An unabashedly Canadian film that combines music with Canada’s favorite pastime will be front and center at this year’s 35th Toronto International Film Festival which tapped Michael McGowan’s Score: A Hockey Musical as its opening night gala.

Festival director Piers Handling and co-director Cameron Bailey, decked out in hockey jerseys, fittingly made the announcement on Wednesday at Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame. Their choice is the complete antithesis of last year’s opener, the decidedly more serious British biopic Creation.

‘It’s fun, it’s upbeat…people are going to respond to it right across the country,’ Handling told Playback Daily after the press conference, adding that it’s the right time for a hockey-themed film following Team Canada’s gold medal victory at the Winter Olympics earlier this year.

‘[It was] one of those moments that brought Canadians together. I think that [sentiment] will still linger over into the festival,’ he said.

The film’s all-star cast is led by Olivia Newton-John (Grease, Glee) and singer/songwriter Marc Jordan, who play parents to a sheltered teen hockey phenom (newcomer Noah Reid) as he swiftly goes from obscurity to fame. Stephen McHattie (Watchmen, Pontypool) co-stars while Score also features cameos by musicians Nelly Furtado and Hawksley Workman; hockey dad Walter Gretzky; and The Hour’s George Stroumboulopoulos.

Score is writer-director McGowan’s third film at the fest following Saint Ralph and road-trip drama One Week, the latter which was a hit for Mongrel Media in 2009 with $1.3 million at the domestic box office.

Mongrel is planning a wide release – 80-100 screens – for Score on Oct. 22, according to president Hussain Amarshi, who believes the $5.2 million feature is the right fit for TIFF.

‘[Musicals] are in the zeitgeist,’ he says. ‘This is not a formulaic kind of film, it’s very original, it’s great escapism, and in some ways will make people curious [as to] how do you mix hockey with a musical?’

Score is produced by McGowan through his Mulmur Feed Company alongside Avi Federgreen (Hungry Hills), and exec producers Richard Hanet (One Week) and Jody Colero (Instant Star, One Week). The movie will feature music from Barenaked Ladies, Amy Sky, Newton-John and Workman.

This year’s TIFF has been extended by a day and runs Sept. 9-19. The festival will officially open its new home, the Bell Lightbox, on Sept. 12.