Since the very first NHL game ever played in Buffalo, way back in October 1970, the pregame ceremonies have featured the singing of both the Canadian and American national anthems. Every night, every day, always.
So when anthem singer Cami Clune’s microphone gave out as she sang “O Canada” before Game 5 of the opening-round playoff series between the Sabres and the Boston Bruins, it was second nature for the entire sold-out crowd to finish the song with her.
Tens of thousands of voices singing the same anthem... it made for a stirring scene. The players on the bench seemed to notice it, none more than the young Sabres forward Zach Benson, who gazed up at the crowd in appreciative astonishment. When the song ended, the fans cheered, Clune was handed a new mike, and the American anthem was sung per usual. Then it was game on, and everyone’s thoughts turned to hockey.
But that night and the next morning, Sabres fans who’d been at the game learned that the moment already went viral across the continent. American TV networks breathlessly explained that in Buffalo, people knew the lyrics to “O Canada” because it was sung before every game; the Canadian networks thanked Buffalonians for their marvelous gesture. Coming as it did, during a period in which the Trump administration repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and resentful Canadians struck back by boycotting the U.S., people everywhere seemed amazed at how warmly Buffalonians treated “their neighbors”.
What those analyses missed, however, is the fact that at the same time it is an American city, Buffalo is, in a sense, a Canadian city as well. The Maple Leaf flies alongside the Stars and Stripes in front of City Hall and all across town. Countless Buffalonians have family on either side of the border. Many Western New Yorkers are dual citizens---or are Haudenosaunee, for whom the border does not legally exist. Buffalonians, unlike people in the rest of America, drink Labatt and Molson. Their NPR and PBS stations bear the names of both Buffalo and Toronto. They play hockey, lacrosse and curling.
So when the crowd at KeyBank Center sang “O Canada”, they weren’t “saluting their neighbors”. For just as surely as “The Star-Spangled Banner” is their song, at the hockey game that night Buffalonians were singing their own song too.
Narrator: Susan Banks
Script: Jeff Z. Klein
Sound editing: Micheal Peters
Produced by the Niagara Frontier Heritage Project
Associate producer: Karl-Eric Reif
Webpage written by Jeff Z. Klein (Niagara Frontier Heritage Project)
Special thanks to:
Kathryn Larsen, vice president, content distribution, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
S.J. Velasquez, director of audio strategy, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
Jerry Urban, senior radio broadcast engineer, Buffalo Toronto Public Media
Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski and the Buffalo Common Council for their generous support