It's ice hockey....like I said, people don't watch it for the skating and lets face it, the games shit without the hits and heavy play.

It happens everywhere, all the time. Maybe the west coast is just a bit nambypamby and soft.

Should I take the path of Leggy 969 and jump on the 'I am offended' at a meer comment?? (Being Scottish that is LOL!)

I understand you being offended if you are a fine example of a well behaved Man Utd Footie fan but I didnt say it for you to take it personally......Just saying that there are a lot of crazy Man Utd fans out there.......Most of which not from Manchester and probably just as crazy as some of these idiots!!! I know a hard assed Middlesborough fan.......Now there is crazy, the stuff he does to support his team is insane.....Not far off some of the guys on TV last night. And having lived in Peterborough, I could make the same comment about Millwall fans too..........The list is probably endless....Never mind getting me started about Celtic and Rangers to name a few. And yes I do agree a group of organised crazies started all of this and the drunken fans got caught up in the action

This riot was nothing to do with hockey or hockey fans (we don't say 'ice' hockey and definitely not 'iced' hockey ). If you read the FB entries, you will see that it was pre-meditated and planned by a small group of criminals who were using the large crowd as an excuse to start a riot and are stupid enough to boast about it on FB. One of them just got out of jail for murder, and guess what, he's going back. Another got out of jail on Wednesday just before the game, and he was before provincial court today with several charges.
Unfortunately the world media is reporting it as a hockey fan riot.... not true.

Vancouver hockey fans showed up downtown in the hundreds (literally) this morning to clean up the mess because they were so digusted, embarrassed and ashamed of what had taken place in their city. There were so many that people were turned away. The boards that went up on the broken windows have been signed by thousands of people who are disgusted with the rioters and came to show their love for Vancouver.

Today, a police car was covered (again literally) with sticky notes of 'love' messages to thank the police, express their shame at what the thugs had done and their support for the police. The cop was choking back tears. He had never been thanked like this before.

Another guy started a facebook page where people could post their pictures of the perpetrators. So many people did this that it crashed the site today.

These are the real Vancouver hockey fans. Hopefully some of this positive stuff will make the world media too, though probably not because it's not nearly as sensational a story as calling it a riot of hockey fans.

I lived in Vancouver for 25 years, in this area of BC for over 35 years and I can tell you that Vancouver people are great and Vancouver is a great city where this kind of garbage action is definitely not the norm.

Just wanted to set the record straight.

If there had been no ice hockey game would there have been a riot? Of course not. It was an ice hockey riot, something traditional for the sport.

Of course all these rioters quickly went and spent $150 on Hockey Jersey's before.

100 people already arrested and plenty more arrests on the way.

How long can these self righteous Canadien's continue to try and blame outsiders?

Thousands of Hockey fans and Vancouverites involved. You can see on all the pictures and footage.

It's eerily similar to Gadaffi blaming Al Qaida for his own uprising.

In defence of Vancouver it was impressive to see 18,000 Vancouverites sign up to helping clean up the mess. That sort of response would not happen in London or Manchester where it would be left clearly at the foot of the council.

But many of the fans joined in and fanned the flames (pun intended). There's no excuse for that.

Many of the fans stood and gawked at the train wreck occurring. Had all the "fans" left, the police's job would have been much simpler and presumably more effective.

It is great people came to clean up and provided support in naming some of the aresholes. The police cruiser covered in love post-its downtown is a great bit of PR too.

Total bull. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2063729/

Some rioters may have came prepared but I'm not sure why this means they aren't canucks/ice hockey fans? Is there evidence that people that like ice hockey are less likely to be criminals than those that don't?

^^^
This

Is there evidence that people that like footie are less likely to be football hooligans than those that don't? (sic)

Sorry to digress the conversation but my boss just gave me a brand new San Jose Sharks jersey. Does that mean he loves me or hates me?

I think it means, "you bring the lube" in hanky code.

It means you are worthless and likely getting fired.

The hockey rioters should have done better. They let too many opportunities slip away during the Olympics and the several other games with large crowds downtown since the playoffs started. These hockey rioters should be replaced with better rioters who are more dedicated next year. It was almost like they waited for the perfect time to do their thing. Too late!

There are experts in this world who study crowd behaviour who would completely disagree with you. What happened after the game the other night was classic social identitiy theory and therefore certainly contributed to by hockey fans, perhaps even normal peace-loving Vancouverites (yes, even). You won't believe me because you are embarrassed about what happened, and of course because of the stories emerging the following day (post-it notes on cars etc). Trust me, this is not a Vancouver issue. Leaders and instigators are necessary, of course, and yes much of this might well have been pre-meditated but once the blue paper is lit ...