Hockey Riots Could Have Been Worse

Congrats to the Boston Bruins on their Stanley Cup Victory!

I was somewhat torn between who I wanted to win the series. On one hand, it would have been nice for a Canadian team to win the cup after a long drought. One the other hand, I just don't like a lot of the Canucks roster, nor am I fan of there particular brand of sneaky and dirty hockey. Of course I can't hate on the whole team but a few select players I just don't have sympathy for. I also bleed Edmonton Oiler blue and Vancouver being one of our main rivals also makes it difficult to get too excited about a Canucks Stanley Cup victory.

It was a great series though, two really good teams, could have went either way although The Bruins out-scored The Canucks by a large margin 20-5 through 7 games I believe but the slightly better team came out on top.

I do feel bad for a lot of Vancouver fans though that have waited so long for their team to win and The Cup to come to their city. The thing is, Canucks have historically been chokers. 1982, 1994 and now the 2011 Cup finals. Also they seemed to drop the ball on countless playoff runs in the past where they were expected to go far. They have always had a solid team but they just can't win the big one!

Vancouver is a great hockey city and they have lots of good fans but there are a segment of their fans that need to be bitch slapped multiple times. That brings us to the events after the big game as people poured out onto the streets of downtown Van.

I can't say I was surprised that there was violence and chaos after such an event. A big rowdy city with rowdy hockey fans, its expected. The media sometimes makes it looks worse that it probably was. With all the people that were in those hot spots, its really only a small percentage that turned out to be participants in the riot. They don't show you all the people that are leaving and heading home peacefully, they show the cars on fire and the idiots rampaging all over the place. MOST of the people in Van wouldn't approve of such behavior.

It could have been worse.

This is just my opinion but I think if The Canucks DID win The Cup, there would a shit load more people out on the streets. I'm thinking a large percentage of fans headed home sad and depressed after the loss, now if they joined a victory party, the population of party goers would be significantly larger. People would have kept drinking after the game=more drunks out on the street. The larger crowds would then be more difficult for police to control allowing the bad apples more free reign.

The police did a good job from what I hear. The city handled it and was prepared for it. If they weren't prepared or vigilant, that could have also made this riot worse.

Rioters are just dumb people who are under the influence usually, angry drunks, irrational, disrespectful and violent by nature. No regard for peoples safety, no respect for public and private property. Its a shame but whats done is done. Hopefully some more lessons learned.

Denny