SAN JOSE — Joe Thornton isn’t the type of superstar athlete who gets spotted at red carpet events popping champagne with mega-celebrities like Kanye West.

But Thornton’s status as one of the top hockey players of his generation did give him an opportunity to forge a relationship with the rock idol of his youth, a Canadian hero whom the Sharks are paying tribute to at every home game this season.

When the Sharks (25-15- 2) rush out onto the ice for pregame warmups prior to their Western Conference finals rematch with the St. Louis Blues (21-16- 5) at the SAP Center on Saturday, they’ll be skating to a pair of songs by Canadian rock legends, the Tragically Hip, as an homage to the iconic band’s frontman, Gord Downie, who’s battling glioblastoma, a rare form of terminal brain cancer.

Thornton said the tribute is the Sharks way of celebrating the relationship between the Hip’s music and hockey.

“I just love it because I still listen to the Hip all the time,” Thornton said. “I have a huge smile on my face and I’m ready to go for the rest of the night.”

The Tragically Hip sent shock waves across Canada last spring when they announced that Downie, 52, was suffering from terminal cancer and the band would be calling it quits after one last cross-country tour.

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The news also jolted the Sharks locker room, where the Hip’s music is still played on a near-daily basis, the soundtrack of the Canadian players’ youths.

“When I hear them, it puts you back to those moments when you’re a kid in the basement shooting 1,000 pucks a day with the boombox going,” defenseman Brent Burns said.

Like a lot of Canadians, alternate captain Logan Couture’s relationship with the Hip is intertwined with his love of hockey. As a kid, Couture used to listen to the Hip with his father, Chet Couture, as pump-up music in the car on his way to youth games in London, Ontario. The band’s music was also a staple in the locker room before games.

“That’s the first band you’re really introduced to in the dressing room. Someone’s dad will put it on, it’s almost like dad’s hockey music,” Couture said. “There’s a lot of lyrics about hockey, so if you’re a hockey player, you’re proud that they’re Canadian.”

To the average American, the Hip probably sound like a middle of the road rock n’ roll band from the 1980s and 1990s. They aren’t necessarily innovators like Radiohead nor did they did they flip the mainstream on its head like Nirvana in the early 90s.

But the band from Kingston, Ontario managed to worm its way into the hearts of so many rock fans north of the border by singing about things that are uniquely Canadian.

The song, “Fireworks”, for example, is about Canada’s victory over the Soviet Union in the epic 1972 Summit Series and includes the lyric: “She said she didn’t give a (expletive) about hockey, I never saw someone say that before.”

Another song, “Fifty Mission Cap” is about former-Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Bill Barilko’s mysterious plane crash in 1951 and the team’s 11-year Stanley Cup drought that ended after his body was discovered.

“Wheat Kings” tells the story of David Milgaard, who spent 23 years in prison after getting wrongly convicted of rape and murder, an injustice that left an imprint on all of Canada.

On Aug. 20, nearly one-third of Canada, 11.7 million people, tuned into CBC to watch the last Tragically Hip concert in their hometown of Kingston.

“They’re our pride. They’re our band,” Thornton said, referring to the relationship between the Hip and Canada. “You have Canadian bands that are huge in the States and huge all over the world, but back in Canada, the 30 million people who live there, they all listen to the Hip. I’d say 80 percent of Canadians have seen the Hip live.”

Thornton first met Downie during his rookie season with the Boston Bruins in 1997-98 after his brother and the singer’s brother became friendly. The veteran forward got to see the band’s third-to- last concert on Aug. 15 in Hamilton with Burns and his father, Rob, who played air drums throughout the show.

After the concert, they hung out with the band, and Thornton and Downie reconnected in Toronto for dinner later in the month.

“It’s tough. It’s really tough,” Thornton said, describing the emotions surrounding his friend and heroes’ diagnosis.

After the Sharks reached the Stanley Cup Final in June, several Sharks, including Couture and Patrick Marleau, wore Tragically Hip hats and t-shirts in media scrums as a tribute to Downie.

Couture took it step further prior to the team’s opener on Oct. 12, requesting that the song “Little Bones” be played during pregame warmups.

Forward Micheal Haley eventually decided that one song wasn’t enough and the Sharks added, “New Orleans is Sinking” to the mix after Christmas per his request.

Head coach Pete DeBoer said he is hopeful that the band’s presence in the Sharks pregame mix will be create some new Tragically Hip fans in Northern California.

“Once you’re exposed to it, you can see how great it is,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s a by product.”

• Defenseman David Schlemko practiced with the Sharks on Friday and is expected to suit up for Saturday’s game after missing five-straight games with an upper-body injury. “We’ll see how he wakes up tomorrow. If he’s healthy enough to play, he’ll play,” DeBoer said. … Like Schlemko, DeBoer expects defenseman Paul Martin to return to the lineup after missing Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury if he feels good in the morning. Forward Joonas Donskoi missed practice on Friday with an upper-body injury. DeBoer considers his injury to be a “day to day” affair.