Frazer Harrison, Getty
The long-term Ottawa Senator had become a beloved member of the team since debuting with them in the 1999-2000 season and a lot of heartbroken Ottawa fans assumed that it was all some nefarious plot concocted by Underwood to lure her husband to her adopted home. For a brief period of time, she became hockey's Yoko Ono.
"I never really understood how seriously certain regions can be about hockey," Underwood tells AOL Music Blog about the experience.
The backlash became rather vehement for a while, with Ottawa radio station 105.3 Kiss FM going so far as to ban Underwood's music (which was a bit of an empty gesture, considering the station doesn't even play her type of music). But the country crooner (and secret grunge fan) is surprisingly understanding about the whole fiasco. She is, after all, a pretty big fan of Fisher herself and a learned hockey fan, and she can see why people would get so attached to him.
"They [the Senators] were rebuilding and they lost a lot of guys and the traded a lot of guys that were part of the community," muses. "And Mike's heart. He's the heart of wherever he is. He's the heart of our relationship. He was the heart of the Ottawa Senators and they sent him packing, which was a shock to all of us. And I just think that people wanted someone to blame."
She still gets the occasional question about the part in the trade over a year later.
"I still get asked, 'Did you have something to do with that? Was that you?' I was like 'No! How can I control the NHL?'" she says, adding with a laugh, "Don't mess with me! You'll get your butt traded to some place you don't wanna be."
But most fans have moved on, and the city received her with open arms when she played there last summer. The singer admits that she was a little nervous about the show at first, and even considered canceling it after the news of Fisher's trade broke, but she couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
"I had agreed to do the show, signed all of the contracts and everything before Mike got traded. And after he got traded, I was like, 'Oh my gosh! They are going to hate me! Can we figure some way out of this?' But they were great! Nobody threw anything. I didn't get booed. It was wonderful."
Now that Ottawa and Carrie are cool again, she's looking forward to returning to the city on December 4, when she rolls into to town to play at Scotiabank Place as part of her massive Blown Away world tour.
Now the singer's only problem with Canada's capitol is the fact no one wants to buy the house that she built there with her husband. The couple never even had a chance to live in their dream home, because it wasn't quite finished when Fisher was traded. They've been trying to sell it every since.
"Now we have this giant house, just sitting there," she says with a sigh.
Reality Show Singers: Remembering the Winners
- 1. Kelly Clarkson (American Idol, season one; 2002)
- 2. Javier Colon (The Voice, season one; 2011)
- 3. Leona Lewis (The X Factor, season three; 2006)
- 4. Ryan Malcolm (Canadian Idol, season one; 2003)
- 5. Ruben Studdard (American Idol, season two; 2003)
- 6. Fantasia Barrino (American Idol, season three; 2004)
- 7. Taylor Hicks (American Idol, season five; 2006)
- 8. Jordin Sparks (American Idol, season six; 2007)
- 9. David Cook (American Idol, season seven; 2008)
- 10. Scotty McCreery (American Idol, season ten; 2011)
- 11. JD Fortune (Rock Star INXS, season one; 2005)
Watch Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" Video
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