I've got to go with my Preds here. And then, like I said, hopefully we go back to Pittsburgh and can kind of reset the clock and make it be a big game. But I think -- I think the series has been so good for, I hope, hockey, and got a lot of people watching, and we'll be cheering our Predators on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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