By his own admission, Niagara-on-the-Laker Ryan Gaio was never a standout hockey player and knew a professional career was never in the cards. But the 33-year-old musician and Toronto-based high school teacher still landed a moment tied to the sport he loves.
Gaio, a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan, had his 2024 song “Always On Your Side” played twice on Hockey Night in Canada, including during the Leafs’ Jan. 17 game against the Winnipeg Jets.
The song aired as the broadcast cut to commercial and later played again during the late game between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks, when broadcasters also identified Gaio and the track. It was later featured in a similar way on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasters Kyle Bukauskis and Elliotte Friedman’s podcast, 32 Thoughts.
Gaio said the song reached Hockey Night in Canada after he found the show’s music supervisor on Instagram and pitched it directly. The supervisor liked the song, reinforcing a lesson Gaio said he believes in: “You don’t know unless you ask.”
He said the exposure is a welcome bonus.
“It’s cool to have new people check it out,” he said. “I really do this, first and foremost, for the joy it brings me and the joy I think that it brings the friends I work with, so anything that comes is a cherry on top.”
The song reflects Gaio’s lifelong loyalty to the Leafs, who have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967. Its lyrics open with, “The buzzer’s drawing near/and the time’s running out/yeah, the time’s running out/my loyalty is clear.”
He said his parents instilled that loyalty early on. As a child in 1999, Gaio was upset after the Leafs lost a conference final series to the Buffalo Sabres and dreaded facing Sabres fans at school.
He said his parents reminded him that you “win with your team, and lose with your team,” a lesson he now applies more broadly to life.
“I’ve always been struck by this loyalty we have to our sports teams even when our teams are last in the league or bombing like the Leafs currently are this year,” he said. “Most people, myself included, never jump ship.”
Gaio released the song on Oct. 9, 2024, the day the Leafs opened their 2024–25 season against the Montreal Canadiens. It was also the day his daughter, Lucy, was born.
That coincidence gave the song added meaning, Gaio said, noting, “No matter what happens, I am on your side,” when speaking about his daughter.
“The lifespan of the song took an interesting turn with that,” he said. “Now, every time when I play it, I think about both of those things, and especially the second.”
Gaio is a guitarist and singer who began playing in Grade 7. As his focus shifted to music — including playing in bands and taking lessons from a NOTL instructor he described as a “cool hippie guy” — his interest in hockey faded for a time.
As an adult, he said he felt pressure to grow up and get serious, setting his guitar aside for a few years while it “collected dust.”
He eventually returned to both hockey and music, realizing that playing guitar brought him joy. He has continued playing for the past decade.
“It’s really important to have outlets and passions,” he said. “Hobbies that you do for the love of the game.”
Gaio attended the University of Western Ontario and later completed teachers college at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, where he met his wife, Sarah Howden. He said reconnecting with hockey helped him feel closer to home.
Despite living in Toronto, Gaio said his ties to NOTL remain strong. His parents, sister, uncle and aunts still live there, and he visits often. He also wears a NOTL baseball cap, including on stage.
He said he always tells people where he is from: “It will always be home to me.”
