Saint John's major junior hockey team apologized Friday after a former Platinum Blonde member delivered a stumbling performance of the national anthem before a game Thursday night.
Kenny MacLean, Platinum Blonde's former bassist, was in Saint John for the grand opening of a private college called the School of Rock and Film, where he will be a teacher. He was asked to sing O Canada before Thursday's Saint John Sea Dogs game at Harbour Station.
Unfortunately, MacLean didn't know the words in either English or French.
Sea Dogs executive director Dave Turk said the organization has apologized for what it calls MacLean's disgraceful and embarrassing performance.
"We've gotten absolutely inundated by calls and by e-mails," he said. "They were embarrassed. They were enraged by the treatment the national anthem got, and rightly so. I think the national anthem is a source of pride for most people in Saint John and getting that sort of treatment is not what we wanted to do."
Anne Comeau, who attended the game, said people thought it was joke when he started to sing the anthem and immediately began to make mistakes.
"One of the [lines] is 'We stand on guard for thee.' Well, he said, 'We stand in line for thee,' " said Comeau. "One line, he left out about four words. Then he kind of hummed a bit to make up the missing space where he left the words out."
When MacLean finished, Comeau said people started yelling at him, telling him to learn the words if he's going to sing the anthem.
Turk said the team normally holds auditions for those who sing the national anthem. They waived that requirement this time, but Turk said that won't happen again.
MacLean was unavailable for comment.
The Sea Dogs play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
