Farewell Stompin’ Tom ‘The Hockey Song’ Connors

The man who coined Canada’s alternate national anthem passed away on Wednesday at 77. Al Dannity pays tribute to Stompin’ Tom Connors, the voice and mind behind The Hockey Song.

Sometimes it takes a long time for a song to really get going. Do you know Stand By Me? Of course you do but you may not recall that it didn’t explode in the popular consciousness on a global scale until the movie of the same name was made 25 years after it was first released. Ben E. King already had a number 1 record back when the song first came out; Stompin’ Tom’s best loved hit didn’t have nearly that kind of a start.

Yet here were are, 40 years after The Hockey Song was recorded, mourning the loss of the man whose song means so much to so many. Connors made a legendary performance in 1993 after the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup but even then, the song wasn’t an all-encompassing part of our lives. The Senators were the ones who got the ball truly rolling when they started playing it at their games. The Leafs picked up the mantle and ran with it. Fans loved it and soon it was hard to find an arena, north or south of the border, that didn’t play it.

Nothing could have been of greater appeal to Connors, a man who cared deeply about his audience. In a message Connors wrote for his fans which was released posthumously he said: “I must now pass the torch to all of you to help keep the Maple Leaf flying high and be the patriot Canada needs now and in the future.”

Paying tribute to his fans, Connors said: “I want all my fans, past, present, or future, to know that without you, there would have not been any Stompin’ Tom It was a long hard bumpy road, but this great country kept me inspired with its beauty, character, and spirit, driving me to keep marching on and devoted to sing about its people and places that make Canada the greatest country in the world.”

The man is gone but the legend will live on forever. In Hockey arenas as fans gather for action they’ll join together singing “The good old hockey game is the best game you can name, and the best game you can name is the good old hockey game.” We’ll miss you Stompin’ Tom.