Violence erupts on Vancouver streets as Canucks fall
ROD MICKLEBURGH
VANCOUVER— Globe and Mail Update
Last updated Thursday, Jun. 16, 2011 12:35AM EDT
Sporadic violence flared on downtown Vancouver streets Wednesday night, moments after the hometown Canucks went down to a crushing 4-0 defeat in the seventh and deciding game of the Stanley Cup finals.
There were fires, fights, porta-a-potties being flipped, spilling raw sewage into the street. Large numbers of fans roamed the streets looking for and finding trouble.
A vehicle was set on fire on Georgia Street, just west of Hamilton. The fire department quickly doused the blaze, while Canuck supporters shouted and chanted in anger.
The police riot squad was also called in to squelch the outbreak of trouble in what had been a mostly peaceful area for fans. They moved with riot shields in front of them to dispel the crowds.
Georgia Street, site of the celebrations, quickly turned into a riot zone. At least one business had its window smashed in.
The crowd began pelting police with pop cans at a barricade, and the whiff of tear gas was in the air. Police had begun making arrests. They also started to use pepper spray on members of the crowd.
For Canuck fans, this was a night to forget.
Favoured to win their first Stanley Cup since entering the National Hockey League 40 years ago, the team faltered at the final hurdle, bringing heartbreak yet again to their loyal, ever-hopeful boosters.
A record crowd of more than 100,000 boisterous supporters had gathered downtown to watch the final game, forcing police to close adjacent city streets to handle the overflow.
But apprehension became the mood of the night early on, when Boston scored first. By the time the Bruins scored their devastating third marker, short-handed, the exodus of exceedingly glum fans became a river of blue, both in mood and colour of jersey.
When it ended, there had not been a chance to cheer a single Vancouver goal.
Standing with a group of friends on Granville Street, Caitlyn Pal, 21, said she simply wanted to cry.
“It's just a huge letdown. You have everyone down here. I haven't seen this kind of support in a long time. There's just so many emotions that are attached to the outcome of this game.”
Ms. Pal had made the trip in her white jersey from Saltspring Island, just so she could be in Vancouver when the Canucks won it all.
A few fans said they were too upset to talk. One got angry when he was asked for an interview and swore.
John Yan was one of those who stopped watching the large video screen before the game was over.
“There are lots of police out here, but you don't know how things can go,” Mr. Yan said, referring to the city's infamous riot in 1994 after the Canucks lost that Stanley Cup final in the seventh game, as well.
“We're done. There's no reason to stay,” he said, as a friend impatiently called for him to hurry.
Justin Reynolds, 20, said he had driven all the way from Kelowna with a bunch of friends in anticipation of watching the Canucks hoist the Stanley Cup before tens of thousands of fellow celebrants. Instead, by the start of the third period, he declared the game over, disappointed that he made so much effort to catch the game in downtown Vancouver.
“Sometimes you don't go with your heart. You go with statistics,” he said. “To get three goals in less than 20 minutes? I don't think it's going to happen.”
Dashed hopes and frustration were also evident in another fan hot spot, the central plaza in Surrey, where more than 5,000 supporters watched.
“It's Luongo,” said a dejected Ryan Christensen, his face painted in a blue Canucks mask. “He cracks under pressure.”
Well before the game ended, TransLink reported heavily loaded trains and buses, carrying fans homeward, the same fans who had jammed them to capacity just a few hours earlier.
As the fan zones thinned, hundreds hung around on the edges, as if reluctant to believe it was really all over. They talked about where to go to lick their wounds and mull over yet another missed Stanley Cup.
Earlier, police said these were the largest crowds for any of the Stanley Cup final games, estimated at more than 100,000.
They have vowed there will be no repeat of the rioting that took place in 1994. “So far, these are good-natured crowds,” said spokeswoman Jana MacGuiness.
But not all had been fun and games. Some families found the numbers and a few rowdy elements too much for their kids.
Tamara Davidson decided to leave after watching worked-up crowds wrench her 11-year old son from her grasp.
“Too many people, not enough crowd control,” she said, after her son, Allan, and his father, Allan Sr., escaped to find a quiet spot for them to catch their breath.
The chaos came moments after security guards opened up a previously closed gate into the viewing area, allowing hundreds more into a location that was already crammed to capacity.
Asked if he was scared, Allan nodded Yes.
After the first period, Eugene Field, his four-year-old son riding on his shoulders, was walking away from the fan zone for what he hoped would be a brief break.
“We were right up at the front, right in front of the screen – and the mood was great.
“But then everybody around us started smoking pot and I had to get him [his son] out of there.”
There were lots of rowdy yelling people in back alleys and streets, cranky that they couldn't get into the live viewing zones.
On bar-laden Granville Street, fans lined up for hours, but many could still not get in. Some watched the game through windows, looking at the TVs inside.
At the storied Commodore Ballroom, which has been one of the most popular places to view Canucks games, the floor was shaking when the puck was dropped.
But when Boston scored first, groans echoed through the room. One spectator dropped his head, then his drink.
With files from Adrian Morrow, Wendy Stueck, Ian Bailey, Robert Matas, Mark Hume, Vivian Luk and Sunny Dhillon
theglobeandmail.com |
