The Opening Day

Having been to a handful of music festivals in my time, I can honestly say that one stumbles across a great opening band only once in a while. It's not that these bands can't play or don't know how to write music, but it's just that they usually haven't found that sound that makes the crowd sit up and take notice of what they're doing. The first day of the HBIC Music Festival has none of that as there are well-known artists that will appear below for nearly every team. Again, not every team will be represented, but that's ok too. If you know of a band or artist I've missed, please send the image(s) through to me via email!

I'll step aside here, though, as we kick things off with our first teams!

The Anaheim Ducks have three new entries as their musically-talented guests include The Offspring in orange and in white, Thrice with their second appearance in white and orange, and Green Day's Tre Cool was able to score himself both an orange jersey and a white jersey as the Ducks brought an all-rock lineup this year!

The Boston Bruins always seem to have big artists pass through their arena, and this year was no different. Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan makes his first appearance, Eric Church got himself a jersey in Boston, and the Guess Who's Burton Cummings wore a Bobby Orr jersey in a March 2, 1973 concert! Jackie Miclau of rock band Mt. Joy got herself a personalized Bruins jersey, and new lead singer Emily Armstrong of Linkin Park sported a Bruins jersey during their concert, and Lionel Richie got himself a personalized Bruins jersey as well!

The Buffalo Sabres brought a strong group of artists with them to the HBIC Music Festival as country crooner Cody Johnson got a personalized Sabres jersey, all of Disturbed got personalized jerseys, Eric Church got a personalized black Sabres jersey, bassist Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls got a personalized black Sabres jerseys, and country singer MaRynn Taylor got herself a blue Sabres jersey and a black Sabres jersey too! Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox wore a Sabres jersey on stage, and hip hop artist West Side Gunn wore a white 1999 Buffalo Sabres jersey with scorpions embroidered on it!

The Calgary Flames have music from a number of genres on their set list. The Arkells got to share one jersey, Bailey Zimmerman wore a Flames jersey on stage, the Beach Boys got Flames jerseys for each band member, Ja Rule took the stage in a Flames alternate jersey, Mt. Joy received Calgary Flames jerseys much to the delight of Jackie Miclau, Nelly made a statement with his sleeveless Flames jersey, Our Lady Peace received personalized jerseys, and former NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan posted this image of Ozzy Osbourne receiving a personalized Flames jersey! How awesome is that photo?

The defending Stanley Cup champions have five artists on their stage as the Carolina Hurricanes gave rapper Rod Wave his own personalized jersey, NBA YoungBoy modified his Hurricanes jersey into a short-sleeved version, Journey's Jonathan Cain wore a Hurricanes jersey on stage, Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox wore his Hurricanes jersey on stage, and Darius Rucker, formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish, fired the crowd up in Raleigh by sounding the siren last year!

The Chicago Blackhawks showed up to the festival with a handful of artists representing them as Benson Boone met the Folignos and got a jersey, K-Pop boy band P1Harmony received Blackhawks jerseys when they attended a game, Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau wore a Connor Bedard jersey on stage, Carlos Santana appears to be a Blackhawks fan, and, in one of the coolest musical moments, Italian conductor Riccardo Muti conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a Blackhawks jersey! I believe he's the first conductor on the list!

The Colorado Avalanche only have one musical act to boast at the HBIC Music Festival, and that act is none other than Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan who is wearing the Avalanche alternate jersey!

The Dallas Stars took the same approach with just one act to boast at the HBIC Music Festival, but Post Malone seems pretty pumped about his personalized Stars jersey! For those wondering, Post Malone has ties to the #77 as his 2016 debut album, Stoney, spent 77 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart!

The Detroit Red Wings have two acts at the festival with Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan wearing a Red Wings jersey on stage, and long-time rocker Gail Greenwood of L7 and Belly wearing a Red Wings jersey as well! We'll see both of these artists with another team too!

The Edmonton Oilers, by sheer volume, are your headliners at the HBIC Music Festival. Creed received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Darius Rucker got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Finger Eleven received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, the Headstones received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Dylan Marlowe got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Mother Mother received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Warren Zeiders got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Sarah McLachlan got herself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, half of Nate Ratlieff and the Night Sweats received personalized blue Oilers jerseys in one photo with the other half of the band getting them in a second photo, Papa Roach received personalized blue Oilers jerseys, Dasha got herself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Hardy got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, Josh Ross got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey, and Kane Brown got himself a personalized blue Oilers jersey! But we're not even close to being done with the Oilers just yet!

Alex Howard of Jelly Roll's band wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan wore an Oilers alternate jersey, Todd Kerns of Triumph wore an Oilers jersey, Sum 41 got jerseys with the band name on the back, Bailey Zimmerman wore a blue Oilers jersey on stage and a white Oilers jersey on stage, Chelsea "Peaches" West of Jelly Roll's band wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Meghan Patrick wore an Oilers jersey on stage, Scott McCreery received a personalized white Oilers jersey, and Nelly received a personalized white Oilers jersey. I'm pretty sure half the music world has an Oilers jersey now!

The Florida Panthers brought their musical influences to the festival as they gave Ariana Grande a new Panthers jersey, Frankie Grande wore a Panthers jersey, Anthony Criss - better known as Treach from Naughty by Nature - performed in a Panthers jersey, Joe Jonas received a personalized Panthers jersey, and Mexican singer-songwriter Carín León received a jersey with his album's name on it!

The Hartford Whalers were well-represented by Noah Kahan who appeared on stage wearing a Whalers jersey. You can't go wrong with that jersey! And no, the Hurricanes don't get credit for it either.

The last team on the opening day of the HBIC Music Festival are the Los Angeles Kings, and they're represented by Simple Plan's Chuck Comeau and son, London! Comeau's wife, Jacquelin Napal, gets a nod for the Team Canada jersey she's wearing, but she won't appear on her own on this blog as she's not a musician. It's still awesome to see the whole Comeau family dressed up in one theme for Halloween!

There are the first sixteen NHL teams covered in terms of which bands and musicians wore those teams' colours and logos. Honestly, I love seeing these images simply because it's cool knowing all of these people are fans in some way of the same teams we like. Tomorrow, we'll finish off the NHL teams before moving into Wednesday with all the non-NHL jerseys. It should be a fun couple of days, so make sure you come back tomorrow and Wednesday for musicians in jerseys!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!