Dave Gunning on Hockey Night in Canada

It’s been a great start to 2014 for Dave Gunning.  It’s thrilling to see an artist we’ve been following for a long time make such an impact.  This past weekend, Dave Gunning’s winning Song Quest tune, “A Game Goin’ On”, made it’s national television debut on CBC-TV’s Hockey Night in Canada.

For winning the competition, Dave received a “hat-trick” of prizes.  “First, Gunning (along with co-writer David Francey) re-recorded the song with Juno Award-winning producer Joel Plaskett at his New Scotland Yard Studio.  Second, Gunning performed “A Game Goin’ On” live at the Stolen from a Hockey Card Concert in Lloydminster, Alta.  And now, his song has been immortalized in a highlights video montage.  It opened tonight’s Montreal/Toronto game.” (Taken from http://music.cbc.ca/#/Hockey-Night-in-Canada-Song-Quest)

The song contains some classic references to Canada’s favourite pastime.  The opening line sets the tune up nicely “Down to the rink, to the pond, to the river, there’s a game goin’ on, goin’ on forever.”  Gunning and Francey have done well to conjure up memories of playing hockey for fun on makeshift outdoor rinks and ponds.  The line “Let’s play until it’s dark, until we have to go back in!” really strikes a chord with me.  Since the song is meant to serve as an intro to Hockey Night in Canada, these reminiscent feelings are then tied nicely to the idea of tuning in for Saturday night hockey.  These two have hit an important vein in most sports fans, the fact that we all used to play, and pretend we were a famous hockey player.  For me it was Gretzky.

I tweeted at Dave to ask him who his favourite players were growing up and he said, “guys like Bob Gainey, Wendell Clark, Larry Robinson and of course Gretzky”.

Dave owns three Stonebridge guitars, a Grand Auditorium, the OOM20, and Dreadnought 12-string – all Cedar tops, with LR Baggs dual systems and Elixir strings.  I was interested to know why he choose the OOM20 for the Hockey Night performance and he said, “I like how the little one stands out in a full band situation.”  That makes sense, I could hear how it cut through in the video montage.

Listening to the song and check out the video montage here http://music.cbc.ca/#/Hockey-Night-in-Canada-Song-Quest