Joey Payeur
It went farther than he planned, but in the end Ethan Armit’s shot at national music glory missed the net.
The Fort Frances native, who now lives in Dryden, and his band Ethan Armit Project got their song, “This Game Called Hockey,” through the first round of voting to qualify for the top 100 in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada “Song Quest” competition to unearth the next great Canadian hockey song.
But Armit and bandmates Eric Carpenter and Jordan Fournier, both Fort residents, were unable to impress the judging panel enough to crack the top 50 selections that was whittled down to the top 10 this past weekend.
“It was just for fun,” said Armit, 20, in keeping a stiff upper lip about being eliminated.
“It was a family activity to write this song,” he noted. “I had no intentions of winning.
“It was just a matter of whatever happened, happened.”
The winning song will be revealed during the CBC broadcast of the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1, with the successful singer or band getting to record their song professionally in early January, with the help of Juno- and East Coast Music Association Award-winning artist and producer Joel Plaskett from The Joel Plaskett Emergency out of Dartmouth, N.S.
The song then will be used in a montage to kick off the “Hockey Day in Canada” broadcast Jan. 18.
The winning act also will be flown to Lloydminster, Alta., host site for “Hockey Day in Canada” this season, to perform the song live that same day.
Armit admitted he was surprised “This Game Called Hockey” didn’t make it to the top 50.
“I thought the song met the criteria that CBC was looking for quite well, honestly,” he remarked.
“I’m not arguing and I’m not being a sore loser,” he stressed. “But only four of the songs in the top 50 got more plays [online] than our song did.
“So I don’t know what happened there.”
Armit also questioned the judging panel’s tendency to stray from the contest’s originally-stated preference for pop and rock submissions.
“More than half of the songs in the top 50 are country,” he pointed out.
Armit is taking it all in stride, though, and still plans to follow his musical dreams.
“I’m not worried [that] this is going to be my last opportunity in the business,” he said.
“It was a good experience, especially going up against hundreds of songs and getting that far.”
