by Morinville News Staff
What started with two songwriters and a piece of paper has transformed into a musical tribute to Morinville’s love of Canada’s pastime in just one week.
That’s How We Do It In Morinville was written and recorded at Smith Music Studio, and filmed by the Morinville News at the studio and other locations in Morinville. A total of 41 singers and musicians added their voices and talents to Morinville’s hockey answer to We Are The World. Footage includes more than 200 hockey players, performers and residents, and even drone footage from local realtor Glenn Good.
Ed Bulger and Paul Smith’s lyrics and music were given added life by a large number of local performers. Christan Maslyk, Justin Hogg, The MacDonald Sisters, the Morinville Minstrels, the MPS Rock Band, Georges H. Primeau Me-to-We students and a half-dozen members of an all-girl hockey team have all added their voices to the final product.
The musical and video love letter to hockey is part of the ongoing promotion for Morinville’s bid to be the next Kraft Hockeyville. The initiative kicked off a few weeks ago when Morinville Kings’ President Wayne Gatza nominated the community.
The song will be officially revealed on Valentine’s Day – Feb. 14, an homage to Morinville’s love of hockey, and to mark one month until Kraft Hockeyville announces the 10 finalists.
Wayne Gatza, who has seen and heard the finished product, said he was thrilled with the support the community has shown thus far and pleased with the song and accompanying video.
“I was amazed. It’s incredible to see the amount of people that were involved,” he said. “Paul did an amazing job getting all of that coordinated for us and making that happen for us. It’s just incredible the amount of people that got involved in this journey.”
Gatza said he was amazed that the song and accompanying video could go from concept to finished production in a week.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought that we would have our own hockey song for our bid at the Kraft Hockeyville,” Gatza said. “For a guy that said ‘We need to do this’ to seeing what has become in such a short period of time is just amazing. I’m at a loss for words to say how I really feel. It brought a tear to my eyes. It just shows the pride the community has.”
Gatza said the Range radio station out of Westlock, and the St. Albert Gazette have both expressed a desire to assist in promoting the initiative.
Nominations for Kraft Hockeyville 2015 closed Monday with 1037 nominations submitted across the Country, 38 in Alberta alone. As some of the nominations were for the same community, the total number of nominations will dwindle somewhat.
Kraft will announce the top 10 communities Mar. 14, five in the East and five in the West. Voting will take place Mar. 21 to 23 to determine who should make it to the final round. The top two communities, one from the East and one from the West, will go head-to-head to win the $100,000 prize. The winner will be announced Apr. 4 on Hockey Night in Canada.
Awesome Job and thanks to ALL who helped make this happen!