Three St. Albert hockey-playing buddies are about to be introduced to the world.
The three — Tyler Mrkonjic, 15, Stevie Canduro, 15, and J.T. Bartlett — are long-time buddies who play pivotal acting roles in the video backing Paul Brandt’s I Was There single that will be the anthem for the 2012 IIHF world junior hockey championship.
The championship will be held Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Calgary but the single is already surging up the charts while the video will be released online on Monday.
“The first time I heard I was in it, I was ecstatic. It has such an amazing message,” Mrkonjic, a forward for the Raiders Hockey Club, says of the song and the video.
The trio could get world-wide exposure with the video being released on the Internet and the anthem being played at the championship being contested by nine countries other than Canada: Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, U.S., Finland, Czech Republic, Denmark and Russia.
As of Thursday the country-styled anthem had hit No. 3 on the iTunes country singles chart, leaping ahead of platinum churning pop/country princess Taylor Swift. Her love song Ours sat at No. 5.
The three St. Albert youngsters couldn’t be happier for Brandt’s success and they’re excited to see what happens when the video is released on Monday.
The Edmonton Journal along with the Calgary Herald and Corus Entertainment partnered with Hockey Canada to spearhead the song. Brandt said he wrote the song in about 15 minutes from his own memories of a Christmas morning when he ran downstairs to find a hockey net with his name on it.
“I was euphoric, and took it outside to play hockey with my friends right away. Hockey does that to you,” Brandt writes on the Hockey Canada tournament website. “In Canada, hockey is a spirit that transcends age, gender, background and ability.”
The Journal subsequently asked readers to write about what hockey meant to them. They were searching for fans loaded with unbridled passion to be in the video.
“I wrote about Tyler’s bedroom full of quotes and his hockey paraphernalia and how when he has a spare moment, he shoots on the road or he shoots in the basement. He’s always talking about hockey. It’s his whole life,” says Kathy Maurice, Mrkonjic’s stepmother.
While Brandt sings and narrates the storyline, the video turns its eye on Mrkonjic’s world. Videographer Ryan Jackson arrived at the teen’s house to shoot several scenes including waking up in the morning from a dream, packing a hockey bag and heading to the arena.
While a minor scene was shot at Kinex Arena, the big action takes place at Fort Saskatchewan’s Jubilee Recreation Centre.
Jackson asked Mrkonjic if he could rustle up a couple of friends who would enjoy shooting a few pucks with him. Canduro, a right-winger for the Minor Midget Triple A Flyers and Bartlett, a goalie for the same team, were brought in for ice time.
“It felt awesome. I love hockey and it’s especially cool to be involved in this way,” Canduro says.
In one scene, Canduro and Mrkonjic took a faceoff. Then Canduro chased Mrkonjic behind the net where Mrkonjic did a wrap-around while trying to score a goal.
Bartlett estimates the scene had to be repeated more than a dozen times.
“Tyler had to try and score and he couldn’t score. He had to come around the net and chuck it in on the other side. It’s a hard angle to shoot. But it was pretty exciting.”
Maurice and Frank Mrkonjic, Mrkonjic’s father, attended the Paul Brandt concert on Monday, Dec. 12 at Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium. Frank ran into Jackson, who offered the patriarch a sneak peak of the video on his iPhone.
Many of the scenes include regular Albertans – players, a Zamboni driver, fans, and referees. Skaters of all ages play hockey on ponds, driveways, streets and in the arena. There’s even a tabletop hockey scene.
Seeing the finished product left Frank with deep sense of pride as a Canadian.
“The video truly shows what hockey means to Canada. It’s not just a game. It’s about being out on the pond or the arena. It’s about the people whose kids play. It’s about a huge extended family. After all when you get up at six in the morning and you go root for them to do well, you think of them as your own.”
As for Mrkonjic Jr., this is definitely a standout experience.
“It was amazing just to see this, play hockey and spend time with your buddies. When you get older, you look back on the good times you had and this will be something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
