Pucks And Jerseys

We've almost worked our way through another season on the calendar year, and that means there have been a vast number of concerts that have gone on in and around hockey rinks all over this great land. With every visit, some rinks hand out jerseys like flyers to anyone who can carry a tune. Other jerseys are acquired by the artists for a purpose. The key is that all of the following musicians are wearing or holding hockey jerseys that show some support for the event or city they are appearing in that night. That's right, folks. It's another Musicians in Jerseys article!

The full list of musicians can be found here, and I believe every team is represented at this point. There are some musicians who represent a large number of teams thanks to their affinity for collecting jerseys, and there's another one of those musicians below. Peruse at your leisure and see who has represented hockey teams from across the world!

We're going to start with a guy who is representing six teams in today's article. Country musician Dierks Bentley has carved out a nice little music career with a number of hits, but he takes his hockey very seriously when he's not in the studio or on stage! If you didn't think so, here are six examples as Dierks suited up in an Edmonton Oilers jersey, donned a Grand Rapids Griffins jersey, sported a Saskatoon Blades jersey, celebrated in a Waterloo Black Hawks jersey, highlighted a Saint John Sea Dogs jersey, and jammed out in an Oklahoma City Barons jersey!

Just when you thought you may have seen enough of Dierks Bentley, he also popped up in an All-Star Game jersey with Chris Young! These two are looking quite dapper at the mid-season event! Also appearing at various All-Star Game events were Carly Rae Jepsen, Vince Gill and his daughter Corinna Gill, Snoop Dogg, Tracy Lawrence, Chris Young and Amy Grant, R5's Ross Lynch, Eli Young Band bassist Jon Jones, Kelsey Ballerini, and the kid who got hammered by Chris Pronger. That's a heckuvan all-star team of musicians!

I will fully admit that I have no clue on any song titles for musician Ace Hood, but the man has a hockey allegiance! Antoine McColister was born and raised in Florida where he was a football player until an injury sidelined the hip hop musician's dreams of playing professional football. He's been making music since 2006, so it was a little surprising to see him wearing the colours of the Edmonton Oilers on a recent tour!

The Arkells are a successful Canadian band that calls Hamilton, Ontario home. We've seen appear on the list once as they threw their support behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their recent tour took them through Edmonton as well where they were given their very own Edmonton Oilers jerseys!

I don't think there is enough recognition given to indigenous music in society, let alone the major awards shows, and I'm happy to feature one of Canada's best indigenous music groups here. The Northern Cree Singers have been nominated for six Grammy Awards in their time, and they are up for another one this year with their album Temptations. The Saddle Lake Cree Nation musical group recently had a photo taken, and a number of the band members showed support for the Edmonton Oilers from their home province! Good luck at the Grammy Awards!

Hockey has been a long supporter of our troops over in far-off lands, and a number of NHL players have fought in wars through the history of the NHL. The NHLPA has asked its alumni on occasion to go overseas to visit the troops in an effort to thank them for their service, and they routinely take other celebrities along with them. One such case was when Alan Frew accompanied the players over to Kandahar! Alan Frew fronted Glass Tiger and has released solo albums, and he proudly wore the colours of the Toronto Maple Leafs on this trip!

Robert Smith of The Cure is already on the list in a white Maple Leafs jersey, but it appears he had the complete set as he also wore a blue Toronto Maple Leafs jersey on stage!

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and KISS have appeared on the list a few times. If there was ever one of those moments where you'd want to see an iconic band with iconic jerseys, KISS made an appearance in St. Louis during the 1990s where the Blues decided to celebrate their appearance in the city with Gretzky-era Blues jerseys! The key in that photo? Those are pro jerseys, not replicas!

I have no clue about her music, but rest assured that Zendaya Coleman - known better just as Zendaya - sings. She also acts and dances as she was part of the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up. She's a pop/R&B singer, but she hasn't received any sort of critical recognition as of yet. A couple of years ago, she was asked to sing the anthem at a CHL Bloomington Blaze game, and she was given a Blaze jersey of her own!

Speaking of people names "Daya", the Pittsburgh musician was invited to the World Cup of Hockey as part of the musical performances there. I would have thought she might represent a Canada jersey with Crosby being from Canada and the musical event being held in Toronto, but she went with the trendy choice and wore the colours of Team North America!

Fifth Harmony has had its negative publicity after pulling out of the NHL All-Star Game festivities at the last second, but they haven't missed a beat when it came to their tour a year ago. The five-some at the time toured through Tampa and appeared at Amalie Arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning made sure they endeared themselves to the hometown crowd!

James Hetfield and Metallica are big supporters of the San Jose Sharks, and they've appeared on the list before. This is simply the gents playing the anthem prior to the game in more Sharks jerseys!

Paul Brandt. Country musician. Proud Canadian. He's won a ton of musical awards and accolades, and he's a big act in Canada. For some reason, he's never really caught on in the US yet, but country music fans tell me that American country music fans are missing out. Maybe it's his choice in hockey jerseys?

O.A.R. is a solid rock band whose origins in Maryland would make one believe that they may have an affinity for the Washington Capitals. Currently on tour with Train, O.A.R. showed support for another team when Marc Roberge and Richard On donned the uniforms of the Minnesota Wild to play a little shinny!

Sportsnet's Hometown Hockey program is hosted by Ron MacLean and Tara Slone. I'm not sure how many people know this, but Tara Slone is actually a very accomplished musician! Slone started with aspirations as a child to become an opera singer, but it was at Concordia University where she began singing rock music where she would eventually front the band Joydrop. She has been nominated for a Juno, appeared on Rock Star INXS, and was a former host of Breakfast Television on CityTV Calgary. Needless to say, she's had a heckuva career thus far. In appearing in Hometown Hockey, Tara's been able to add some new clothes to her wardrobe. She's received a jersey from the Saint John Sea Dogs, the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Newmarket Redmen, and the Kootenay Ice!

While this series looks at musicians in hockey jerseys, one team decided to flip the script and wear jerseys dedicated to musicians in order to raise money to help one the band members. The OHL's Kingston Frontenacs decided to help out the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research through Sunnybrook Hospital by wearing specially-made Tragically Hip jerseys! From the Frontenacs' website,

The jersey was designed by the Kingston Frontenacs and Catstich, an Ontario-based jersey manufacturer who specializes in theme jerseys for hockey teams. "We started with the base of the 1964 Boston Bruins home jersey, to reflect the year Gord Downie was born and his favourite team," said Chenier. "We added The Tragically Hip's logo-wordmark from their 2011 concert at Bobcaygeon as the main logo on the front of the jersey, and their signature-wordmark on the back. In the background of the jersey is the name of every album and song recorded and released by the band, from their self-titled 1987 debut to 2016's Man Machine Poem. We wanted to include the lyrics of every song they've recorded, but typed in 11-point Arial, the 30,333 words, or 128,380 characters was 45 pages long."

While they have yet to unveil how much money was raised, they will do so next week at a special press conference where it's expected that the Frontenacs will have raised the most money for any charity off this jersey auction. Well done, Kingston, on this auction and to the fans who pledged their money in helping this incredible charity with their purchases of these unique uniforms!

Once again, if you're hunting for other images, please check the full list of musicians here before sending me pictures. I unfortunately had to leave a number of pictures off this article simply due to people sending images that are already linked. I do want to see your images, though, so please send me any pictures you want included and I'll credit you!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!