Ten days before this year's NHL Winter Classic hits the ice in Boston, controversy is brewing over who will be singing the national anthems.
The Montreal Canadiens will visit the Boston Bruins at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on New Year's Day 2016, taking hockey's oldest rivalry outside.
But the league has eschewed tradition and will use neither the Bruins' long-time anthem singer, René Rancourt, nor Habs lucky charm, Ginette Reno, to open the match.
Instead, that honour will be reserved for Jordan Smith, the most recent winner of The Voice, a popular singing contest aired by the official American broadcaster of the event, NBC.
Earlier on Wednesday, the NHL announced that Montreal band Simple Plan would sing the Canadian National Anthem at the game and perform again between the second and third periods.
The decision has raised the ire of devoted fans on both sides of the border and has spawned a petition calling for a Rancourt-Reno national anthem.
More than 5,200 people had signed the online petition, which was started by a Bruins fan, by Wednesday evening.
The petition implores NBC to "allow the fans of both teams and those around the world to see the proper, traditional start to a hockey game between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens."
Rancourt, now 76, is such an iconic figure in the Bruins' history that the team uses his likeness beside the mascot bear to promote the Winter Classic.
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