{"id":437983,"date":"2026-01-31T13:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437983\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:03:18","slug":"from-ole-ole-to-yeet-the-fish-the-most-memorable-local-traditions-in-nhl-arenas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437983\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018Ol\u00e9 Ol\u00e9\u2019 to \u2018Yeet the Fish\u2019: The most memorable local traditions in NHL arenas"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of our NHL Arena Rankings series<\/a>, in which we rank all 32 current rinks and present stories about memorable rinks of the past and present.<\/p>\n

There are reasons not to bother attending NHL games.<\/p>\n

This is not breaking news. A big reason our arena rankings<\/a> exist is to give fans a space to vent about elements of the experience that bother them \u2014 and vent you did.<\/p>\n

The cost of getting in the building is, largely, obscene. Food prices aren\u2019t far off. Parking can stink, and transit can stink, and the music choices can stink. Maybe worst of all, some of the buildings feel as if they came off an assembly line. (Was there a more devastating burn in the rankings than the one comparing Pittsburgh\u2019s arena to a Home Depot? No. No, there was not.)<\/p>\n

Despite the best efforts of bad actors, though, watching hockey in the company of 20,000 of your closest friends can still feel unbeatable \u2014 and parts of the in-arena experience are unmatched.<\/p>\n

That brings us to our list \u2014 which is closer in line with an awards show, except one based on some guy\u2019s very unscientific opinion. If your own personal favorite went unmentioned, all apologies.<\/p>\n

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\n When the Blue Jackets score a goal, watch out. (Gaelen Morse \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Best prop: Columbus\u2019 cannon<\/p>\n

Usually, the cannon goes boom only after a Columbus Blue Jackets goal. But by the end of the 2015 All-Star Game in Nationwide Arena, when we heard that monstrosity go off 12 times after goals, some version of Stockholm Syndrome had set in for me in the press box.<\/p>\n

Did I enjoy what I was being subjected to? No. Did I understand it, in some way? Absolutely. The best traditions should annoy outsiders. They should make you ask, \u201cHow is this allowed, and who is responsible for it?\u201d They should have enough of a connection to the team\u2019s overall aesthetic that they wouldn\u2019t work as well anywhere else. And, even so, they should make you a little jealous that your team didn\u2019t think of it first. The cannon checks all those boxes. I hate it.<\/p>\n

Honorable mention: The Tesla coils in Tampa<\/p>\n

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\n Bell Centre is considered to have one of the best environments in the NHL. (Eric Bolte \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Best chant: \u201cOl\u00e9 Ol\u00e9\u201d in Montreal<\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to experience the singing<\/a> at a Canadiens game last spring, when fans at the Bell Centre experienced their first postseason games since 2017. Often imitated, never duplicated.<\/p>\n

More generally, hockey writers love Montreal for a variety of reasons \u2014 some clich\u00e9, some not \u2014 and I figured out last season that I was immune to none of them. Example A: I kept a decibel-measuring app running on my phone during games. Every arena experience, ultimately, is unique; none is unique in more ways than the Canadiens\u2019.<\/p>\n

Best postgame fan interaction: \u201cYeet the Fish\u201d in Seattle<\/p>\n

This is the newest tradition on the list. When a Kraken player is named the first star of the game, he chucks a replica salmon into the crowd. It\u2019s got local roots, thanks to fishmongers at Pike Place Market, and it\u2019s a fresh take on the more standard practice of throwing T-shirts or game-used sticks into the crowd.<\/p>\n

Honorable mention: the Hurricanes\u2019 \u201cStorm Surge\u201d<\/p>\n

Best anthem gimmick: Chicago<\/p>\n

Fans standing and cheering the U.S. national anthem<\/a> started during the 1985 playoffs at Chicago Stadium, continued through some putrid Blackhawks years at United Center and remains a mainstay during the Connor Bedard era. That longevity is enough to make it stand out in a league in which plenty of fan bases try to put their own spins on the anthem-singing process.<\/p>\n

Honorable mention: Winnipeg fans shouting \u201cTrue North\u201d<\/p>\n

Best goal song: \u201cPuck Off\u201d in Dallas<\/p>\n

Every team, in one way or another, has a goal song. Very few have a goal song written specifically for them. Only one has a goal song written specifically for them by Pantera. \u201cPuck Off\u201d<\/a> has been part of Stars game since 1999, and it is perfect in every way.<\/p>\n

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\n The good news is, the rats are plastic. (Sam Navarro \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Best on-ice toss: Rats in South Florida<\/p>\n

I love the city of Detroit, I love the octopus toss, and I pray for its eventual return to the NHL landscape. This isn\u2019t a history class, though. \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d is not eligible for the 2026 Academy Awards. Until the Red Wings make the playoffs and fans start smuggling dead cephalopods into Little Caesars Arena, the rats are king.<\/p>\n

Best usage of maximalism: Vegas<\/p>\n

No modern list of the coolest in-arena experiences would be complete without including something about the pregame scene at T-Mobile Arena<\/a>. Everybody has a gigantic video board, on-ice projections and ridiculous light shows, but nobody puts them together quite like the Golden Knights. This is another one that made me roll eyes until I actually experienced it.<\/p>\n

Best local character: \u201cTowel Man\u201d in St. Louis<\/p>\n

Since 1990, Ron Baechle has counted out goals<\/a>, exhorted the rest of the crowd to do the same and chucked rally towels from his seat, currently on the 300 level of Enterprise Arena. This one is as grassroots as it gets; Baechle picked up the idea<\/a> from an AHL game in Peoria, Ill., and brought it to St. Louis.<\/p>\n

It took years, but folks started joining in \u2014 and in the decades since, Baechle has become a local celebrity, starring in commercials and legitimately becoming one of the faces of the Blues\u2019 fan base. Not the organization at large, though; he says he pays for his own tickets.<\/p>\n

Best celebrity cameo: Tom Green and \u201cUnleash the Fury\u201d in D.C.<\/p>\n

Every arena shows pump-up videos. Many of them consist of stitched-together clips from movies and TV shows \u2014 and while the Washington Capitals weren\u2019t the first team to incorporate a Tom Green bit<\/a> from the movie \u201cRoad Trip,\u201d they certainly leaned in the hardest. It turned into a capital-T \u201cThing\u201d during the 2008 postseason, and Green \u2014 the MTV legend himself \u2014 re-recorded the scene while wearing a Caps jersey.<\/p>\n

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\n University of Minnesota men\u2019s hockey coach Bob Motzko leads a \u201cLet\u2019s play hockey\u201d chant in 2025. (Matt Blewett \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Best puck-drop signal: \u201cLet\u2019s Play Hockey!\u201d in Minnesota<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be weird not to mention the Wild in some capacity. Grand Casino Arena was firmly in the top 10 of our overall rankings for a reason, and there\u2019s plenty to like about the vibes in St. Paul. We\u2019re making special note of their puck-drop tradition. Lots of arenas do something similar, but there\u2019s something particularly wholesome about shouting \u201cLet\u2019s Play Hockey\u201d<\/a> in the State of Hockey\u2122.<\/p>\n

Honorable mention: The storm siren at Hurricanes games<\/p>\n

The NHL Arena Rankings series is part of a partnership with StubHub. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is part of our NHL Arena Rankings series, in which we rank all 32 current rinks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4,273],"class_list":{"0":"post-437983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115989854628982750","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}