For decades, hockey and music have gone together much like music and TikTok go together in 2022 (shameless plug to give us a follow @vhghockey). As a player, coach or fan – no matter how casual – having music during stoppages of play, or while the teams enter the ice to start the game, is a must. A catchy hook or three can really make the whole in-game experience better – so lets shoot on which tunes that we feel are timeless classics, the ‘G.O.A.T’s of on-ice entrance music if you will.
We cannot start this list without mentioning a couple of songs that just missed the cut. The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy is a song that every childhood fan of the St. John’s Maple Leafs will get behind. Music has that ability to bring a person back to a time and place – every time I hear ‘Boys are Back in Town’, it takes me back to going to the Memorial Stadium (before it was a grocery store) with my dad, sitting in Section 9 to the left of the home goalie in the north end zone.
Another honourable mention has to be Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue. If you haven’t seen the Pam and Tommy show (I believe it’s on Hulu), I would recommend it to anyone over the age of 18.
Number 5 – Thunderstruck by AC/DC. There will be a demographic of reader who totally disagrees with this choice, saying this all-time classic should be higher. But this is my f^*king list and I will cry if I want to. Thun-Dah! If you haven’t heard the high-pitched voice of AC/DC lead vocalist Brian Johnson busting out “I was caught… in the middle of a railroad tra-ack”, then you haven’t spent much time inside of a hockey rink.
Number 4 – Shippin’ up to Boston by Dropkick Murphy’s. Any great entrance song has to have at least one of many pre-requisites that attracts a person to it. In Shippin’s case, the first 3 seconds are very catchy. Kind of like Stone Cold Steve Austin’s breaking glass song opening, but not as bada^$.
Number 3 – Lose Yourself by Eminem. Rap music makes an entrance into the top-5, and this is the right spot for a song that captivated every junior hockey locker room in the early 2000’s. Unlike the other songs on this list, the lyrics really resonate with players because when you’re playing hockey, you actually ‘lose yourself in the moments’ and in many cases, ‘this opportunity runs once in a lifetime’. Lose Yourself – in my opinion – was the song that really put Eminem on the map. Some will say that his duet with Doctor Dre in ‘The Chronic’ album was his coming out party, but my take is Lose Yourself – the featured song in the Movie ‘8 Mile’ – skyrocketed Marshall Mathers to superstardom.
Number 2 – Enter Sandman by Metallica. There are like… 3 distinct parts to this song even before James Hetfield opens his mouth. Having Enter Sandman start out slow, then pick up, pick up, pick up, and then drop gets me fired up AS I TYPE THIS MESSAGE IN CAPS LOCK. I could probably have more than one Metallica jam on this list (Master of Puppets doesn’t get enough credit), but it is not Enter Sandman in my eyes.
Number 1 – Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother. There is no better song to enter the field of battle to than Joker and the Thief. Try watching this intro here . Or click here to see it in a hockey scenario (I was actually at this game, but was up in the nosebleeds and did not film this YouTube video. Someone with more money and better connections filmed it from the Platinums).
So there you have it, folks. Our all-time favourites. Until next time – keep on rockin’ in the free world.
AP