Deadly puckers

The Ninja Tune Deadly Karate Chops hockey team has their eye on the Exclaim! Cup

by SCOTT C

While minor and house league hockey is providing the missing link for many NHL fans, there is a dedicated bunch of Montrealers whose team's slow rise to the throne of hockey greatness is also filling the gap.

"In the absence of the Habs' inability to pull out any glory, even when the NHL is functioning, it's clearly up to us to bring some pride back to Quebec in the hockey sense." So says Jeff Waye, the man running the show behind Ninja Tune Records North America, and the ringleader and player/coach of the Ninja Tune Deadly Karate Chops hockey team.

This ragtag crew are entering their second consecutive year of the long hard battle for the Exclaim! Cup, a hallowed and awkward-looking trophy that is the focal point for all competing in the annual Exclaim! Hockey Tournament. Held over Easter weekend at arenas in the GTA, 25 squads from across the country made up of music industry types and band members spend months training for their shot at the cup.

The three-tier tournament is split into the Stompin' Division, the Tom Division, and the Connors Division, where participants are pitted against teams with similar skill levels and everyone has their eye on the cup. The Deadly are no exception. "I've known about the Exclaim! cup for years," explains Waye, "but last year I finally got off my ass and decided you can't have a fuckin' Canadian music industry hockey tournament without Quebec representation."

And so, with forwards like Gary Worsley of Montreal's Alien8 Recordings, and Brave New Waves' Patti Schmidt on defence, the Deadly are hitting the ice every Monday night in an effort to get an edge on the cup in 2005. The 20 players playing weekly right now will be cut to a streamlined hockey machine come January. Waye insists that he used to be a fairly good player back in the day, and that this was the perfect excuse to get back into hockey. "It's nothing more than a pale reach for past glories," he admits with a chuckle. "We'll be better prepared for the competition this year, but last year we never played in a proper game scenario for the 14 weeks leading up to the tournament. By the time the puck was dropped in our first game, it took us about 10 minutes to figure out what the hell was going on."

Even with their penchant for too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties, the Deadly and every other team in competition must also worry about providing music between whistles during the games, and performing as a band at one of the tournament after-parties. "They make you perform so you can't fill your team with wringers. Last year, Amon Tobin did a remix of the Hockey Night in Canada theme, and we performed a true Quebec classic, "The Safety Dance" with the lyrics reworked into "Hockey Pants." It's definitely not the NHL, but it sounds like a hell of a lot more fun.