Puck and pop stars face off at Juno Cup
CHARITY GAME: Annual hockey contest before awards ceremony raises money for school music programs
There are musical scores, there’s “he shoots, he scores,” and the two of them — musicians and hockey players — mingle more than you might think.
You only have to listen to The Tragically Hip sing about Bill Barilko and Bobby Orr, watch D.O.A.’s Takin’ Care of Business video, Stompin’ Tom Connors sing The Hockey Song, or see Michael Buble swap a mike for a hockey stick to see how easily the worlds of pop and puck merge.
There are many wannabe musicians among hockey players, some of them excellent guitar players or drummers. And there is a closet hockey player inside many a musician.
Chad Brownlee stands out as one who has done both professionally. He started out as a hockey player, drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 2003. After injuries ended his on-ice career, he became a country music star.
“The rockers want to be pro athletes, and the professional athletes want to be rockers,” Brownlee said from his Sunshine Coast home. “There’s something alluring on the other side for each.”
Brownlee will lace up for the musicians’ side on March 23 at the 15th Juno Cup in Burnaby, which pits musicians against Olympians and former pros in a Juno weekend charity hockey game that raises money and awareness to keep music classes part of schools’ curricula.
Music class meant a lot to Brownlee growing up in Kelowna. He played sax in middle school, and piano before that.
“Without those early years, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The opportunity itself (to play an instrument) is so critical.
“This is a fantastic charity.” Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo was the driving force behind the Juno Cup and he will be honoured with the Inspired Minds Ambassador Award at the Junos on March 24. The money raised by the Juno Cup — $840,000 since 2004 — goes to the music education charity MusiCounts.
“By providing instruments to schools across Canada, MusiCounts helps teach kids to not only enjoy music but to actively participate in creating it,” Cuddy said.
“In giving kids a love of music from an early age we are teaching them to appreciate music, and by extension, all art, throughout their lives.”
Cuddy’s award, presented by the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation, honours an individual who has had an extraordinary impact on music education. One recipient of a MusiCounts grant last year was Gitwinksihlkw Elementary School in the Nass River Valley, north of Terrace.
“(MusiCounts) started pretty small 20 years ago,” Cuddy said. “The thing that’s so remarkable about it is you have no idea how many music programs are at risk until you get involved in something like MusiCounts. It’s pretty dire.”
MusiCounts Band Aid grants go toward replacing 25-year-old instruments with new ones, which secures a school’s music program for 20 years, Cuddy said.
Cuddy drifted away from hockey as his music career took over, but was drawn back to the game years later. In Cuddy’s case, it was hearing about a musicians’ Monday morning drop-in game in Toronto organized by the band Skydiggers.
“One of the great things as you travel across the country is all these regional differences (in the way the game’s played),” he said.
For instance, pickup hockey is played differently in Vancouver than
it is in Toronto, he said.
“In Vancouver the games are pretty polite; in Toronto they’re more robust.”
One rocker who won’t take part in the Juno Cup is Craig Northey of the band Odds. He can’t play this year because he broke his ankle awhile back — playing hockey, of course. But he will be on the bench coaching the musicians.
“You grow up playing sports as a kid, playing a lot of hockey as a kid for a lot of Canadians, and now you see these hockey players at the airport,” he said. “They’re living the same kind of lifestyle, you wind up making friends.”
At most charity hockey games, you’ll see pros and amateurs on both teams so you have two balanced sides. The Juno Cup is unique in that it’s one against the other.
“They’re pros, we’re not,” Northey said. “It’s fun to think you have a chance. But you don’t.”
Former professionals taking part in the game include Cliff Ronning, Kirk McLean, Kyle Wellwood, and Paul Reinhart.
On March 22 there’s a Juno Cup Jam, starring musicians and guitar-playing ex-NHLers Gary Nylund and Brad Dalgarno at The Imperial.