Vanessa Carlton remixes ‘A Thousand Miles’ to mark an NHL player’s important milestone

By Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — Vanessa Carlton took some time to celebrate professional hockey player John Carlson who plays for the Washington Capitals over the weekend, in honor of his achievement of playing 1,000 league games.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter appeared on the National Hockey League team’s X page Saturday morning, in a video performing her 2002 hit song “A Thousand Miles” with updated lyrics in recognition of Carlson – who is known affectionately as “Carly” to fans.

In the clip, Carlton sits at the piano and keys out the famous notes of her millennial ballad, singing about Carlson’s 2018 Stanley Cup win and his “shot like thunder.”

At the end of her performance, Carlton congratulates Carlson on his 1,000-game feat and cheers “Go Caps!” in a moment of hockey fan appreciation.

In a nod to the similarities to the pair’s names, the Capitals wrote in the caption on their X page, “Did you think a Carlson/Carlton crossover would pass us by?”

Carlton’s song “A Thousand Miles” was released to huge popularity in 2002, dominating the airwaves and reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also received three Grammy Award nominations including record and song of the year.

For its 20th anniversary in 2022, Rolling Stone wrote “A Thousand Miles” contained “arguably the most easily identifiable first three seconds to a song of the last two decades, and quite possibly the most instantaneously recognizable piano riff ever.”

Carlson, a defenseman and alternate captain, will appear in his 1,000th NHL game on Saturday night alongside his Capitals teammates, versus the Boston Bruins.

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