Last year, the armchair athlete set tried to ridicule Tate McRae for wearing goalie pads incorrectly on the cover of sophomore album Think Later, but the joke's on them: the multi-platinum Canadian artist has played her way to headlining the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2024 All-Star Game.
Today, the NHL announced that McRae will perform during the second intermission of February's All-Star Game, taking place in Toronto this year.
As previously announced, McRae has also been named one of four celebrity captains for the event alongside basement ice rink enjoyer Michael Bublé, a fellow aspiring goaltender in Will Arnett and Justin Bieber — whose drew house fashion brand is behind the cartoonish jerseys this year's NHL All-Stars will wear during the game.
Forget the aforementioned equipment issues for a moment: by every measure, McRae's involvement with the All-Star Game can be characterized as top-shelf. Her tour cycles have led to her building a collection of custom jerseys from each NHL city she performs in. Her brother, Tucker, is a defenseman playing college hockey in the US. "Tate McRae" could absolutely land a roster spot on hockey's All-Name team with the likes of Radek Bonk, Garth Butcher, Cal Clutterbuck, Greg McKegg, Tony Twist and Tommy Wingels.
Between McRae's goalie pads and the prominent Zamboni in her video for "greedy," the league has finally found a music star who gets the game after years of whiffing on picks for in-arena entertainment. The NHL picking Machine Gun Kelly in 2022 is the equivalent of this author ripping the puck three feet wide of the net at Sunday night beer league. Picking Kid Rock in 2018 is equal to the times in the locker room one has found their helmet or skates missing from the equipment bag. What about Green Day in 2020? They're CFL guys now.
The 2024 NHL All-Star Game airs at 3 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports in Canada, and on ABC and ESPN+ in the US.