Music

Japandroids' "The House that Heaven Built" is the Vancouver Canucks' new entrance song

by Mark Teo

February 27, 2013

The Vancouver Canucks might be one of Canada’s most feared—and hated—hockey teams, but it’s official: They also have the best entrance music. After asking their fans to vote, the team’s faithful selected Japandroids’ “The House that Heaven Built,” from 2012’s exuberant Celebration Rock, as their new entrance anthem, beating out songs by Guns ‘N’ Roses, Static in the Stars, DJ Meg, Volbeat, and Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground.” (The Calgary Flames can have that one. Amirite, Roberto Luongo?)

It isn’t the first notable time independent music has crossed with hockey. Dave Bidini, a member of Toronto art-rock oddities the Rheostatics, reinvented himself as a hockey writer (and famously toured the world in search of the sport), while ex-Toronto Maple Leaf Boyd Devereaux runs Elevation Recordings, a mind-bogglingly good boutique noise label, with releases from Black Mountain side project Blood Meridian, thisquietarmy, and Nadja. And that’s saying nothing of Boston’s Brad Marchand and Florida’s Kris Versteeg‘s rap “skills.”

But back to the point: Along with “The House that Heaven Built,” here are the entrance songs used by Canadian NHL teams. So, what do you think: Do the ‘Nucks have the best entrance music?

CALGARY FLAMES: According to OperationSports, it’s The Prodigy’s eletro-smashed “Spitfire.”

EDMONTON OILERS: According to The Edmonton Journal, it’s Flashlight Brown’s pop-punk classic “Ready to Roll.”

MONTREAL CANADIENS: According to OperationSports, it’s Coldplay’s sensual “Fix You.”

OTTAWA SENATORS: The Sens use this custom theme song. However, the above Spartan intro is far more entertaining.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: God’s team—um, we mean Canada’s team, or… OK, we’ll shut up—has used different songs over the years, including Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” Their current intro, according to the National Post, is “Free to Be,” penned by Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew.