Columbus cannon causes havoc during 2015 NHL All-Star Game

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Imagine you’re at the 2015 NHL All-Star Game at Nationwide Arena. You’re sitting down, about to have a nice cold soda. You put the straw to your lips. Team Foligno scores a goal! You hear AC/DC come on the loudspeakers … “For those about to rock …” (BOOM) a fake cannon blast sound fills the entire building.

You're shocked. You're scared. You almost had a heart attack. The soda? All over your recently cleaned shirt. Oh the humanity.

This is something that actually happens at every Blue Jackets game when the home team scores. But it took extra prevalence Sunday in Team Toews’ 17-12 win over Team Foligno.

Even the players in the game seemed to be getting annoyed. Team Toews/Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo tweeted mid-game that he wanted the cannon to stop.

Don’t worry Bobby Lu … you had many friends in the press box.

“I didn’t like the cannon. After a while, you get used to it, but the first few times … yesterday and stuff was a little bit freaked out,” Luongo said.

Said Team Foligno/Flyers forward Claude Giroux, “I hate the cannon.

Technically the cannon was fired 11 times. There was a misstep after a goal in which it did not go off.

The cannon is adored by the Blue Jackets and lauded with their Cannonball Wall in this building.

The rest of us? Not so much.

“It definitely catches you by surprise even if you’re ready. You see a bunch of guys out there preparing for it before it goes off,” Predators defenseman Shea Weber said.

How does one prepare if you’re on a hockey bench.

“Plug your ears? You see guys bracing themselves and have a reaction to it,” he added.

The main issue during the weekend involved the timing of the cannon. It didn’t just get fired after home goals. It caught fans and players off guard during introductions and other in-arena moments during Saturday’s skills competition.

"No, I don't like that. I don't think anyone does,” Team Foligno/Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “It's not good when we come here. It scares me, still."

But did motivation to not have the cannon fired spur Team Toews to victory? It’s a plausible theory.

“You saw guys backchecking in the second and third period,” Luongo said. “You want to preserve the eardrums for a little bit.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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