‘Canada, I am so sorry,’ anthem singer forgets O Canada lyrics before Leafs game

If you tuned in to the Toronto Maple Leafs game in Florida on Thursday night you may have noticed something was a little off with the Canadian national anthem.

Ryan Michael James sang both the American and Canadian anthems before the game against the Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida. He appeared to forget some of the words during the first half of his rendition of O Canada, needing some assistance from the Canadian snowbirds in attendance to keep the song afloat.

James spoke to KiSS 92.5’s Roz and Mocha Show on Friday morning, telling the program he was a last minute replacement and only found out he was singing hours before the puck dropped between the two teams.

“I found out two hours before that I was actually going on,” he said. “I had two hours to learn the national anthem for Canada, of which I was not familiar with before doing the gig.”

The replacement singer posted a shirtless selfie on Instagram approximately one hour before the game, with the caption: “Still trying to learn the words to ‘Oh Canada.'”

Maybe an hour before the leafs vs panthers game wasn’t a good time to be trying to figure out the words to the Canadian national anthem… pic.twitter.com/y0RnhUzQ2P

— mego (@eastcoast_eq) March 24, 2023

An apologetic James told the radio show he was promised the lyrics would be displayed on a screen during the song.

“They were not,” he says. “As much as I rehearsed it, I panicked and couldn’t get back to where I needed to be.”

The arena was filled with blue-and-white Leafs jerseys, and the broadcast was able to pick up the sound of the crowd filling in the gaps of the missed words. The off-the-mark anthem inspired scores of criticism on social media throughout the evening.

“Canada I am so sorry for flubbing the lyrics,” James says. “I promise it was not intentional.”

The uneven O Canada didn’t hinder the Leafs who still went on to beat the Panthers 6-2 behind Auston Matthews’ two goals and Matt Murray’s solid effort in goal.

Leafs fans previously made headlines when they stepped up and helped out local anthem singer after her microphone malfunctioned during the U.S. anthem earlier this month.

After a microphone malfunction, the crowd at Scotiabank Arena took over for the American anthem ahead of the Leafs/Sabres game. ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/k91AnR9VTe

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 13, 2023

Natalie Morris’ rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner was cut off due to technical issues before the Leafs game against the Buffalo Sabres on March 13.

The home crowd stepped up in absence of the vocals and even received a pat on the back from players on both teams immediately after, who tapped their sticks in acknowledgement of the crowd’s effort.

The Leafs continue their road trip on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.