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I attended five minor hockey league games and one Estevan Power Dodge junior A Bruins contest in late February.
That鈥檚 a typical Friday to Sunday shift as a sports reporter at the Estevan Mercury. I honestly have no idea how many games I watch, take notes on, interview players and coaches and write about in a season.
The weird thing is I don鈥檛 really remember the hockey. When I think back to the 2015-16 campaign, the moment that sticks out the most happened during a break in the action.
An Estevan atom Mustangs player had lined up to take the draw while Rednex鈥檚 Cotton Eye Joe played over the loudspeakers at the Civic Auditorium and she began tapping her skate to the beat. That鈥檚 it. That鈥檚 my fondest memory of the 2015-16 Estevan Minor Hockey Association campaign and the junior A team鈥檚 season including their hosting of the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup.
Coming in second would be the Estevan TS&M bantam AA Bruins heading onto the ice before a game while Metallica鈥檚 Fuel growled through Affinity Place. I actually went out and bought the group鈥檚 ReLoad album afterwards to get that tune into my own regular rotation.
That鈥檚 not the only sports related moment that helped me discover a band I didn鈥檛 really have any interest in or knowledge of before. I鈥檓 a fan of the Ottawa Senators and the club used to play a loop of Blur鈥檚 Song 2 after they鈥檇 score a goal on home ice.
The self-titled album that included that track in the second of the order after Beetlebum played leadoff, among many of their other discs, became a fixture of my university years.
How a team or athlete competes, I think, has a lot to do with outside factors. Song selection before, during and after games is a determinant in whether a club does well or doesn鈥檛.
A team winning a game means there will be loud celebratory music playing in the locker room after the match, while losing usually involves an angry coach. A team鈥檚 play during the contest also matches the tunes getting pumped out between whistles and if it鈥檚 Shania Twain鈥檚 That Don鈥檛 Impress Me Much you know the local junior A club is having a rough night.
This brings me to Shania Twain. Please stop playing Shania Twain, Estevan Power Dodge Bruins. The song sucked 20 years ago and still does. Please use something instead to pump up the home side after a goal against like Johnny Cash鈥檚 Folsom Prison Blues or Soundgarden鈥檚 Fell On Black Days.
It would be wonderful if the junior A team got a chant going during home games. I love the songs fans sing at soccer games in the United Kingdom or even the Hey, Hey, Goodbye tune Montreal Canadiens supporters belted out to serenade opposing teams off the ice despite the fact my team was often one of those clubs.
Teams need their own song or at least have to claim one as their own. Please check out the ending of Pink Floyd鈥檚 Fearless and try that out for a fan chant junior A Bruins.
The atmosphere that the Bruins provide at games is amazing and more fans need to get to Affinity Place to see this top-ranked team compete. But more Johnny Cash and Soundgarden as well as less Shania Twain may help.
Slapshot鈥檚 Charlestown Chiefs player/coach Reggie Dunlop summed it up best in an attempt to get his team game ready. 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever play Lady of Spain again,鈥� he commanded the organist.
