Every NHL arena has a goal horn to celebrate when the home team scores and Nationwide Arena is no different. Well, there is one thing that separates Nationwide Arena from other facilities and the Blue Jackets from other teams… an 1857 Napoleon replica cannon.

"The Cannon," or as it is sometimes referred to as "that (bleeping) cannon," belongs to the Blue Jackets, and it's more than just part of the team's celebrations, it's part of their identity.

"It's our own," team captain Nick Foligno said. "That's what I love about it. The cannon blast is this whole different entity and it creates such a cool feeling. I've had people come to the arena just to see the cannon. They just want to hear it go off. That's pretty awesome to hear and know you're the team that (causes) it."

The cannon came to Nationwide Arena in 2007 when arena host Mike Todd and then Director of Game Operations Kimberly Kershaw found a cannon vendor based in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, about 15 miles northeast of St. Louis.

"We pull up to this place, it's out of the way, off a gravel road and there's an older gentleman who looked like a civil war soldier himself," recalled Todd. "He said, "yeah, I build cannons and I've got one here if you want to take a look at it."

Todd and Kershaw, with Blue Jackets management listening on the phone, took in a demonstration of the cannon fire.

"The cannon recoiled about two feet and people around were hooting and hollering," Todd said. "It was the real deal. It sounded like doom itself."