The Guardian recently posted a great article on the rise of hockey rock focusing on hardcore punk greats D.O.A., whose latest album is called Kings of Punk, Hockey And Beer. Of course, D.O.A. are Canadian, which makes them even more prone to hockey-it is. Case in point: Anvil, the great heavy metal band/documentary subject, also are Canucks, which means it’s no surprise they have a great fist-pumping, slap-shotting hockey anthem, “Blood On The Ice,” in their repertoire. Canada also has The Five Hole Band, so named as “five hole” refers to the target-like area between a goalie’s legs, and whose album is titled “Tales Of Hockey Erotica Review” (click through for more MP3s).

Stateside, there is also a newish buzz band called Hockey, but they seem to have chosen their name just for ironic purposes; however, the original name of recent DFA signing Free Energy was Hockey Night, which, as the band’s origins are in Minnesota – almost as hockey crazy as Canada, it is –assures there was no irony intended.

Hockey isn’t the only sport creeping into music, or vice versa, as The Guardian article points out: cricket is also making inroads. They cite a U.K. punk act called Geoffrey Oi!cott, while readers of KSPACE will recall we noted the cricket-rock crossover some months ago with the Duckworth Lewis Method. Hopefully this will welcome a new era of sports-themed music into the arena – after all, we could use an alternative to “Another One Bites The Dust,” yes?