By Jason La Rose via Hockey Canada

The people have spoken, and the Hunter Brothers are the voice of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The band’s song Born and Raised was selected as the official anthem for the tournament, edging out fellow Canadian acts The Strumbellas, Monster Truck and The Glorious Sons in a contest run by SiriusXM Canada, the official music partner of the World Juniors.

It’s a fitting result for the five farm boys from Shaunavon, Sask., who have had their lives shaped by Canada’s game – all of the Hunters played hockey, four played junior and three reached the pro game.

“We were literally born and raised out on the rink,” said oldest brother J.J. “Hockey has been a part of our lives for as long as we can remember, and hearing our song play during the World Juniors is a dream come true. Thank you so much to those of you who voted!”

Where did the game take the brothers?

• J.J. is the most travelled of the Hunter clan; he played three seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Kelowna Rockets and Prince Albert Raiders before embarking on a six-year pro career that took him to Toledo (ECHL), Hamilton (AHL), Columbus (ECHL), Toronto (AHL), Edmonton (AHL) and Manitoba (AHL).
• Luke played five WHL seasons with the Swift Current Broncos and one year at the University of Calgary before a quick, nine-game stint with the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League (CHL) in 2008-09.
• Dustin was a member of the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) before an injury-shortened pro season with the Oklahoma City Blazers and San Angelo Saints of the CHL.
• Brock patrolled the blue-line for the Drumheller Dragons and Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) before finishing his junior career with the Kindersley Klippers of the SJHL.
• Ty played high-level minor hockey before a broken femur ended his competitive hockey days.

Luke was the lone Hunter to take his game international; he played for West at the 2002 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Selkirk and Stonewall, Man., finishing seventh.

“I had the honour of representing Canada and wearing the beloved Maple Leaf when I was 16 years old, and it was easily one of the highlights of my entire hockey career,” he says. “I love the game of hockey … it’s been a passion going back as far as memories will serve me. But the same can be said about music. It stirs up raw emotion and moves me to places I can’t quite explain.”

Injuries eventually took their toll on all five boys, and they returned home to the family farm. Their focus turned to taking care of the 20,000 acres and to music, but not before they teamed up one final time with the hometown Shaunavon Badgers of the White Mud Hockey League in the early 2010s.

As a band, the brothers released their first single, El Dorado, in February 2016 before their debut album, Getaway, dropped in March 2017. They earned their first-ever Top 10 hit when Born and Raised reached No. 9, and have garnered a total of four Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) award nominations.

The Hunter Brothers will trade in the tractor for the tour bus in early 2019, joining country-music superstars Paul Brandt, High Valley and Jess Moskaluke for The Journey Tour beginning Jan. 25 in Abbotsford, B.C.