{"id":441327,"date":"2026-02-02T11:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441327\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:59:15","slug":"the-origin-story-of-the-columbus-blue-jackets-loved-loathed-and-loud-arena-cannon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441327\/","title":{"rendered":"The origin story of the Columbus Blue Jackets\u2019 loved, loathed and loud arena cannon"},"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

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Much like with their play on the ice, the Columbus Blue Jackets stumbled out of the starting gate in 2000 when it came to marketing the franchise \u2014 not just to locals, who were new to the NHL, but the rest of the hockey world, which was unfamiliar with Columbus.<\/p>\n

The team nickname was always rooted in the Civil War. Ohio was a major force for the Union Army, and the blue jackets worn in battle by Union soldiers were sewn and stitched in Columbus, close to where Nationwide Arena now sits. But some at the top of the Blue Jackets organization were worried about trivializing war, even one that occurred nearly 150 years earlier. So the true meaning of the nickname didn\u2019t register with some fans, even in central Ohio.<\/p>\n

It took nearly a decade before the Blue Jackets decided to fully embrace their Civil War connection, and it coincided with the arrival of a Civil War-obsessed coach. But why just tweak your brand, when you can blast your way to a new identity?<\/p>\n

Since 2007, the Blue Jackets have celebrated the start of every game, the scoring of every Blue Jackets goal and every win in Nationwide Arena by blasting a Civil War-era cannon<\/a> \u2014 an 1857 Napoleon Field Gun, to be exact.<\/p>\n

It rattles the rafters. It scares the hell out of opposing players and unsuspecting fans. It is loved by Blue Jackets fans and loathed by almost everybody else in the NHL. But it\u2019s the first thing every fan looks for when they first visit Nationwide Arena. Lengthy lines form each game for pictures.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The cannon has been a Blue Jackets staple since 2007. (Russell LaBounty \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The cannon quickly found its way onto the Blue Jackets\u2019 jersey, and not just on their unique third sweater but with a permanent patch on the shoulder of their regular homes and aways. There are \u201ccannon\u201d trinkets, T-shirts and tattoos.<\/p>\n

When the Blue Jackets played the Detroit Red Wings in an NHL Stadium Series game one year ago, the cannon was brought with great ceremony a few miles away to Ohio Stadium, where 94,751 fans couldn\u2019t wait to hear its boom resonate in that Gothic masterpiece stadium built in 1922.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jackets have never had much success on the ice, winning just one playoff series in their history. They\u2019ve been called the most irrelevant franchise among the four major pro sports in the U.S., and as offensive as that is for some in Columbus to hear, it\u2019s hard to argue.<\/p>\n

But everybody knows the cannon. It\u2019s the boom that makes your ears ring and the blast that has become a signature part of the Blue Jackets franchise.<\/p>\n

Legendary NHL coach Ken Hitchcock has more life passions than just the puck. He is a proud Canadian, but has been fascinated by the Civil War ever since he coached in Philadelphia, just a few hours drive from numerous battlefields.<\/p>\n

When the Blue Jackets committed to the Union Army branding, their coach, \u201cOl\u2019 Hitch\u201d \u2014 his nickname in the Civil War re-enactment community \u2014 knew exactly where to point them: toward a man in Pontoon Beach, Ill., just 15 minutes outside St. Louis, who was an avid collector, refurbisher and artisan, and made replica items from the war.<\/p>\n

Mike Todd, the Blue Jackets\u2019 in-arena host and goodwill ambassador, made the trip from Columbus with Kimberly Kershaw, then the club\u2019s director of game operations, to check out the replica cannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pull off the road, and turn into the place, and it looks like a classic small-town service center,\u201d Todd told The Athletic, \u201cand there\u2019s a man waiting on us who, I have to say, looked like a Civil War soldier himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd and Kershaw connected with members of the Columbus front office on speakerphone and the cannon, which weighs 1,564 pounds, was wheeled out into a field to be fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loaded it first with gunpowder and it let off a decent bang, but nothing special,\u201d Todd said. \u201cAnd then he said, \u2018You wanna try cannon powder.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably should have known something big was coming, because by that point, a bunch of neighbors had come by to watch, too. When this thing went off, every filling in my mouth rattled. It was like God stomped his foot on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message sent back from the Blue Jackets: \u201cGet that thing to Columbus.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief negotiation, the Blue Jackets had their cannon. But there were other obvious hurdles that, while already confronted, needed to be refined. Not least of which was: How can you fire a cannon indoors?<\/p>\n

Hitchcock recalled a day during the summer of 2007 when the cannon, now on its caisson and a moveable platform, was tested on the event level of Nationwide Arena, just beyond the ice-resurfacer entrance. Obviously, blanks were used, but the concussive blast of the cannon needed to be regulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we couldn\u2019t do a full charge,\u201d Hitchcock said. Then he started laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we thought we\u2019d be good with a half-charge to start,\u201d he said, laughing again. \u201cAnd we let that go and, my God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hitchcock said even the local county fire marshal was alarmed. A member of the arena maintenance crew, riding a burnisher a fair distance away, was nearly knocked off the machine. The foundation of the building was checked for damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we needed to dial it down,\u201d Hitchcock said.<\/p>\n

The cannon was placed above Section 111, but the only ammunition it is loaded with is a fake smoke charge that \u201cpoofs\u201d whenever it fires. There\u2019s a plastic shield in front of the cannon to put worried minds at ease.<\/p>\n

The concussive blasts \u2014 which are the equivalent of 1\/16 charge \u2014 are actually placed in the roof, which is why the cannon is so much louder in the upper reaches of Nationwide Arena<\/a> than it is for those sitting next to it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The cannon sits ominously above Section 111 at Nationwide Arena. (Russell LaBounty \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

On Oct. 5, 2007, the cannon fired as the Blue Jackets took the ice for their season opener against Anaheim. The first player to set it off, appropriately, was the franchise\u2019s Mr. Everything, Rick Nash, who scored 6:44 into the game off assists from Sergei Fedorov and David V\u00fdborn\u00fd.<\/p>\n

A new era dawned with the franchise, which still had never made the playoffs. The denizens of Nationwide Arena were enthralled, and parents started bringing headphones for their young children, as if they were attending an AC\/DC concert.<\/p>\n

Within three seasons, the cannon made its way onto the Blue Jackets sweater when the club created a new third jersey with the cannon as the main crest, resting on its caisson and pointing upward to the right of the sweater. It was universally hailed as a strong third jersey.<\/p>\n

But there also was a misstep \u2014 or a stroke of genius, depending on your position \u2014 that coincided with the \u201ccannon\u201d third jersey.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jackets\u2019 original mascot is Stinger, a neon-headed, bug-eye insect that looks like a yellow jacket or a hornet, etc.<\/p>\n

It was Stinger, both as a mascot and a shoulder patch on the original sweater, that steered fans toward believing that the Blue Jackets\u2019 nickname was based on a mythological insect, and it was widely panned. This, of course, is why the cannon was necessary.<\/p>\n

When the Blue Jackets began thinking about using the cannon on the third jersey, they also conceived a second mascot \u2014 not to push Stinger aside (we don\u2019t think), but to help drive home the Civil War theme.<\/p>\n

That led to Boomer, an upright, inflatable cannon with furrowed brows, a puffy mustache and wheels on each side. There was a hole at the top of his head where Boomer could launch T-shirts at the crowd. But when Boomer was unveiled on Nov. 24, 2010, the mascot\u2019s \u2014 well, distinctive<\/a> \u2014 shape drew all of the attention. It spawned a week\u2019s worth of local and national stories, which the club first tried to defuse and eventually came to embrace.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Boomer hasn\u2019t been seen since, except on shirts, bumper stickers, online memes, etc. Like several other players through the years, Boomer spent one night in the NHL and hasn\u2019t been seen or heard from since. There are rumors whenever a big event comes to Columbus \u2014 the NHL All-Star Game, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the outdoor game in Ohio Stadium, etc. \u2014 that Boomer is going to make a surprise appearance, but it hasn\u2019t happened yet. The costume remains in storage in an undisclosed location in Nationwide Arena.<\/p>\n

By 2015, the cannon had made its way to every sweater the Blue Jackets wear. In addition to the third jersey, it was now a shoulder patch on both the home and away sweaters. It was also the focal point of the Blue Jackets\u2019 outdoor game sweater.<\/p>\n

The cannon\u2019s biggest night, however, was the 2015 All-Star Game held in Nationwide Arena. Perhaps as proof that the hockey gods look kindly upon the cannon (if not the franchise), it was the highest-scoring All-Star Game in history, a 17-12 final.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jackets opted not to blast it after every goal, just every goal scored by the club that was selected and captained by Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno. That meant 12 blasts, although it failed to launch after one goal, so players got a reprieve.<\/p>\n

During that weekend, T.J. Oshie, then playing for the St. Louis Blues, made his feelings clear: \u201cIt\u2019s the worst thing in hockey,\u201d<\/p>\n

Goaltender Roberto Luongo, who was in net for four of those goals allowed, joked that \u201cit got so bad in the second and third period, and guys were so tired of hearing the cannon go off, that they were actually back-checking and defending \u2026 in an All-Star Game.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on it goes\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate the cannon,\u201d said Claude Giroux, when he was in Columbus with the Philadelphia Flyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not like it; I don\u2019t think anyone does,\u201d said Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. \u201cIt\u2019s not good when we come here. It scares me still.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when players join the Blue Jackets via trade or free agency, it\u2019s often a different story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always like a double whammy,\u201d said Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle, who played with Minnesota, Boston and Colorado before he was traded to Columbus last summer. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on the other team and you hear it, it means you just got scored on, and now you have to hear that stupid cannon, and it\u2019s so loud, just like right in your face.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s great. Now you look forward to it, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Let\u2019s get that cannon going as much as we can.\u2019 It\u2019s a lot better now. It\u2019s good now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Blue Jackets played a nationally televised game on Wednesday, TNT\u2019s Paul Bissonnette asked Columbus coach Rick Bowness, who was hired this month, if he had gotten used to the cannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we shot it off eight times the last game (an 8-5 win over Tampa Bay), and man did I love that,\u201d Bowness said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do that every night, but man it is hard on the ears, even behind the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I hear that cannon go off, I\u2019m thrilled.\u201d<\/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":441328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,105,5,4,273],"class_list":{"0":"post-441327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-culture","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116000926567538497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441327","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=441327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}