Moments before the start of almost every Minnesota Wild home game, the clear, strong voice of a Moorhead Spud fills an otherwise quiet Grand Casino Arena. The high tenor heard singing “The Star Spangled Banner” before puck drop belongs to 1993 Moorhead High School graduate John deCausmeaker—in his ninth season as the Wild’s national anthem singer.
“I’ve been a practicing musician for a while, as I studied music theory in college. I love my country and I’m a lover of sports,” said deCausmeaker, a member of the A Capella Choir his senior year at MHS. “And in that minute and a half, two minutes, that all comes together for me.”
Shortly after graduating from MHS, John enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a sonar technician on submarines from 1994 to 1998. He joined the Navy Reserve in 2001, in response to the September 11 tragedy, where he stayed until 2007 while pursuing his musical degree at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Shortly before the end of his military service, John got his first chance to perform the national anthem at a Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks game during the 2007 season.
This performance ignited a spark in deCausmeaker, who, after moving to the Twin Cities, auditioned to sing the anthem for Minnesota Twins games at TwinsFest ahead of the 2009 season. The team selected him to perform selected games during their final season at the Metrodome, then continued to invite him back over the next eight seasons. In that time, he also sang before Minnesota Vikings games; but John always had his eye on singing for the Wild.
“The Wild were always on my radar because the NHL is unique in that they don’t farm out the anthem to dozens of different people during the season; they have one person who they hire to sing the anthem—or anthems, if a Canadian team is in town,” explained deCausmeaker, who is a big hockey fan and was a senior the first year that the Spuds Boys Hockey team appeared in the state finals. “This has been going on since the 1960s or 70s, with people like Rene Rancourt in Boston, Kate Smith in Philadelphia and Jim Cornelison in Chicago who are with their teams for decades.”
John got his opportunity to sing for the Wild in 2017 when longtime anthem performer James Bohn stepped down. He applied on the Wild website like any other job and wound up landing the gig thanks to the connections he made at the Metrodome and Target Field.
“When I got the offer, I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke. But it turns out that there’s a huge overlap between the folks who work for the Twins in the summer and the Wild in the winter,” he noted. “So all those years I was singing for the Twins, I was building a reputation that helped me get here.”
It didn’t take long for deCausmeaker to earn headlines for his performances. His story of singing "O Canada" before a game against Vancouver while the Minneapolis Miracle happened, just four months into performing for the Wild, was picked up by The Athletic and ESPN.
Now that he’s been with the team for nearly a decade, John, who works in insurance by day, is tickled that he’s being recognized more and more as “the Wild guy” for the national anthem.
“I had some old friends attend a game last year, and I wanted to give them a special tour of the arena. Afterward they were all giving me a hard time, saying it felt like the scene in ‘Goodfellas’ when Henry takes his wife to the Copacabana and everyone stops him to say hello,” he recalled with a laugh.
Since moving to the Twin Cities, John has performed for the Wild, Twins, Vikings and Minnesota United along with special appearances such as singing "The Star Spangled Banner" to open Minnesota Statehouse sessions in 2023 and 2025. He hopes to continue performing with the Wild and build a lasting legacy, like those of Rancourt, Smith and Cornelison, among other career goals.
“Of course I’d like to see a Stanley Cup come to Minnesota. After watching some of my colleagues like Sonya [Bryson-Kirksey] in Tampa and Carnell [Johnson] in Las Vegas get their rings, that’s something that enters your mind,” admitted deCausmeaker. “And I’d love to complete my ‘Grand Slam’ of Minnesota sports and perform before a Timberwolves game. And maybe the Ryder Cup in 2029!”
From Mr. Rothlisberger’s Moorhead High choir room in the early 1990s to Grand Casino Arena in the mid-2020’s, John’s musical journey exemplifies chasing your passion and making important connections wherever you go. Once a Spud, Always a Spud!