NHL Ottawa Senators player Mika Zibanejad signs with Recording Connection!

Mika Zibanejad, a Swedish-born professional hockey player on the roster for the Ottawa Senators, recently joined Recording Connection’s line-up! Turns out professional hockey isn’t Mika’s only dream — he also has a passion for creating EDM music.

Zibanejad is well known in the world of hockey as a rising star. Originally hailing from Sweden, Zibanejad scored the winning goal for his home country in the gold medal round in the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships against Russia. Today, Zibanejad plays centre for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.

In 2013, the pro hockey player started DJing under the name “DJ Z-Bad” in Ottawa’s local music scene. From there, what started out at a hobby to “to unwind and take his mind off hockey” bloomed into a full-fledged passion.

Now, Zibanejad is taking it to the next level. That’s right, he’s signed up with Recording Connection and is apprenticing under Eric Eggleston at Johnny Hall Productions in Ottawa to learn how to make the music he hears in his head.

“I’m very into house music. It’s something I’ve been listening to a lot and something I have a passion for,” Zibanejad says, citing Swedish House Mafia and Hardwell as two favorites.

The Recording Connection is much more than a vocational school, it’s a program that’s all about teaching your how to go after your dreams by getting real i.e. honing your skills and navigating the music world by making connections and fostering relationships. Many of our students have full-time jobs elsewhere, even as pro hockey players, and choose to pursue music production as a secondary career or even for personal fulfillment.

The Recording Connection program can be tailored to fit hectic schedules and a variety of skill levels. Mika Zibanejad already has a rewarding career in hockey, but he wants more—and yet, understandably, his schedule playing for the Senators takes up considerable time. The Recording Connection has proven to be a great fit for him because he can attend classes in a real recording studio in Ottawa, and pursue his dreams of producing EDM music on his own schedule. Like all other Recording Connection apprentices, Zibanejad also gets personal, one-on-one instruction from a real music industry pro.