Nashville Predators get road trip boost from Super Mario

Last Friday the Nashville Predators were stuck at their local airport as they waited for a mechanical issue to be resolved on the team’s charter flight to Denver.

So a bunch of players decided to go to a local Dave & Busters at the nearby Opry Mills mall to play some games. There, they ended up accruing the 15,000 arcade tickets necessary to get a Super Mario doll and made the purchase.

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“We were stuck there, delayed a little bit and had a little extra time, so we picked up another teammate,” Predators forward Harry Zolnierczyk told The Tennessean. “He seems to have made his way on this road trip.”

According to the team, forward James Neal won the most tickets for the group.

“He was pretty sharp on this one timing game,” Predators forward Colton Sissons said. “He was banging out 1,000 tickets at a time.”

The flight ended up getting pushed into the next day, and when the team arrived at the airport, they brought the doll with them. The Predators accidentally left Mario at the Denver airport after they landed, but called an Uber to chauffeur him to the team at the Pepsi Center.

Only four Predators players were born when the popular Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985.

Nashville is in the middle of a road trip that started at the Avalanche and is now swinging through Western Canada, ending at the Minnesota Wild. The Predators are 1-1-0 since they got Mario.

“It’s just kind of a fun thing to have along for the ride for a few games just to mix it up,” Sissons added.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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