from Evan Grossman of the New York Daily News,

The Islanders and hockey fans everywhere can thank the Chicago Blackhawks for pioneering the now-ubiquitous trend during the 1973 Stanley Cup Final against Montreal. Hawks owner Bill Wirtz liked the sound of the horn on his yacht and had it installed at Chicago Stadium.

"(He) decided it would be a great thing to have in his arena," Erick Kahlenberg, vice president of Kahlenberg Industries told the Daily News.

Kahlenberg's uncle Karl sold Wirtz the yacht horn and now the company supplies more than a dozen NHL teams with their own goal horns, which are the same devices you find on boats, trains, trucks and in one case, an aircraft carrier. When the Blackhawks moved from Chicago Stadium to the United Center in 1994, they took the goal horn with them. By then, goal horns had become a staple of NHL games around the league.

According to the Society of International Hockey Research, goal horns were used in Chicago for nearly a decade before theMinnesota North Stars started using one during the conference finals in 1984. The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium foghorn was installed in 1987.

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