Sabres fans step in, sing O Canada after anthem singer’s mic malfunctions

If you’re ever curious about the lineage of the Buffalo Sabres‘ connections to those north of the border, and the courteous attitude citizens in Western New York have to their neighbors, just wait until you see this.

During the pregame festivities leading up to Game 5 of the Atlantic Division Semifinal on Monday night between the Sabres and Boston Bruins, national anthem singer Cami Clune started singing “O, Canada.” However, just a few bars into the song, her mic started to cut out. That was when the capacity crowd inside KeyBank Center stepped in to help her out.

The crowd sang the last half of the anthem, giving themselves a round of applause, adding to the energy leading up to a contest where their Sabres had a chance to eliminate the Bruins and clinch the franchise’s first Stanley Cup playoff series win since 2007.

The Canadian national anthem has been played prior to games in Buffalo for as long as the organization has been in existence, the only major sports team in North America to perform both the Canadian and U.S. anthems. There are multiple reasons that have been the case. For one, the city is five miles, or a quick 10-minute drive to the border. With that, citizens from Niagara and St. Catharines, Ont. choose to be Sabres season-ticket holders. Also, the team’s name came from Toronto filmmaker Harry Cole, who was the one who submitted the proper spelling of ‘sabre’ in a name-the-team contest in the late 1960s.

On top of that, many of the franchise’s best players have come from Canada, especially in the early days. The “French Connection” – Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and René Robert – helped put the Sabres on the map, while other legends like Dave Andreychuk, Jason Pominville, Danny Gare and Dale Hawerchuk also pushed the team to success during their tenure with the team.