HIGH NOTE: Fall River's Michael DeAlmeida auditioning to sing national anthem for Bruins

FALL RIVER – Michael DeAlmeida gets his shot at the major leagues on Wednesday.

The Fall River resident has been invited to participate in a Boston Bruins tryout at the TD Garden in Boston. He won’t be bringing a stick and skates, but rather his powerful vocal chords. The Bruins are looking for a singer or singers to replace the legendary Rene Rancourt, who retired at the end of last season.

DeAlmeida, who turns 50 on Aug. 22, has sung the Star Spangled Banner at many Durfee High School basketball games. He’s sung it at Durfee hockey games. He has sung at Greater Fall River events, including multiple ones run by the Bristol County Chamber of Commerce.

He’s belted out his straight-forward, powerful rendition for the Pawtucket Red Sox, for Providence College men’s and women’s basketball, for PC hockey. A self-taught singer, he started singing publically with gospel songs at church.

As a longtime Boston Bruins/Rene Rancourt fan, he’s now looking at a chance to make a dream come true.

“I love singing at Durfee. I love singing at Providence College,” DeAlmeida said on Tuesday night. “But the TD Garden. That’s a piece of history.”

This dream audition came about quickly, following some disappointment and frustration over the last year. When the Bruins advertised for singers a year ago, DeAlmeida prepared a video but could not get it to upload to the Bruins. The Bruins advertised again this year, with an Aug. 1 deadline. DeAlmeida had a friend help him format the file, but once again, he could not upload it to the Bruins.

With no interest in giving up on this 2018 opportunity, he made a half dozen calls to Renee Riva, who works marketing and advertising for the Bruins. When that failed to produce any call-backs and with the deadline looming, DeAlmeida went on Facebook to ask his friends to respectfully call Riva’s voicemail box. Kimberly Coroa Moniz, vice-president of the Bristol County Chamber of Commerce, emailed on DeAlmeida’s behalf.

On Monday of this week, Riva called. DeAlmeida said she apologized and told him there had been a server crash, resulting in some 600 video entries failing to get through. DeAlmeida said he also apologized and she understood and respected his persistence.

Riva asked DeAlmeida to email his file. He did and “15 to 20 minutes” later, she called back with the Wednesday (5:30 p.m.) audition time.

“I was like goosebumps on top of goosebumps,” DeAlmeida said. “I’ve listened to Rene Rancourt since I was a kid. Hopefully I’ll get at least one game.”

DeAlmeida, a said he suspects the audition will take place at floor level at the Garden. He said Riva said he could sing both the American and Canadian national anthems. He said he’ll sing both, since it may give him an edge over other candidates who might only sing the Star Spangled Banner.

DeAlmeida, a maintenance department employee at Fall River’s Henry Lord Community School, sings the National Anthem old school, simply, powerfully, at a brisk pace. “I think it needs to be sung straight out,” he said.

His singing posture features microphone in left hand, right hand over heart, and eyes fixed on the American flag. He said nerves are not an issue. He will be joined at his Bruins audition by his wife Sheila and son Mikallan.

DeAlmeida said after he sang at a Providence College hockey game at Schneider Arena in Providence, a man approached him and said he could “hear the passion” in his voice.

“That meant the world to me,” DeAlmeida said. “It made me feel like I was doing it for all the right reasons.”

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.