Hockey has taken over a sizable portion of Carnell Johnson’s life.
The man known as “Golden Pipes,” who rose to prominence while singing the national anthem during the Golden Knights’ inaugural playoff run in 2018, also plays in a weekly game.
“By no means am I going to call myself fast, but I’m deceptively fast for my size,” the burly left wing says. “If I’m coming toward someone, they just get out of the way. They’re just like, ‘I’m not standing in front of you.’ ”
Adding to his opponents’ discomfort, he says, “It took me a year to learn how to stop.”
‘A surreal moment’
Johnson, 44, will return to the ice Saturday to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” ahead of Game 3 in his, and the team’s, third Stanley Cup Final.
“There’s definitely a different air about it,” he says of his anthem performance when the Cup is on the line. “There’s more gravitas, I would probably say.”
The Knights had a different anthem singer almost every game that first season. Johnson didn’t get his first crack at it until February. But the team turned to him in the playoffs, in part because of its winning record when he sang. It was the musical equivalent of playing the goalie with the hot hand.
“I believe it was that first round,” Johnson says, referencing the Knights’ sweep of the Los Angeles Kings, “where after that it was just like, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to have anybody else sing.’ Even though there were bigger celebrities that were lined up to come in and sing.”
Carrie Underwood famously offered to perform the anthem during that year’s Western Conference Final. The Knights’ response was a polite version of, “Nah. We’re good.”
“It was a surreal moment,” Johnson acknowledges. “I will say that.”
He stopped worrying about anyone else taking his spot in December 2018, when the Knights made the relationship official. In 2023, they put a ring on it.
“Right now, it’s on my bathroom counter,” Johnson says, laughing. He makes sure to wear his Stanley Cup ring when he performs at galas and conventions. “But I don’t, like, wear it out to dinner or to go pick my kid up from school or anything like that.”
It’s sized for his middle finger. Should he pick up another following this season, he’s planning to go the Bruno Mars route with a pinky ring.
‘It’s been a blessing’
Johnson is classically trained in opera, but the diversity of his favorite music may surprise you.
One of his go-to songs to perform, given his rumbling baritone, is “Ol’ Man River.”
The last song he sang in the shower? Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”
“Honestly, my first love is hard rock,” Johnson says. “Growing up in the ’90s with grunge, then going into alternative rock. Foo Fighters. Green Day. Rage. Nirvana. All of that stuff is what I absolutely love.”
To that end, he sang an eye-opening version of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” during a recent installment of Mondays Dark. The twice-monthly variety showcase at The Space is run by his in-game entertainment colleague Mark Shunock.
“It’s been a blessing,” Johnson says of the venue. “The Knights are off for the summer and, while I’ll get gigs here and there, I know that every two weeks, I’ll have that gig that I can at least go and make sure my voice is still good.”
He’s formed the duo Cover Lane with Lynnae Meyers, who shares the Knights’ anthem duties by singing “O Canada.” They play Frankie’s Uptown roughly once a month. He’ll sing at other events around town, provided they don’t conflict with his day job as marketing coordinator at Findlay Volkswagen.
‘It’s not an easy song’
The most reliable place to see Johnson sing remains T-Mobile Arena. He missed one game this season, and that was because he was in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat. (He says he’s fine now.)
If you spot him before a game, Johnson realizes he may come across as aloof or even unfriendly.
“I’m just going over the lyrics in my head, because it’s not an easy song,” he says. “Celebrity after celebrity have been raked across the coals if they forget the words to it. So I always want to make sure I’m in the right headspace.”
Johnson started second-guessing himself four or five years ago and made sure to keep the lyrics nearby.
“Just for the first three lines,” he says. “Once I’m past that, I’m fine. That’s where most people get messed up, because the stanzas are just so similar. You have the exact amount of syllables in each one of those lines.”
Despite having sung those lyrics thousands of times over the years, he still doubts himself at times. But he remains grateful for every crack at the anthem.
“It has opened so many doors and allowed me to essentially start making a career out of it,” Johnson says. “My goal in life is to (sing) full time.”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.
