Goal Horns - My Secret Passion?

Ever since my childhood I’ve been fascinated by the sound of the goal horn going off when a home team scores. Don’t ask me why, or how, because I myself don’t even know. I just believe that now, in the age of cookie cutter arenas, the only thing that sets the rinks apart is the goal horn. I remember when I was younger, living in Chilliwack, British Columbia, I would go watch the local Junior A team, the Chiefs play. With 2,000 people crammed into a tiny barn to watch these kids play, it got pretty rockin’. The rink also had a pretty great horn, and man was it loud. I’m pretty sure that the new WHL team, the Bruins, use the same horn. Is that where my love for the goal horn came from? Who knows.

I’ve been told that the Chicago Blackhawks were the first team to use a goal horn, but I don’t know how true that is. I would like to know who invented the idea of blaring a train horn when the team scored, but as of now, I do not know. There’s just something to each teams’ individual goal horn that sends chills down your back, and most fans know what I’m talking about. Is it the fact that the goal is being rubbed in? I really don’t think it is. I think that it’s because we’ve associated the noise with a goal, we get that feeling.

It’s certainly a unique aspect of the hockey, setting it apart from other sports. Baseball is starting to adopt “Home Run Horns”, and I have no problem with that. I think of it as hockey being a trend setter. If you share the same love for goal horns as I do, please comment and tell us. Also, if you want to hear every team’s goal horn, I recommend you check out VietKamo’s profile on Youtube. He has every current NHL team’s horn, some defunct teams’ horns and many minor league horns.

My top ten favourite horns would have to be, in order, Calgary, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston, Edmonton, Ottawa, New York Rangers, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, and Anaheim.