Glenview Presbyterian Church Director of Music Michael Capon has thrown his hat into the ring as one of many contenders looking to have their composition picked up as the next theme to the popular CBC broadcast.
The CBC lost the rights to the original Hockey Night in Canada theme earlier this year after a monetary dispute with the composer of the theme.
Capon, a longtime hockey fan whose fondest recollections of the game include the '72 Summit Series against Russia and the 1987 Canada Cup that paired hockey icons Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, said that news came as a surprise to him.
"To my mind, it's a great piece of music that reached out to a broad range of listeners," he said. "Every time I'm asked to demonstrate pipe organ music for children, they ask me to play the Hockey Night in Canada theme. It's a part of our culture to the point where even people who don't know hockey well know the song."
For Capon, the opportunity to pen and play a tune that could wind up piped into millions of Canadian homes each week was a unique and welcome challenge.
"I wanted to try to find something that people would be able to hear and say, 'Yeah, I know that song'," he said. "It has to be really singable - like my sister-in-law said, it has to be something people can sing even if they've had a few beers."
Capon has composed both instrumental and choral pieces in the past, with his most renowned work, From the waiting comes the sign, published in Common Praise, the Anglican Church of Canada's hymn book. His musical savvy, coupled with the fact that Capon grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada, gave the composer a good sense as to the tone he wanted to convey.
"The (previous) theme was great because it works for a regular game, but it also works when the stakes are higher, like for a Stanley Cup final game," he said. "There's the excitement before a big game, wondering which way it will go, and then here comes the Hockey Night in Canada music and you just think, 'This is right'."
Capon made an effort to replicate those feelings while coming up with a completely original theme. He said he wanted to both instill a sense of meaning in his theme - hockey is, after all, a large piece of the Canadian identity - while capturing the various elements of the game itself.
"The music is inspired by the game," he said. "It's a game that has speed, excitement, hard hits and intimidation, but it's also a game that flows, with the players gliding on ice with a high level of skill. I wanted to capture all that."
The Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue area resident's theme is one of hundreds currently being showcased on the Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge website. His anthem, titled Ice Time - Pumped, is at http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/321441