Life as a Sharks National Anthem Singer: Riley Blackwell Discusses What Led to the Role, What It's Like & More

Riley Blackwell grew up as a life-long San Jose Sharks fan. Her mother attended games during the Sharks' short stay at the Cow Palace and her grandfather was a season-ticket holder for many years. 

While she was watching the Sharks in her youth, she was also chasing another passion at the same time: singing. Eventually, those two passions collided when she sang The Star-Spangled Banner ahead of a Sharks game for the very first time during the 2025-26 season.

"My parents have been saying had been saying for years that they wanted me to sing at a Sharks game, just because it would combine my two favorite things," Blackwell remembered. She had previously sang the national anthem for her college's hockey team, which helped her build a portfolio for when she eventually applied to sing for the Sharks. 

After Blackwell applied, her ticket representative reached out to her roughly a month later to set things up and things were quickly set in motion. 

On January 3rd, as the Sharks hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning, Blackwell finally had the opportunity to sing at the SAP Center. Before she could sing pre-game though, she had quite a bit to do to get ready. First, came her standard pre-performance routine. "Typically, before any performance that requires singing, I'll always warm up in the morning, and then I like to drink like a hot tea as well, keep lozenges to keep my throat nice and hydrated," she shared.

Then, Blackwell arrived to the Arena roughly two and a half hours before puck drop for rehearsals and the like. "You do a sound check to make sure everything sounds good, they time it as well, to make sure we're staying on time for puck drop and the game, but it's pretty simple. They just have us do sound check, and then once it's time, they have you come down to the penalty box, and then get in there."

As a life-long Sharks fan, the experience hit Blackwell before fans even entered the building. "It was honestly pretty surreal," she said of the soundcheck. "Even though I am a performer, I definitely get pretty nervous, and even though there was nobody in the arena, I was still feeling the nerves. It is kind of crazy to even just do a sound check in there after going to games for so long."

Once the building filled up with a sold-out crowd, Blackwell then stepped out onto the ice to sing once again. "I was really nervous because this was the biggest crowd I'd ever performed in [front of]," she said. "If I'm singing a cabaret or if I'm in a musical, which is what I'm typically doing, it's not that many people at all. It's probably like 200 to 300 max, so going from that to a sold-out game definitely was crazy, a lot of pressure in a way to be singing in front of that many people but typically the nerves start to settle once I start singing and I'm in it, so that was kind of how it went."

A few months later, Blackwell was brought back to the SAP Center to sing for a second time, but this time she faced a new challenge. "It was against the Canucks, so I actually had to sing O Canada as well," she recalled. "I had always practiced O Canada, but I had never actually sung it at a sports game, so that was a little bit nerve-wracking, but I had a lot of family and friends in the building that second time around, which was really cool."

Blackwell has already been back at the Shark Tank this season, as she sang the national anthem when the Sharks hosted the Bruins on October 13. She'll be back tomorrow night as well, as she's scheduled to perform when the Sharks host the Buffalo Sabres on October 27.