Duhatschek: A 31-song compilation, one for every NHL city (2024)

Most people who know me also know I’m a music guy – and have been pretty much all my life. I got my first six transistor radio in the summer of 1965 and within a month, I knew every song on the 1050 CHUM chart. Musical styles have changed and evolved a zillion times since then, but I still try to keep up and still produce a playlist at the end of every calendar year, listing my favorite 20 songs from the previous 12 months.

But in 1979, the way I consumed music changed when James Muretich, a friend from school, landed a job as the music critic at the Calgary Albertan. When James moved to town, we agreed to share a townhouse because we were making nickels and dimes during an oil boom in Calgary.

There were two advantages to having a roommate who doubled as a music critic. One: Frequently being his plus-one at concerts that came to town. Two: Every noteworthy record released during that interesting, evolving time turned up on our doorstep as a free review copy for James. That was nirvana, way before Nirvana ever arrived on the scene.

Soon after we got our place, we started hosting parties about every other month for friends, acquaintances (and sometimes, the occasional gate-crashing strangers). To keep people’s collective hands off our voluminous record collection, we began the practice of pre-programming the music for every party, often developing a theme.

Pre-Spotify, pre-streaming, even pre-CDs, this is how we’d do it: We’d unwrap a blank 90-minute BASF cassette and James would select the first song – something to set the mood we were after – and then record it onto the tape. Then it would be my turn to make a selection. I’d try to choose something that would seamlessly transition from James’ choice. We’d alternate until we had five full cassettes recorded. The last song was always the same – “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan. Once that song was over, so was the party. Time to go home. Ultimately, those tapes became an archival record of all our parties – I still have a few of the originals which I play from time to time.

Creating compilation tapes is a practice I have continued throughout the year and despite becoming more esoteric as time has passed, each one is tied to a theme.

When the NHL came to Calgary in 1980-81, it allowed me to do a compilation to commemorate the event. I called it “The New NHL” – one song for every NHL city that I was now visiting as a sportswriter covering the Calgary Flames.

In 1980-81, it was a 21-team NHL, so the collection easily fit onto a single cassette – with room for a few bonus tracks at the end. Over the years, whenever the NHL expanded, I’d update my list. Soon, there wasn’t enough room to include every song on a single tape. CDs became even more problematic – 80 minutes max, as opposed to 90 minutes for cassettes. After a while, you usually needed two. iPods eventually came along and saved the day – you could fit as many songs on a playlist as you wanted.

My interest in music has never waned. Over the past month, many are binge-watching Netflix, while I’ve decided instead to dive deeper into my collection of albums, cassettes and CDs. Music gives me hope. Music inspires me. I want to hear John Mellencamp remind me: “Your Life Is Now.” I want to hear Jimmy Buffett acknowledge that he too has “good days and bad days and going half-mad days.” Recently, at the urging of a friend, I roughed in two new playlists: “Apocalypse Now” and “Apocalypse Not” to reflect the changing times we’re living in. The first leads off with Warren Zevon’s “Splendid Isolation,” the second, with ‘Til Tuesday’s “Everything’s Different Now.” One list is hopeful, the other less so.

When I first joined The Athletic in September of 2017 and was asked to write my “Why I’m joining” essay, a few of my regular readers from previous stops asked if I was ever going to drift into music writing.

Except to contribute to our great fantasy team’s power ranking of the top 100 Christmas songs, I haven’t – until now.

Earlier this week, we published a list of the 30 greatest baseball songs of all time – to mixed reviews. Someone wondered: Should we do the same for hockey? My answer was that while I could come up with a list of 20 to 25 hockey songs, most of them weren’t very good. They were novelty songs that you might listen to occasionally, but not the way you would for a quality enduring playlist. My hockey songs playlist may well be my shortest ever because it includes only seven songs:

• “The Hockey Song” by Warren Zevon
• “50 Mission Cap” and “Fireworks” by The Tragically Hip
• “The Ballad Of Wendel Clark” by The Rheostatics
• “Raised on Robbery” by Joni Mitchell
• “Boat Drinks” by Jimmy Buffett
• “Big League” by Tom Cochrane. That’s it.

But songs by NHL city? Now, there’s a project that I’ve been framing and reframing for four decades.

Originally, I was going to wait until Seattle officially entered the NHL to update my “Ultimate NHL” playlist to include 32 teams.

But since we’ve been talking music at The Athletic all week, I figured: Why wait?

Below is an alphabetical collection, from Anaheim to Winnipeg, of my current favorite song for each NHL city (and where appropriate, some of the honourable mentions).

When I did this project originally, my rule of thumb was the song had to reference the city in some manner. For example, my pick for St. Louis was a Nat King Cole song called “St. Louis Blues.” But then last year, the Blues made an unexpected run to win the Stanley Cup and the song “Gloria” by Laura Branigan became the team’s anthem and it was something even the casual fan knew about. How could that not be the pick for St. Louis now? And if we’re bending and amending the criteria for St. Louis, then I figured I could loosen the rules for all the other cities as well – and sub out some songs that I wasn’t enjoying much anymore.

In short, it’s a completely fresh list, updated for 2020. This project has always been something of an exploratory exercise for me – and that’s where you, dear reader, come in. Let me know which songs from your libraries and playlists have slipped through the cracks for me. Recommendations are not only welcome, they are encouraged.

After all this time, I’m still not happy with my selections for a few cities, where I sought help from musically informed colleagues in Columbus, Washington, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

Here we go:

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks joined the NHL in the 1993-94 season and in the beginning, it was an easy choice: I only knew one Anaheim song. It’s from Jan and Dean, a sequel to their hit “Little Old Lady From Pasadena,” about drag-racing grannies. I once saw “The Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga Sewing Circle Book Review and Timing Association” listed as the longest song title in pop music history. It actually had some cute, clever lines: (“… all week long, they put up jamming preserves; and on weekends, they negotiate curves.”) But the point of a playlist is to play (and enjoy) the songs sequentially. This was a novelty hit – OK to hear once in a while, but not on any kind of heavy or even medium rotation. So, I eventually expanded the net to cover all of Orange County and eventually settled on “Seacliff Tonight” from the criminally underrated Randell Kirsch.

Arizona Coyotes

The Coyotes were originally the Phoenix Coyotes and so that was easy in the beginning: “By The Time I Get to Phoenix” by Glen Campbell, one of many the great songs written by Jimmy Webb that Glen Campbell turned into a hit. When the Coyotes dropped Phoenix from its name, I shifted over to “Arizona” by Mark Lindsay, who was backed by The Wrecking Crew, not The Raiders, for this track.

Boston Bruins

Once, when I was travelling with the Flames, a snowstorm closed the airport in New York and the team was obliged to take a bus to Boston instead. I convinced the driver to insert my NHL cassette into the player (I had cued up: “Please Come to Boston” by Dave Loggins to play.) I thought I was being extremely clever. No one else agreed – and I mean no one else. The booing was so overpowering that we were maybe 15 seconds into the song before it was unceremoniously rejected in favour of something from Trevor Kidd. I didn’t take it personally. I never really liked “Please Come to Boston” anyway. My sister has tried – unsuccessfully – to get me to like Kenny Chesney over the years; and she contends that if I don’t opt for “She’s From Boston” on this list, there will be an uprising to rival the Tea Party. Sorry, but “She’s From Boston” is too associated with the Red Sox for my tastes. I’ll stick with my holdover choice – “Dirty Water” by The Standells, recommended to me by the late great Jack Falla, who created a character in his novel “Saved” (Phil “Flipside” Palmer) as a nod to my musical compilation habit. People: Prove my sister wrong.

Buffalo Sabres

On my first road trip to New York, I took in a revival of 42^nd Street starring Jerry Orbach on Broadway. Brilliant. I really liked the show – which features the standard “Shuffle Off to Buffalo.” Good song, but not what I was looking for. Eventually, I substituted the Jimmy Buffett deep cut “Manana” here because it has a couplet that resonates for us winter dwellers: “They’re freezing up in Buffalo/stuck in their cars; while I’m lying here/’neath the sun and the stars.” But since this newly revised list allows me to bend the rules in unexpected ways, I’m going with a song that has nothing to do with Buffalo whatsoever – “Buffalo River Home” by John Hiatt, one of my favourites from a great underrated artist and a song I can listen to again and again.

Calgary Flames

Seven or eight years ago, Bon Iver released a song entitled “Calgary” and in a certain mood, I can dig it. The video’s great too. But when I first moved to Calgary, Neil Young had covered Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds” on his “Comes A Time” album and “Four Strong Winds” always reminds me of my arrival in town, back when I was a young pup, just starting out. Neil’s version is great too, I usually favor the original from Tyson.

Carolina Hurricanes

Never a debate here at any point: “Carolina On My Mind” by James Taylor.

Chicago Blackhawks

I’m going to take some grief for not using The Fratellis’ “Chelsea Dagger” here, but hear me out. Many years ago, whenever the Oilers visited Chicago, the Edmonton Sun writer Dick Chubey would make a reference to that “toddling town” in his copy. I mean, every single time! In the beginning, I didn’t even know what he was talking about until I became more familiar with Sinatra’s catalogue and realized there were at least two good Chicago options from Ol’ Blue Eyes – Chubey’s favorite, which is simply titled “Chicago,” or the one that I like better, “My Kind of Town” (Chicago is). At different times, I’ve also considered rotating in a song from the band Chicago (“Feeling Stronger Every Day” was one I considered as the Blackhawks started to turn the franchise around). But so far, I haven’t changed yet.

Colorado Avalanche

In September of 2003, I was in Denver attending Avalanche training camp, when Bruce Springsteen was playing a show at Invesco Field. It was two weeks after he’d performed, as a tribute to the late Warren Zevon, “My Ride’s Here,” at a show in Toronto. I was sure – absolutely positive – that Springsteen would open the show in Denver with the Zevon standard “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” and was surprised he didn’t. Afterward, I wondered if Bruce thought it might be disrespectful. Instead, he opened with a cover of Bob Seger’s “Get Out of Denver.” I go back and forth between the two choices. And no, “Rocky Mountain High” has never tempted me here.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus continues to prove vexing for me, which is why I reached out to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, one of our most knowledgeable music types. I always used “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but Aaron suggested that I listen to “Ohio” by The Black Keys. I did. It’s in.

Dallas Stars

Jimmy Buffett has a deep cut simply entitled “Dallas,” which might be one of about five songs from his catalogue that I’m not really fussy about. But I don’t want to offend his majesty either, so I use Jimmy’s song “Hello Texas” from the “Urban Cowboy” soundtrack.

Detroit Red Wings

Way back in the beginning, I used Blondie’s “Detroit 442” here, but eventually, the Red Wings started to play “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss over and over during some of their Stanley Cup runs and eventually, the song grew on me enough that I made the switch and have never looked back.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers had a few theme songs that they pumped out during their championship runs – from “Pipeline” by The Chantays and “99 Luftballons” by Nena to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” which Kevin Lowe reminded me recently they played constantly during their 1990 celebration. During a tribute to Dick Dale at Huntington Pier in California last year, I met Bob Spickard, who co-wrote Pipeline, and told him how prominently the song figured in one of the Oilers’ runs. He said he didn’t know that – but seemed pleased to hear the story. Beyond “Four Strong Winds,” there are other Alberta song options as well, including Ian Tyson’s “Land of Shining Mountains.” Historically, I usually opted for “Alberta Bound” because it’s sung by Gordon Lightfoot, from Orillia, Ont. and it puts in my mind of two of the team’s greatest players, Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid, who were both Alberta bound from their Ontario roots. Lowe also recommended the Paul Brandt cover, which is pretty great too.

Florida Panthers

Over the years, I’ve pondered options from the Miami Vice soundtrack to a Seger deep cut called “Miami,” but truthfully, there’s no debate or discussion here from me: “Floridays” by Jimmy Buffett sums it up perfectly.

Los Angeles Kings

L.A. gets complicated. I have an entire L.A. playlist and so my choices here have changed and evolved multiple times over the years. After 2011, I started spending more time in Los Angeles and so the Dawes song “Time Spent in Los Angeles” felt like my real life. In fact, when the Dawes launched their 2015 release of “All Your Favorite Bands” at a record store called Fingerprints in Long Beach, I had lead singer Taylor Goldsmith sign my vinyl copy. In the 30 seconds you get to exchange small talk with the band, I told him how much “Time Spent In Los Angeles” mattered to me at a critical crossroads in my life. He seemed genuinely pleased. “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman would probably be a lot of other people’s first choice, and for a long time, it was mine too. I also really like “Ode to L.A.” by the Raveonettes, and a really obscure tune called “3rd Base, Dodger Stadium” by Ry Cooder (which made The Athletic’s baseball songs list) moved into No. 1 spot on the list for a time because we were skating over third base at Dodger Stadium just ahead of the 2014 NHL outdoor game played there. What fun! Lately, though, my most listened to L.A. song is “Went Looking for Warren Zevon’s Los Angeles” by Lucero. Last December, when Gene Carr was telling Lisa Dillman and me about all the time he spent hanging around with musicians at Lucy’s El Abode, I insisted he download the Lucero song because it referenced many of his old hangouts. The best L.A. song? I waver and wobble.

Minnesota Wild

Your default choice here might be something from Prince or Paul Westerberg or since the team is named after the state anyway, anything from Robert Zimmerman’s deep catalogue. But I used a spoken song you’ve probably never heard of – “A Letter from St. Paul” by The Silencers, which is spooky and creepy but gets in your head and then sticks there.

Montreal Canadiens

Blue Rodeo has a great song called “Montreal,” but I opted for Gino Vannelli’s “I Just Want to Stop,” which opens with the line, “When I think about those nights in Montreal.” If you saw all the sorrow and sadness expressed on The Athletic’s Slack channel after the 2020 NHL draft in Montreal was cancelled, I can tell you I’m not the only one who enjoyed a few memorable nights in Montreal.

Nashville Predators

On my first ever visit to Nashville, Peter Maher and I wandered into Tootsies and sitting in the back of the bar mid-afternoon were two of the coaches, Brian Sutter and Richie Preston. The singer was back there too, on a break, visiting with what she called “you hockey guys.” As she went back on stage, she wondered if we had any requests. I’d been listening to a lot of Patsy Cline on the flight down, so I asked for “San Antonio Rose,” which she executed flawlessly. That’s my most memorable Nashville musical experience, but I can’t rationally put that song on the list, so I usually settle for “Nashville Cats” by The Lovin’ Spoonful. Ideally, I want the Predators to change their name to the Tennessee Predators, which would open up the entire state and let me, in good conscience, select Marc Cohen’s “Walking In Memphis,” which is Mojo magazine considers one of the top 100 songs of the 20^th century. “Graceland” by Paul Simon would be good too. Or “Porcelain Monkey” by Warren Zevon. I am open to Nashville suggestions.

New Jersey Devils

You’d think this would be the perfect place to drop in a Springsteen tune, but you’d be wrong. Sorry, but I can’t ever get past Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl,” though Springsteen’s cover, on the live 1975-85 album is pretty great too.

New York Islanders/New York Rangers

The Islanders played most of the years that I covered them out on Long Island and then there’s been this brief flirtation with Brooklyn that doesn’t look as if it’s going to last. For a short time, I had In “Brooklyn” (from Al Stewart) in this spot. I spent a lot of time on Long Island a lot during the years the Islanders were winning championships, frequently visiting Buttle’s, a bar owned by the former New York Jets’ linebacker Greg Buttle. It was still the era of disco and thus, in my mind, I always associated Long Island with dance music, which is why I opted for the catchy “Native New Yorker” by Odyssey.

For New York City proper, ugh, it’s impossible to narrow the list to just a single choice. I can travel a circular winding road from “6th Avenue Heartache” (Wallflowers) to “10th Avenue Freeze Out” (Springsteen) to the “Incident on 57th St.” (Springsteen again) to the “59th St. Bridge Song” (Simon & Garfunkel or Harpers Bizarre). Joe Jackson sings brilliantly about New York on “Steppin’ Out” and “Stranger Than You.” I love B.J. Thomas’ “The Eyes of A New York Woman” and Nilsson’s “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City.” There are all the Sinatra standards. Art Garfunkel’s “Heart In New York.” Lou Reed’s “New York City Man.” Two covers of Leonard Cohen songs: “Chelsea Hotel” by Lloyd Cole and “First We Take Manhattan” by R.E.M. “Leaving New York” by R.E.M. “Englishman in New York” by Sting. “New Amsterdam” by Elvis Costello. “Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way” (NYC) by Elton John. U2’s “Angel of Harlem.” Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” The Eagles’ “New York Minute.” A Dar Williams track called “The Hudson.” “New York City Sunshine,” also from Lloyd Cole. “Only Living Boy In New York City” from Simon & Garfunkel. But in the end, when I do my NYC specific playlist, I always open with an unlikely favorite – “Central Park n’ West” by Ian Hunter. I know. Boooooo!

Ottawa Senators

Every summer, we’d bring our kids to Ontario to visit relatives, which were scattered all over the province, from the Manitoulin to Sudbury, and then on to Ottawa. Sometimes, to get from Point A to Point B, we passed through Mattawa, which Blue Rodeo sang about in 2013. I know. That was always a bit of a stretch. Usually, I go with Johnny Cash’s cover of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” which name drops about a hundred different places, of which Ottawa is one.

Philadelphia Flyers

I waver between Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” and Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” but usually opt for the latter just because it’s bouncier and more upbeat.

Pittsburgh Penguins

I had a hard time finding a specific Pittsburgh song, so for years, substituted in Billy Joel’s “Allentown,” because it was about a steel town in Pennsylvania. But then Karen Price, who wrote for one of the Pittsburgh dailies, pointed out that there was a Springsteen song on Tracks called “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (Pittsburgh). At that point, I owned the single CD version of Tracks, but it didn’t include that song, so I ended up springing for the full 4-CD set to get it. Yes, I’ve put a lot of dollars in the Boss’s pockets over the years.

San Jose Sharks

The first few years, the Sharks played in San Francisco at the Cow Palace, so I had my choice of great San Francisco songs – “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie, “San Francisco Days” by Chris Isaak, “San Francisco Nights” by The Animals and even “San Francisco Bay Blues” by Eric Clapton. Then they moved to San Jose and I settled (but never really loved) Dionne Warwick’s “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” That’s still the easiest option, but in 2003, I became aware of a great Irish band called The Thrills that wrote brilliantly about America and had two songs on their debut album that reference northern California specifically, “Santa Cruz” and “Big Sur.” Nowadays, I use “Santa Cruz” on my current playlist because you can drive there from San Jose for lunch on an off day. Close enough, I figure.

St. Louis Blues

Steely Dan covered the Duke Ellington song “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo on Pretzel Logic,” but it’s way down my list of great Steely Dan songs. As previously noted, Nat King Cole has a song called “St. Louis Blues.” But if Play Gloria can be immortalized on the Blues’ Stanley Cup rings, there really can’t be another choice here, can there?

Tampa Bay Lightning

I saw Jimmy Buffett live twice in Tampa; once was in support of the “Don’t Stop the Carnival” musical that he developed in conjunction with Herman Wouk. Great show and it ended with him doing one of my favorites, “Twelve Volt Man,” as a solo encore. I don’t know any songs specific to Tampa, so I usually go with “Key West Intermezzo” by John Mellencamp because every time I visit Tampa, I threaten to drive to Key West and never do.

Toronto Maple Leafs

I grew up in Toronto and spent a lot of my early years going to concerts and clubs there; and so, there are a lot of songs that conjure up those times. But to me, the quintessential Toronto song is Murray McLauchlan’s “Down by The Henry Moore,” which involved skating at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto, “with the moon above my shoulder and the ice (was) in my hair.” That couplet still makes me shiver every time I hear it. The first honourable mention goes to Bruce co*ckburn’s “Coldest Night of The Year,” which involves staying up all night and then watching the sun come up over the Scarborough horizon. Might have done that a few times too. The second is Blue Rodeo’s “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” which involves watching the snow fall on a cold December night, out in the middle of Lake Ontario. A really beautiful song.

I once ran into Jim Cuddy in downtown Toronto – we were both going in to see The Rascals’ musical “Once Upon A Dream” that Stevie Van Zandt was producing at the Royal Alex and starred the great Felix Cavaliere. That summer, Cuddy and Greg Keeler had done a benefit concert for Minden flood relief in Bancroft, Ont. and it was just a spectacular night – I’d bought tickets for everybody at our cottage at the time and we had a great time. Anyway, I wanted to tell Jim how much that generous gesture meant to the community – but all his wife could see was Jim having to deal with yet another crazed, gushing fan. So, she was there, pulling him away into the theatre and he’s apologizing and heading off. I had a great laugh. Well, why wouldn’t she think that, right? Jim was always very nice when I asked him questions about songwriting and if he, like me, is afraid that one day, the words just won’t come anymore.

Vancouver Canucks

“English Bay” by Blue Rodeo – it’s been my Vancouver song since the first time I heard it.

Vegas Golden Knights

When I first added Vegas to my playlist, I went with the obvious first choice: “Viva Las Vegas” (sometimes the Elvis Presley original and sometimes the Springsteen cover). Other Vegas songs that I’ve listened to for a long time and really enjoyed include “Ooh Las Vegas” by Gram Parsons and “Leaving Las Vegas” by Sheryl Crow. But currently, the list features “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” by Brandon Flowers (for a lot of reasons, but not limited to the fact that the lead singer of The Killers is actually from Vegas) and has a better take on the city than any outsider ever would.

Washington Capitals

In the fall of 1983, or just before “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” became a hit for Cyndi Lauper, I got a phone call from Rod Beaton, who was covering hockey for USA Today at the time. I was coming to Washington for a Flames’ trip and he’d noticed that on the night before the game, a here-to-fore unknown was playing at the 9:30 Club and was I interested in attending? My rule is never say no to live music of any kind because you never know, right? Rod got us tickets and between the time he bought them and the time I arrived for the early December show, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was on heavy rotation on MTV and had raced up the charts. On the night we attended, there were hundreds of people willing to pay a premium for tickets that originally cost, I want to say, around $15. No chance. We went in – and it was great. Cyndi Lauper played most of that first album and during a break in the show, I got my palm read by a psychic who’d set up outside the men’s room. Fabulous night. My friend Mike Vogel noted that Mumford & Sons’ “I Will Wait for You” was probably the song most associated with the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup championship. Good tune, for sure. I sometimes drop in Graham Parker’s “Disney’s America,” which references the D.C. bedroom community, Manassas, Virginia, but just because that night, with Rod and Maria Beaton, is so seared in my brain, I almost always settle for Cyndi Lauper here.

Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg’s great musical tradition includes everyone from Neil Young and Burton Cummings to Randy Bachman and more recently to The Weakerthans. But settling on a song that quintessentially sums up Winnipeg has always been problematic because while I like The Weakerthans, I don’t love them, whereas so much of the Guess Who/Bachman Turner Overdrive catalogue represented the soundtrack of my life, as did a lot of early Neil Young. Usually, I pick Neil Young’s “Thrasher” because it’s a playlist about hockey and hockey has its rural roots and so a song that conjures up the Prairies feels as if it’s necessary – and that the list would be incomplete without it. Plus, Neil’s dad, Scott Young, was – for years – the hockey columnist at The Globe and Mail and for years, I was the hockey columnist at The Globe and Mail as well. So that always felt like a bit of shared history.

Anyway, that’s the current version. I’m still ruminating about Seattle. It’s probably going to be something that comes out of the grunge era, but I’m not sure. I do have about 15 months to figure it out.

Here is the full playlist:

Let me know what you think and what songs you would add.

Eric Duhatschek’s ultimate NHL playlist

• Anaheim: “Seacliff Tonight” – Randell Kirsch
• Arizona: “Arizona” – Mark Lindsay
• Boston: “Dirty Water” – The Standells
• Buffalo: “Buffalo River Home” – John Hiatt
• Calgary: “Four Strong Winds” – Ian Tyson
• Carolina: “Carolina On My Mind” – James Taylor
• Chicago: “My Kind Of Town” – Frank Sinatra
• Colorado: “Get Out Of Denver” – Bob Seger
• Columbus: “Ohio” – The Black Keys
• Dallas: “Hello Texas”– Jimmy Buffett
• Detroit: Detroit Rock City – Kiss
• Edmonton: “Alberta Bound” – Gordon Lightfoot
• Florida: “Floridays” – Jimmy Buffett
• Los Angeles: “Went Looking For Warren Zevon’s Los Angeles” – Lucero
• Minnesota: “Letter From St. Paul” – The Silencers
• Montreal: “I Just Want To Stop” – Gino Vannelli
• Nashville: “Nashville Cats” – The Lovin’ Spoonful
• New Jersey: “Jersey Girl” – Tom Waits
• New York Islanders: “Native New Yorker” – Odyssey
• New York Rangers: “Central Park n’ West” – Ian Hunter
• Ottawa: “I’ve Been Everywhere” – Johnny Cash
• Philadelphia: “Philadelphia Freedom” – Elton John
• Pittsburgh: “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” – Bruce Springsteen
• St. Louis: “Gloria” – Laura Branigan
• San Jose: “Santa Cruz” – The Thrills
• Tampa Bay: “Key West Intermezzo” – John Mellencamp
• Toronto: “Down By The Henry Moore” – Murray McLachlan
• Vancouver: “English Bay” – Blue Rodeo
• Vegas: “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” – Brandon Flowers
• Washington: “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” – Cyndi Lauper
• Winnipeg: “Thrasher” – Neil Young

(Top photo: Debora Robinson / NHLI via Getty Images)