During Sunday night’s women’s curling match between Teams USA and Sweden, heavy metal, more specifically, the Swedish power metal band HammerFall became the topic of discussion on CNBC Television!

At 11:22pm ET, in the beginning of the 6th End, Canada's most decorated curling champion Colleen Jones was commenting on how much she enjoyed the curling montage of various teams screaming, when CNBC anchor Andrew Catalon piped in, and the following conversation ensued:

Andrew: If you really want to see something fascinating, I suggest you go to YouTube, and type in “Hearts on Fire” and “curling,” because just prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics, Annette’s [Norberg] team was featured in a rock video for this Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall. The song is “Hearts on Fire.” The team takes on the band in a curling game, and then the curlers – this team – starts singing while they’re sweeping! So that is a must-see video! I’ve watched it!

Colleen: Is there a future for them as rock stars? They’re already rock stars, but could they be other rock stars?

Andrew: Well, it turned out to be a good luck charm; they went on to win a gold medal!

Colleen: Yeah, I was asking Annette the other day, “Hey, any more rock videos for you?” Nope, they haven’t had any more offers since then.

Andrew: Going out on top, obviously.

Sweden would then defeat Team USA at 12:25am with a score of 9-3. It would seem that HammerFall is still weaving some magic for the team.

Although it was a brief, one-minute discussion, it was probably the single biggest mainstream acknowledgement of underground heavy metal music (in a positive light) that has ever been uttered. Hopefully, that one small exchange was enough of a spark to pique the curiosity of a few budding metal fans.

The video discussed is linked below.

Check out my interview with HammerFall guitarist Oscar Dronjak here.

HammerFall is touring North America this March in support of their 2009 release No Sacrifice, No Victory. Dates include:

Mar 5 at Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield, VA
Mar 6 at The Palladium in Worcester, MA
Mar 7 at The Filmore in New York City, NY
Mar 9 at Trocadero in Philadelphia, PA
Mar 10 at Club Soda in Montreal, QC, Can.
Mar 11 at Imperial in Quebec, QC, Can.
Mar 12 at The Opera House in Toronto, ON, Can.
Mar 13 at Peabody’s in Cleveland, OH
Mar 15 at Metro in Chicago, IL
Mar 16 at The Rave in Milwaukee, WI
Mar 18 at Station 4 in St. Paul, MN
Mar 19 at The West End Cultural Center in Winnipeg, MB, Can.
Mar 21 at Startlite Room in Edmonton, AB, Can.
Mar 22 at The Republik in Calgary, AB, Can.
Mar 23 at The Venue in Vancouver, BC, Can.
Mar 24 at El Corazon in Seattle, WA
Mar 26 at The Grand Ballroom in San Francisco, CA
Mar 27 at House Of Blues in Los Angeles, CA
Mar 28 at House Of Blues in San Diego, CA
Mar 30 at House Of Blues in Las Vegas, NV
Mar 31 at Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA
Apr 1 at U.B.’s Bar in Phoenix, AZ
Apr 2 at The Rock in Tucson, AZ
Apr 4 at Bluebird Theatre in Denver, CO
Apr 6 at Trees in Dallas, TX
Apr 7 at Emo’s in Austin, TX
Apr 8 at Meridian in Houston, TX