Nickelback's Mike Kroeger Fancies Ottawa Or Detroit For The Stanley Cup

Nickelback may have taken home two Juno Awards this past weekend for best group and rock album, but that wasn't the only trophy on the rockers' minds. True blue hoser and band bassist Mike Kroeger is bending his mind over who might win hockey's Stanley Cup this year.

"Oh boy, that's so hard," he said during his red carpet entrance to Sunday night's Junos show. "The races are tight. I think Ottawa looks good."

For the record, though, Kroeger's not so much behind the Calgary Flames or his brother Chad's faves, the Vancouver Canucks. You'd think that he'd be geographically predisposed to cheer for either of those teams, but his support is behind the Motor City.

"My boys the [Detroit] Red Wings look good," he said. "It's gonna be a huge, huge playoff season."

The Nickelback boys come by their love of the world's fastest game quite honestly. Their cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" is a staple of Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts and band members have been known to take part in the odd celebrity hockey game over the years. Not only that, but former NHLers Lanny McDonald and Jim Nill are from the same Hanna, Alberta hometown as the Kroegers.

What's best, though, is that the band have been immortalized on the mask of Florida Panthers goalie Jamie McLennan, who debuted a rock 'n' roll-themed face shield while playing for the Calgary Flames that featured KISS and a prominent Nickelback logo.

"We are big friends with him," says Kroeger. "He's one of my best buddies.

"It was completely unsolicited. We found out about it and then made contact with him. That was like two or three years ago. We saw him and it was like, 'What is that?' And it turns out he's a really great guy, so we hang out as much as possible."

If Kroeger's Red Wings take the Cup, he'll understand the thrill. After all, Nickelback have won a truckload of awards and have no problem with scoring a few extras.

"It's really awesome to win awards," said Kroeger."It's cool to be recognized. I don't know what it means, but it's cool to get it. It might be like having too much money. We can have more. You can always have a few more."