Monday’s ESPN on ABC broadcast of the Game 7 winner-take-all Stanley Cup Final matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers featured a performance from Grammy Award-winning artist Alanis Morissette of both the Canadian and American national anthems. And both fans watching at home and those in attendance seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
Morissette, a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States, first performed “O Canada,” which was met with Oilers fans harmonizing with her throughout the song.
Then, Morissette began to sing the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which was met with both cheers and even more harmonizing from the home Florida crowd.
It was a truly special moment because it was essentially a battle between the two fanbases before the game ever got going. And that’s not even mentioning just how great of a rendition Morissette did of both anthems.
A big ovation for the “The Star Spangled-Banner” is of course to be expected in a game of this magnitude on American soil against a Canadian team. But it was particularly cool to see just how passionately Canadians who ended up making the trip for this game were for “O Canada” in this instance.
Viewers at home largely agreed that both anthems were done quite well by Morissette, taking to social media to sing her praises.
It was the perfect way to kick off one of the best events in all of sports, a Game 7 in the NHL.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.