Hockey playoffs!

[Litvyak]

Heard today that one of the guys caught on film causing major damage is connected to a construction company. Hmmm. ;P

Many of my friends work in security. One was called in to work, but couldn't get in. Another was a bit away from the epicentre. I'm glad as hell my sister and cousins got out safely.

This would've happened win or lose, though - the same people who tried to get a riot started at the beginning of the Olympics were there, too. Of course - this was another perfect excuse to start some trouble and destroy for the sake of destruction.

I was saying to my boss today, these morons give riots a bad name. Rioting in Libya against oppression? Definitely warranted. Rioting in Greece over economic issues? Well, I'd listen if you tried to make a case for it, as there's a legitimate beef there.

These guys? I couldn't help but CHEER at a video clip I saw of a guy taunting the cops, who then took a flashbang SQUARE in the sack. I couldn't help but cheer at a guy get a good kick solidly in the rear end from a cop. I couldn't help but cheer at a guy who, after evading a cop's nightstick, was tackled and bodyslammed by a bystander. I couldn't help but cheer at the story I was told of a guy outside the Sears, waiting with a large heavy object for looters emerging, and then clubbing them square in the guts with said heavy object. These animals deserved it. Destruction for the sake of destruction is NOT a justifiable cause for a riot, IMO.

There's a joke already going around: "The rioters smashed into Chapters [a bookstore], looked around, didn't recognise anything, and left."

More seriously about the bookstore thing, when I saw they were starting to converge there, that was the moment I was genuinely afraid: all it'd have taken was a single match... thankfully, the police responded quickly there.

I had to laugh at the attempts of some of these morons to build a barricade... it fell to pieces even as they were trying to put it up. The police rushed them shortly after, and took the morons down. Last I heard, over 100 arrests have been made.

Another scene I was told about: car ablaze, not far away, a couple doing it in the middle of the street.

What the devil has happened? Can I have the Vancouver of my youth back now, please?

Re: the game. As a Habs fan, I'm disgusted to the core that the Bruins won. But that said... they wanted it. Of the Canucks, as I saw it, only Kesler and Bieksa cared. Those two played their hearts out, Kesler was bawling as the Bruins were celebrating. The rest didn't seem to give a hoot all game.

Bright side: the Habs'll now get to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions six times next year!!

Edited June 17, 2011 by Litvyak

[The_Animal]

You know Animal, I'm on board with you on this. A lot of stuff went down the last couple of weeks and like you said, when the series is on all bets are off. I guess to a certain extent I got a bit miffed from some of your posts in this thread, not just for this series but for all of them. But as you said in regards to the skewed calls etc, it's history. I guess next year I'll know to take some of your posts with a grain of salt. Truth be told, in my jersey collection there is also a Vancouver jersey (Todd Bertuzzi - yeah, I know a goon....). The jersey was banished to the basement for the entire run of the final because I'm a superstitious former hockey player. For game 7 I busted out my Bobby Orr jersey, also on a superstitious whim as it is the only Bruins jersey I have for a player who actually won the Stanley Cup (at least prior to last night).

It was nice to get to see Lucic hoist the cup in his hometown, I'm sure it meant a lot to him and his family.

And to match your comment on Horton, GET WELL MASON RAYMOND.

~teasing grin~ Now you can go blow your money on either a Lucic jersey, a Recchi jersey or what about a Tim Thomas jersey? :D Hell, frankly, I was thinking of going to get an Orr jersey myself. He was absolutely one of my favorite players in the Original 6.

I was saying to my wife "Tim Thomas is frickin' amazing...or he's a ~bleeping~ robot...we need to find his extension cord and short him out." Oh well... he deserved the Cup. And yeah...even though that loss hurt, it brought a smile seeing the mile wide grin on Thomas's face as he hoisted Lord Stanley's mug to the sky.

I can only hope that one of these days, (while I'm still alive) that the Canucks can finally do the same.

Edited June 17, 2011 by The_Animal

[JasonW]

~teasing grin~ Now you can go blow your money on either a Lucic jersey, a Recchi jersey or what about a Tim Thomas jersey? :D Hell, frankly, I was thinking of going to get an Orr jersey myself. He was absolutely one of my favorite players in the Original 6.

I was saying to my wife "Tim Thomas is frickin' amazing...or he's a ~bleeping~ robot...we need to find his extension cord and short him out." Oh well... he deserved the Cup. And yeah...even though that loss hurt, it brought a smile seeing the mile wide grin on Thomas's face as he hoisted Lord Stanley's mug to the sky.

I can only hope that one of these days, (while I'm still alive) that the Canucks can finally do the same.

Well, I actually already have Lucic (white) and Recchi (third) jerseys. I also have the Orr, Cam Neely, Ray Bourque and Chara jerseys. I am a bit of a jersey collector and connoisseur. I like some of the aesthetics of certain jerseys. Some of my favorites are the Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins , the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques of all teams. I have at least one jersey of almost every NHL team as well as several others including Team USA, Team Canada (my girlfriend is Canadian, her dad is from Montreal), the Swedish, German and Czech national teams, three KHL jerseys (Moscow Dynamo, Ak Bars Kazan and Spartak Moscow) as well as a Soviet era CSKA jersey (another one of my favorites). I have a Swedish league jersey that I got from a buddy in Sweden for trade for a Patriots football jersey. I love me some hockey jerseys, oh, and baseball jerseys, football jerseys and soccer jerseys too (Arsenal, Liverpool and Inter Milan are among the favorites there).

As far as the Canucks winning the Cup in your lifetime, I think you will see it, and probably sooner rather than later. The Canucks have a pretty solid core in place and with a couple of additions they should be positioned to make a run several more times in the next few years. You WILL see a championship, you just need to have a little patience. I say this as a lifetime Boston Red Sox fan (which was REALLY tough until 2004). As a kid growing up, my heart was broken several times. My grandfather was born after they won the World Series in 1918 and died before they won in 2004 so he never saw a championship in his lifetime. It was rough going as a Sox fan growing up, but most fans had faith and sort of had the lovable loser mentality (sort of like Chicago Cubs fans). But after all the heartbreak, the championship is that much sweeter and you have a healthier appreciation for it. To me, the Stanley Cup is the hardest of the major sports championships to win in North America. Much harder than the World Series, NBA or Super Bowl. It is hard to get the right mix of players and the right strategy and make it work through a long, grueling season and THEN have to do it all over again in what amounts to another mini-season (the playoffs). With all the injuries and other things that happen it is so easy for a favored team to fall flat in the end. Stick with your team, they'll get there.

Some of you Canucks fans might jump on me for this but I think the weak point on the team is at the goalie position. Luongo is good, until the big game comes and then he seems to fold like a lawn chair. I think Schneider is the goalie of the future in Vancouver and probably their best chance down the road to win the cup.

[Litvyak]

Some of you Canucks fans might jump on me for this but I think the weak point on the team is at the goalie position. Luongo is good, until the big game comes and then he seems to fold like a lawn chair. I think Schneider is the goalie of the future in Vancouver and probably their best chance down the road to win the cup.

We had this discussion here during our post-game autopsy. Luongo is technically a great goalie, better in our collective opinion than Thomas. But Thomas is much stronger in the mental aspect. Luongo has played well in... TWO key games: the game 7 vs Chicago this year, and the gold medal game last year.

I like Schneider, I think he'll be an awesome starter one day... somewhere that's not Vancouver: nobody's gonna want to take Luongo with that contract of his, and sooner or later, Cory's gonna say, "Hey, I want to start."

[Alvis 3.1]

As relayed to me by a 16 year old female, who had friends there at the rioting.."It was all the media's fault for talking about the riot in '94, my friends would have never thought of rioting (which apparently they did) if nobody had said anything about that last one.."

Yeah, right, pull the other one. There was little talk about the '94 riot in the media, and said friends had gone in anticipation of something. Once the rioting began, they ran along baying like a pack of dogs. Lots of responsibility all round for the stupid events.

As for the game....

Congrats Boston, next year Canucks!

Al P.

[zerosystem]

gotta say it was great seeing the average fans and citizens standing up and fighting some of the crap that was being pulled by the thugs doing the rioting.

couple of years ago after something here boston's mayor blamed it on a few knuckleheads...makes me wonder...is this a case of CANUCKleheads? sorry...had to go there.

Edited June 17, 2011 by zerosystem

[The_Animal]

Well, I actually already have Lucic (white) and Recchi (third) jerseys. I also have the Orr, Cam Neely, Ray Bourque and Chara jerseys. I am a bit of a jersey collector and connoisseur. I like some of the aesthetics of certain jerseys. Some of my favorites are the Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins , the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques of all teams. I have at least one jersey of almost every NHL team as well as several others including Team USA, Team Canada (my girlfriend is Canadian, her dad is from Montreal), the Swedish, German and Czech national teams, three KHL jerseys (Moscow Dynamo, Ak Bars Kazan and Spartak Moscow) as well as a Soviet era CSKA jersey (another one of my favorites). I have a Swedish league jersey that I got from a buddy in Sweden for trade for a Patriots football jersey. I love me some hockey jerseys, oh, and baseball jerseys, football jerseys and soccer jerseys too (Arsenal, Liverpool and Inter Milan are among the favorites there).

As far as the Canucks winning the Cup in your lifetime, I think you will see it, and probably sooner rather than later. The Canucks have a pretty solid core in place and with a couple of additions they should be positioned to make a run several more times in the next few years. You WILL see a championship, you just need to have a little patience. I say this as a lifetime Boston Red Sox fan (which was REALLY tough until 2004). As a kid growing up, my heart was broken several times. My grandfather was born after they won the World Series in 1918 and died before they won in 2004 so he never saw a championship in his lifetime. It was rough going as a Sox fan growing up, but most fans had faith and sort of had the lovable loser mentality (sort of like Chicago Cubs fans). But after all the heartbreak, the championship is that much sweeter and you have a healthier appreciation for it. To me, the Stanley Cup is the hardest of the major sports championships to win in North America. Much harder than the World Series, NBA or Super Bowl. It is hard to get the right mix of players and the right strategy and make it work through a long, grueling season and THEN have to do it all over again in what amounts to another mini-season (the playoffs). With all the injuries and other things that happen it is so easy for a favored team to fall flat in the end. Stick with your team, they'll get there.

Some of you Canucks fans might jump on me for this but I think the weak point on the team is at the goalie position. Luongo is good, until the big game comes and then he seems to fold like a lawn chair. I think Schneider is the goalie of the future in Vancouver and probably their best chance down the road to win the cup.

Jason, I've seen 3 Stanley Cup runs in total: '82, '94...and now 2011. This ol' ticker of mine is kinda going "WTH"? :D And yes, you are 100% right with regards to Lu. I don't know if he'll bounce back...but something's rattling around in that head of his and I don't know what caused him to chirp off at Thomas. Maybe it was "anxiety disorder, paranoia...a bit of narcissism mixed in". Ah...who knows. I think we also need a good power forward the likes of Lucic and a good solid defenceman who can fend off forwards comin' into mix it up with the goalie.

Kes was heartbroken...he played through a torn hip labrum and groin tear (I believe he was getting shot up with painkillers) so that he could play. And those injuries affected his play, yet he tried to give it his all. Jeez. I can't think of how much pain he was in every night when he walked onto the ice, yet he didn't show a single sign of it. Much respect to him. He deserves to be Captain of the team more than Henrik and I hope that Henrik turns around and admits that he needs to give up the "C".

His words: "I'm not going to sit here and complain about injuries. I was out there. I gave it everything I had tonight and I'm proud of that, I'm proud of the guys that were in this dressing room. It's disappointing, but we are going to stick together through this one.

"I gave it everything I've got and I can walk out saying it didn't happen. It's tough, obviously, it's emotional, it's tough to talk about right now, but for me, for a lot of guys in this room, we can hold our heads up high.

"It's Game 7, no excuses, you've got to lay it out there. We laid it out there, we gave everything we had . . . I'm a leader on this team and I did everything I possibly could. I can hold my head up high but it hurts. It definitely hurts right now."

Edited June 17, 2011 by The_Animal

[JasonW]

We had this discussion here during our post-game autopsy. Luongo is technically a great goalie, better in our collective opinion than Thomas. But Thomas is much stronger in the mental aspect. Luongo has played well in... TWO key games: the game 7 vs Chicago this year, and the gold medal game last year.

I like Schneider, I think he'll be an awesome starter one day... somewhere that's not Vancouver: nobody's gonna want to take Luongo with that contract of his, and sooner or later, Cory's gonna say, "Hey, I want to start."

The thing I've noticed watching Luongo play the last few years is that he falls apart once you get to him. A couple of goals in short order and he simply seems to lose it mentally. We know he is a great goalie, but he doesn't seem to handle the pressure in the big games as well, especially once he gives up a goal.

That contract was completely insane. 12 years at 64 million?! He'll be around until 2021, so I agree, Schneider will probably be playing elsewhere unless the Canucks bite the bullet and buy Luongo out (which may happen, but not for another four or five years at least). Luongo is still a great goalie, certainly one of the best in the NHL, but he needs to strengthen his mental game to get over that hurdle and close out the big game once and for all.

[Litvyak]

Gillis: "Lu - you go out and win us the President's Trophy. Cory - please consider staying with us; you'll be a backup through the regular season, but your job will be to win us the Cup."

;)

Not much other option. Lu has a no-trade clause... but he COULD be sent down. I don't see that happening. I doubt they'll buy him out, they'd be stuck like the Isles with a huge cap hit until forever. Best idea? Trade him to Tampa for Lecavalier, who has a similarly untradeable contract... :P

[AX 365]

Boston deserved to win Game 7. Very few of the Canucks showed up. I saw very little desire and passion from them. I applaud Vancouver for making it to Game 7 but it appeared that the Bruins wanted it more. The Sedins and Burrows were no-shows in that game. Luongo looked shaky from the very start of the game. The second and third goals against him were inexcusable. I thought goal number two was somewhat similar to Burrows's O/T winner 11 seconds into O/T against Thomas. Luongo was out of position, had dropped his stick, and wasn't able to get back into position in time. I would have thought that Luongo's experience in the Olympic Gold Medal game might have helped raise his confidence and give him a bit of a mental edge in preparing for a winner take all grand finale. Apparently not.

As for the turds who started the rioting after the game, that was planned (as soon as Vancouver made it to the finals) by a bunch of miscreants and rabble rousers intent on causing mayhem because they could. It was going to happen even if Vancouver won the game. Once one dipwad starts, it cascades to other crapheads and soon regular Joe Q. Public types are drawn into the fracas because of the pack / crowd dynamics. What a bunch of knobs. I hope they get what's coming to them but I know that won't happen. Some people...

[11bee]

I have to admit that I am a bit shocked at the rioting that occurred after game 7. I guess I had an image of Canadians as a uniformly peaceful & orderly lot, assumed that crap like this only happened down here.

That being said, I am somewhat surprised that local law enforcement were apparently so unprepared, especially since something similar happened a while back. Here in Boston, there was very heavy PD presence for Game 7, including riot police, horse-mounted officers, etc and we didn't even have a history of real violence, more just drunk kids being a general nuisance.

It seems that something like this should have been anticipated and adequate forces on hand to control it.

[The_Animal]

The Sedins and Burrows were no-shows in that game. Luongo looked shaky from the very start of the game.

I hear VPD sent out an APB for the Sedin Twins. They couldn't find 'em. Actually...though, they were non-factors during most of the Final series. I think though for the off-season, the Canucks need to make "Juice's" signing a priority. They've got 14 days to do it in before the floodgates open for other teams to take cracks at the UFAs. Juice and Kes were the only ones playing that game wanting to win and Kes reminded me of Linden. I gotta feel for the guy with the last camera shot of the game on him...his heart was torn out. The team except for Juice folded on him. But anyhow. I think with a retooling; a top 6 power forward to play with the Sedins to keep the hackers and slashers off them (a big mean-@$$ who doesn't hesitate to beat on someone who takes a poke at Henrik or Daniel in the vein of a Milan Lucic or a Scott Hartnell) who can also put up 40-50 points a season and isn't afraid of powering to the front of the net. Drop Burr down to 2nd line. We also need a big tough defenceman who'll throw bodies trying to block off the goalie. Ah...hell...any chance the Bruins might clone Chara for us? :lol: Probably not a chance. :D

And some psychiatrist for Lu.

[JasonW]

I have to admit that I am a bit shocked at the rioting that occurred after game 7. I guess I had an image of Canadians as a uniformly peaceful & orderly lot, assumed that crap like this only happened down here.

That being said, I am somewhat surprised that local law enforcement were apparently so unprepared, especially since something similar happened a while back. Here in Boston, there was very heavy PD presence for Game 7, including riot police, horse-mounted officers, etc and we didn't even have a history of real violence, more just drunk kids being a general nuisance.

It seems that something like this should have been anticipated and adequate forces on hand to control it.

Apparently from what I understand, the arrest reports for the night of game 7 were actually a little lower than usual in Boston. There was a report of some jack@ss trying to get a crowd going and to get them to turn against the police. Nobody in the crowd apparently had any interest, but that didn't stop him. He then took off his shirt, started shouting obscenities and swinging his belt at police. The police then gave him a pavement sundae and cuffed him. He spent the rest of the evening in jail. Some other moron shoved a police officer and got the smack down. He spent the night in jail also.

Other than that, three meatheads broke a few rear view mirrors off of a few cars and there were a couple of other drunk and disorderly boneheads. That was it in Boston.

It's not just Vancouver, there are idiots like that everywhere. Unfortunately the ones in Vancouver were far more successful at getting more people to take part in that travesty.

[aerofan]

Looks like the final tally is 15 cars were burned or damaged, 150 people injured with atleast one in critical condition and property damage and looting estimated at costing between 5 to 10 million dollars. Vancouver lost more than just the Stanley cup on Wednesday. The city has lost it's good reputation. Something that cannot be easily won back. News stories around the world has already seen and reported on the riots but are not watching now as volunteer citizen groups bring brooms and dust pans to clean up the mess. It's ashame that Canada's reputation is also dragged into the mud as most reports don't differentiate the country and the city of Vancouver in their stories. It still amazes me how local authorities and the mayor were and still so naive about 1994 not happening again because of the success in the 2010 Olympics - both events are different animals.

As for why I say the Canucks are in a rebuild mode is because I'm looking at it in a long term. The last team to lose the Stanley cup and come back the next year to win it was the 2009 Penguins. The Canucks are DEFINITELY NO Sidney Crosby's Penguins and aren't as young so we can rule that out. The next last team to lose the cup and return to win it was the 2007 Ducks who lost in their first final in 2003. This is more reasonable for the Canucks but the problem is that in 2015 I don't think the Sedins will be the top line and Luongo, if still around, won't be the team's number one goaltender so a cup run would probably be out of the question.

With 3 of the Canucks top d-men and a number of 3rd and 4th liners being UFA's plus many others being RFA's, I don't think the Canucks will have the capspace to keep them all so it'll basically be the Sedins, Keesler, Burrows, Malhotra, Lappiere, Hamhuis, Edler, Rome, Tanev, Ballard, Scheinder and Luongo group coming back with maybe either Bieska or Erhoff coming back but not both. Salo is most likely gone and Alberts is gone forsure with Tanev taking his place. Torres, Glass, Hansen and Tambellini will probably be picked up by other teams offering more money. Even with a retooled group of the above, I don't think they'll make it past the second round next year due to age and lack of depth on the team. I'm thinking the next best chance the Canucks will have at another run for the cup is in atleast 8 to 10 years when alot of the above group is replaced by hopefully good draft picks. I think the Bruins will probably be in the finals again next year because their core group is young like the 2008 Penguins. Plus at 38 next year, Thomas will still be good - remember Hasek was in his 40's and playing good in the NHL before leaving.

At the moment I really don't care if the Canucks make or doesn't make the playoffs next year. I'm more concerned on getting Vancouver's and Canada's good reputation, like that seen during the 2010 winter games, back. The hard work towards that maybe a little more easier if the Canucks don't make the playoffs for atleast a couple of years.

As relayed to me by a 16 year old female, who had friends there at the rioting.."It was all the media's fault for talking about the riot in '94, my friends would have never thought of rioting (which apparently they did) if nobody had said anything about that last one.."

Yeah, right, pull the other one. There was little talk about the '94 riot in the media, and said friends had gone in anticipation of something. Once the rioting began, they ran along baying like a pack of dogs. Lots of responsibility all round for the stupid events.

From one of the rioter's mask displayed by the VPD, it looks like the anarchist group that shows up at every G-20 summits who started it all and took advantage of an emotional crowd. I recall that either game 4 or 6 the VPD arrested some people with pepper spray and pipes in their backpacks so something was going to happen. This is what gave me the gut feeling not to go downtown on game 7.

Update: the young man in critcial condition is now in stable condition. The VPD said he tried to jump from one of the viaducts to the other. Hope the guy will fully recover and tell his story on why he jumped.

Edited June 18, 2011 by aerofan

[is it windy yet?]

That is all well and good, but it is NOT conclusive proof. What you're saying is circumstantial and wouldn't stand up in a court of law. It's an opinion, but doesn't really prove anything.

Campbell had a conflict of interest, true that. I don't see how his stepping down is any proof of the Chara incident specifically. As Campbell mentioned, it is a thankless task as the league disciplinarian, and he has been doing it for a long time. with all the heat on the NHL for the concussions and other dangerous hits this season, it was time for someone with a fresh perspective and outlook to take over the task. I think Shanahan may be the guy to start to guide the league back into a better and safer type of hockey that still has a hard physical aspect to it.

We'll have to wait and see.

No and the evidence will not turn up unless someone really wants to be a whistle blower. I have my own sources, and I'll forever say that Campbell was given a reason to leave two weeks early. No point in debating anything here, I won't prove anything to anyone. However I play hockey with some boys that have been on the other side of Collie's desk.

[JasonW]

No and the evidence will not turn up unless someone really wants to be a whistle blower. I have my own sources, and I'll forever say that Campbell was given a reason to leave two weeks early. No point in debating anything here, I won't prove anything to anyone. However I play hockey with some boys that have been on the other side of Collie's desk.

My curiosity is piqued. Which 'boys' do you play hockey with?

I played with nobody who sat on the other side of Collie's desk, not even anyone that played in the NHL. That being said, I'm pretty sure most of us in the group would end up sitting in front of said desk if we actually played in the NHL.

[Litvyak]

A coworker said to me today, "the Canucks should've grabbed you and had you out there to score a goal with Kes and Bieksa as your teammates." I said no, I probably would've been given the boot on my first shift... :P

Two days later... I'm still just livid about the morons who smashed my city up. The game hardly even seems to matter, after this.

[Scooby]

As far as the Canucks winning the Cup in your lifetime, I think you will see it, and probably sooner rather than later. The Canucks have a pretty solid core in place and with a couple of additions they should be positioned to make a run several more times in the next few years. You WILL see a championship, you just need to have a little patience.

Nah, the Canucks will never win a Championship. :) Just one more dig before I move on. I have hexed them.

I think the Canucks may have some trouble next year with all the free agents they have. But the cap is going up to 63 million so there may be some room to sign players. Sadly most players have there best years when they are about to become a RFA. Once they sign they go back to playing regular hockey. Kind of funny how that works. Perhaps all players should have yearly incentives.

My take on the series is this. I thought Vancouver had it. I didn't think they dominated in any three of the games they won. All three were up for grabs. But they were fortunate to come out with all three wins. I thought Vancouver would earn at least one win on their own and therefore win the Cup. But they didn't.

The Sedin's didn't even look upset they lost the Cup.

It may be too early for this but:

What time is it in Boston? 19 past Luongo.

What do the Sedin sisters and some women have in common? They all have bad periods.

[The_Animal]

Nah, the Canucks will never win a Championship. :) Just one more dig before I move on. I have hexed them.

WAAAAAH!!!! ~sniff~ Now my heart is destroyed. Darn you...Scooby. :P

Gotta admit though, the jokes were pretty hilarious. :D The second one nearly had me rolling on the floor. Yeah, the loss still hurts, but y'know...I think we didn't bring our game into the Stanley Cup final and got exposed.

Oh, and I do agree with you on the "not dominating" on the 3 home games. Those were 1-0, 2-1...and 1-0 games. Too close for comfort. Those games could have gone either way. The Bruins could have easily won those too, and Thomas was a brick wall...I just shake my head at his saves. You could make a goalie highlight reel out of many of those saves. How many did the Bruins put past us in Boston and how many did they put past Luongo in Game 7. In total, I believe the count was 19 (as you said in the joke).

But my heart still bleeds blue and green and will for the rest of my life. :D

Edited June 18, 2011 by The_Animal

[vince14]

Seeing the riots in Vancouver really saddened me. We, the British, used to be the best in the world at sports-related hooliganism. Now we're mearly a shadow of our former selves. Heck, even the Poles have better football riots than we do. Just another sign of 'Broken Britain' I guess...

Vince

[The_Animal]

Seeing the riots in Vancouver really saddened me. We, the British, used to be the best in the world at sports-related hooliganism. Now we're mearly a shadow of our former selves. Heck, even the Poles have better football riots than we do. Just another sign of 'Broken Britain' I guess...

Vince

Well, you'll always have "boiled cabbage". God knows how you guys can eat that stuff.

My post to the rioters...in my hockey blog "Puck'n Animal"

You are not Canuck fans if you were a part of this riot. You are just hoodlums looking for trouble...and willing to use any excuse as a means to cause it. It is my sincerest hope that many of your compatriots as well as yourselves are arrested. We as true Canuck fans are ashamed of the fact that so few ruined an special occasion for so many. Despite the fact that we didn't get the result we wanted, true Canuck fans went quietly home nursing their dejection in silence; not in wanton acts of destruction. We shouldn't have had to be ashamed of anything. Now we, thanks to the actions of a few hoodlums and anarchists and a bunch of drunken bandwagon fans, we are all tarred with the same brush. Do us all a favor and turn yourselves in, but I'm sure you'll just continue to waste taxpayer dollars in the manhours that the police will have to put in to find your sorry asses. Forgive the foul language, but that's my honest and heartfelt response to seeing the riots on TV. We didn't have social media forums in 1994, but in any case if we did, my message then would have been the same as now.

Edited June 18, 2011 by The_Animal

[rpeck]

I think instead of putting them in jail they should make them pay for the damages.

More they damaged the more they pay.

[11bee]

I think instead of putting them in jail they should make them pay for the damages.

More they damaged the more they pay.

From the looks of them, I highly doubt they have a great deal of $. They don't exactly look like stockbrokers or engineers.

It's correct to blame the dirtbags for this but I still don't understand how the Vancouver PD could have been so unprepared. Is there any kind of investigation going on or are they just shrugging their shoulders and ignoring the issue? It's easy to be a Monday AM quarterback but given what happened previously and all the other warning signs, there should have been an absolutely massive law enforcement presence for game 7. If that meant taking down that jumbotron and telling folks to stay home to watch the game, so be it.

[SBARC]

From the looks of them, I highly doubt they have a great deal of $. They don't exactly look like stockbrokers or engineers.

It's correct to blame the dirtbags for this but I still don't understand how the Vancouver PD could have been so unprepared. Is there any kind of investigation going on or are they just shrugging their shoulders and ignoring the issue? It's easy to be a Monday AM quarterback but given what happened previously and all the other warning signs, there should have been an absolutely massive law enforcement presence for game 7. If that meant taking down that jumbotron and telling folks to stay home to watch the game, so be it.

My guess is it was a cost issue. Vancouver and VPD kept harping on the cost of policing as each Vancouver game happened in the series. The Olympics used Grade A security meausures with pretty well an unlimited budget to keeps anything from happening. Vancouver is going to have to employ that level of security if they want to host these sorts of events downtown for hockey games in the future. If Vancouver isn't willing to pay the cost for that level of security, then they should just not have these large events for hockey games.

Lets face it........the bulk of the damage was done to businesses.....which will no doubt be the responsibility of the businesses and possibly their insurance company to pay. Vancouver could have put on more officers to reduce the damage......but that would have cost Vancouver more. They should have never packed 100,000 people into the downtown core if they weren't willing to provide the correct amount of enforcement to back up that sort of crowd. The costs for all the damage to businesses should be paid outright by Vancouver and not the business owners.

Bottom line is the Canucks fans made the situation worse by staying in the area and leaving the police with a crowd that was too large for their force on the scene to control. The goal was to get as many police and citizens home safe and sound. Property damage becomes a secondary issue to protecting the public.

What puzzles me is why a plan wasn't set in place to move the lookie-loo bystanders from the area immediately. Simply setting up military grade speakers downtown blasting "noise" would have done wonders for bugging the crowd enough to leave the area. That would have left the police with enough officers to quickly clear out the troublemakers. This isn't rocket science. And the cost for those mega speakers would have been very low and they could be used again and again at future events.

[JasonW]

Maybe the solution is for the Vancouver city government to announce to all residents of the city and surrounding areas that no groups will be allowed to gather on Stanley Cup game nights in Vancouver or their opposing teams city? Vancouver would need to have a police presence that just breaks up any gathering of folks that numbers over twenty. Just have quick reaction squads of officers along with some scout officers stationed throughout the city that report when they see a groups beginning to form. Send one of the quick reaction squads in, and repeat as necessary.

Would this have happened if the Canucks got bounced in the first or second rounds or is this something that would only take place during a cup final series? I'm just curious to know what our Vancouverites think.

Went to the Stanley Cup parade today, it was larger than ANY of the Red Sox or Patriots parades. There were people starting to gather at the start point at 6AM and it didn't start until 11AM!! I took the train in and it was packed to the hilt. It was really crazy the number of fans there. The local news reported there were Bruins fans that drove in from Quebec province and various parts of the Maritimes.