St. Louis Blues Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in New Pregame Open Video

The NHL franchise worked with production firms 2WEI and 4th Floor Creative

The St. Louis Blues honored the late Ozzy Osbourne and gave a nod to rock ‘n’ roll in the franchise’s new open video that welcomes the team to the ice at Enterprise Center during the 2025-26 season.

“We hope what fans take away from the video is the energy that every open video strives to have,” says Anna Goff, director, game presentation, St. Louis Blues. “This is the last thing the fans see before the players hit the ice. We want the [excitement] in the arena to be at an all-time high.”

Goaltender Jordan Binnington filming the St. Louis Blues’ open video for the 2025-26 NHL season (All photos: Scott Rovak/St. Louis Blues)

This year marks the third installment of the team’s “Rhythm & Blues” open-video series, for which the franchise borrowed some rock influences from the 1970s and ’80s.

The idea to highlight Osbourne originated in July, according to Goff. The heavy-metal singer, who died at 76 this summer, was famously arrested for public intoxication in Memphis in 1984 and donned a Blues hockey jersey for his mugshot.

“We knew we wanted to go rock,” Goff says. “Ozzy wasn’t our first thought, but we wanted to find the right song. We fell into place with Ozzy with his passing and could relate to a lot of our fanbase.”

Forward Alexey Toropchenko on the set, which features vintage speakers evoking ’80s rock

The Blues partnered with Germany-based production company 2WEI, which specializes in opens, theme music, and movie trailers. It’s the third season the franchise has worked with the company. 2WEI secured rights to use Black Sabbath’s song “War Pigs” and transcribed a new version for the Blues to use on social media and digital.

Meanwhile, Goff and her colleagues worked with Cincinnati-based multimedia production company 4th Floor Creative, which came to St. Louis for the two-day production shoot in mid September. The firm not only designed the sets but also shot the creative.

During the first day of production on Sept. 11, 12 Blues players — including goaltender Jordan Binnington, assistant captain Robert Thomas, and forward Alexey Toropchenko — in uniform were filmed on a turntable at St. Louis’s Stifel Theatre against a backdrop of vintage speakers, a nod to music and the booms from the rock environment.

Raised on Radio band played Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” for St. Louis Blues new open video, a tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne.

A day later, production traveled to a suburban home in Kirkwood, MO, to stage the second set: a garage, complete with hockey nets and natural puck marks from the homeowner’s son, along with some Blues notes and band posters of musical acts that have played at the Enterprise Center. High school students from St. Louis band Raised on Radio performed in the garage, bringing the creative to life.

After production concluded, Brian Santa Maria, content manager, Blue Note Productions, the franchise’s production arm, spent 60-80 hours editing the piece for Opening Night against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 9, according to Goff. Blue Note Productions VP/Executive Producer Trevor Nickerson also played a key role in the video’s creative development and production.

“The reaction was great,” says Goff of fans’ response to the video. “We heard a lot of great feedback from people in the arena and on social media that they love the Ozzy tie. It’s unique to us with his pictures that he has posted in jerseys. St. Louis doesn’t have a lot of the ties that New York or L.A. teams might have, so we’re excited to be able to take this idea and run with it. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to get this video shot and up and running.”