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    Star-Spangled banner singer to return to the ice after whirlwind 48 hours

    ‘Who would have thought this was the way to get my name out,’ Alexis Normand says

    Maclean's
    <p>Alexis Normand struggles with the American national anthem during the opening ceremonies of the Memorial Cup game between the Halifax Mooseheads and Portland Winterhawks in Saskatoon, Sask. on Saturday, May 18, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards.</p>

    Alexis Normand struggles with the American national anthem during the opening ceremonies of the Memorial Cup game between the Halifax Mooseheads and Portland Winterhawks in Saskatoon, Sask. on Saturday, May 18, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards.

    How bad was it? “Pretty bad,” says Alexis Normand of her mangled rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner on Saturday evening.


    The Saskatoon singer spoke to Kevin Mitchell of the StarPhoenix about the performance, which was already trending by the time she arrived home from the Memorial Cup where she had performed the U.S. and Canadian anthems before a game between teams from Portland and Halifax.

    Normand tells Mitchell:

    “I was swearing at myself and trying to decide – do I leave, do I stay? I’m like, ‘No – you can’t leave now, it would be worse to leave and come back and do it again.’ By the time I was trying to decide what to do and swearing at myself, the crowd started encouraging me, singing along and helping me get through it. I felt anthem after this one. This is just the beginning.”

    She was quick to apologize for her performance:

    And soon she was fielding interview requests:

    “Who would have thought this was the way to get my name out,” Normand told the StarPhoenix. “I had to mess up this bad? It’s crazy.”

    After a whirlwind 48 hours, the singer is due back on the ice today — Canadian anthem only.

    In case you missed it, here’s how Twitter chronicled Saturday’s performance:

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