‘Slap Shot’ organist finds new career with expansion Kraken

SEATTLE (AP) — It started with an unsolicited email that landed in the inbox of the game presentation executives for the Seattle Kraken.

The name Rod Masters didn’t immediately resonate with Jonny Greco and Lamont Buford, who are in charge of overseeing entertainment and game production for the expansion franchise, though they would soon make a connection.

“I remember (Lamont) looking at me … and he’s like, ‘The dude from ‘Slap Shot’ just sent me an email,’” Greco recalled. “And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? What dude?’”

That dude would be Masters, and if the name still doesn’t ring a bell, that’s fine. Just know he may be the most famous organist to ever appear on the big screen in a sports movie, and now nearly a half-century after he made a lasting impression in “Slap Shot,” Masters is the first organist for the Kraken.

His name never appeared in the credits of the iconic 1977 movie starring Paul Newman. But anyone who’s seen the movie knows Masters as the organist plunked in the head by a wayward puck and abruptly asked by Newman’s character Reggie Dunlop to never play “Lady of Spain” ever again.

More than 40 years later, he’s now part of the fraternity of organists around the NHL, a 68-year-old living out a dream, even for someone who has worked as a professional musician all over North America.

“I love playing for the people and they seem to be loving it. It’s just the best job I could ever even dreamed that I would have,” Masters said. “I had retired and then I thought just for the heck of it I’ll email them. … I would think this a great job for any musician.”

Organ or keyboard music is synonymous with hockey. It was even part of the soundtrack of the Beijing Olympics during stoppages in play.

Of the 32 NHL teams, only six — Philadelphia, Carolina, Dallas, Arizona, Vegas and Edmonton — don’t have an organist playing during games. Vegas, the last team to join the league before Seattle,…