SONGS IN 2-MINUTE MINOR: National anthem butchered again at Maple Leafs game

Article content

When in doubt, just throw in an extra O Canada and maybe another stand-on-guard-for-thee, too.

That seemed to be the modus operandi Monday night on Long Island as anthem singer Sholanty Taylor rushed her way through O Canada and added an extra verse for good measure as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ dads watched along in confusion before a game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

Taylor’s anthemic odd-woman rush — which had one or two Greg Bartholomew-esque flourishes — went off the rails about 25 seconds in when she skipped, “God keep our land, glorious and free,” and made a beeline straight for “O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”

Luckily, she seemed to have caught the mistake and went back to “God keep our land,” before finishing strong.

It was not the first time O Canada had been butchered in an NHL arena this season and it certainly was not the worst example, either.

The anthem singer at a Nov. 14 Sabres-Bruins game in Buffalo, N.Y., decided to freelance the lyrics at bit, adding this doozy of a line: “O Canada, we stand our eyes. We stand on guard for thee.”

Plus, who can forget Bartholomew’s tone-deaf deconstruction of O Canada in the 1990s, likely the only memorable moment in the brief history of the CFL’s Las Vegas Posse franchise?

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

To add injury to insult, the Leafs also lost Monday’s game 4-3 in overtime, although John Tavares reached the 1,000-point club by assisting on Morgan Rielly’s game-tying goal with seven seconds left in regulation.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video