Yesterday, the news broke out of western Canada that the Vancouver Canucks are allowing each player to choose their own goal song.  On paper, and at first glance, this looks like another great idea out of one of the best game operations in pro sports.

The Anaheim Ducks goal horn from Frozen Faceoff Goal Horns.

The Canucks have had issues over the years in choosing their goal songs.  Earlier this year, the Buffalo Sabres even left it up to a fan vote in which DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat” won the tournament.  Choosing a goal song brings a lot of flack from traditional fans who don’t want change, and from those fans who are tired of the same-old, same-old and want a change.  It’s not as easy as choosing between Rock & Roll Part 2 or Zombie Nation.

“So now they’re taking a new approach,” said Rob Williams with VanCityBuzz.  “And it’s awesome.”

It’s to be expected that an organization like the Canucks would try something like this.  They had one of the classiest moments in all of sports during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, following a game 7 loss when P. A. Announcer John Ashbridge introduced the Conn Smythe trophy with the respect the award deserves even though the fans were voicing their displeasure (YouTube), and take a listen to the introduction of the Stanley Cup (YouTube).  And then probably the classiest moment of the entire post-game celebration, when the Canucks game operations crew played The Standells’ Dirty Water which is a Boston anthem.  You can hear it in the background of this video.

VanCityBuzz.com: Canucks introduce player-specific goal songs

Martin St. Louis celebrates another Lightning goal. From USA Today.

Yes, it’s a great idea from a great crew, and other teams in the NHL do something similar on a smaller scale.  Tampa Bay played Louie Louie for Martin St. Louis’ goals when he was a member of the Lightning, and the Carolina Hurricanes would drop in a “SKIN-NER!!!” from The Simpsons when Jeff Skinner scored.  For a while, the Washington Capitals had several goal songs they’d choose from, though still use Tricky for a players’ third goal and only after the ice crew goes out to pick up the hats thrown on the ice.

But, nobody in the NHL does it for every player on the team, and the Canucks are doing so for every player on the team, including Radim Vrbata who didn’t choose a song, so the fans are getting to choose.

Now, how do Canucks DJs Jay Swing and Marlon English deal with this?  Very simple, hotkeys and using software like Sports Sounds Pro, Game Ops Commander or Click Effects.  With 20 skaters, that’s easy to set-up.  You can also set-up a full screen of the player songs to choose from.  Since most teams sound the goal horn and then play a song, these are two separate people so it can be done.  The only hitch that we can see are pucks that are tipped, or scrums in front where the puck goes into the goal, not sure who to give credit for the goal too.  We’ll have to listen to what the Canucks do, and with XM Radio that’s not hard to do.  Plus, their radio crew are fun to listen to as well.