Well....as many of you know by now...the Canucks didn't win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday. I fully admit - I shed a few tears into my playoff towel, and I get verklempt when I see replays of the players on the ice when the game was over, shoulders slumped in what must be agonizing disappointment over being so close to the one thing you've dreamed about winning your whole life. Yes, I know...it's "just a game"...but I felt like I'd gone through all the ups and downs with them during the last two and a half months. We screamed like banshees when Burrows scored in overtime in Game 7 of the Chicago series, my innards turned to ice when Kesler limped off the ice in the San Jose series, and we groaned collectively when we received a drubbing in Game 3 of the Boston series. The Canucks gave us one of our best seasons ever and what a totally fantastic time it was. This video is a thank you from the Canucks organization to all their fans, and it captures perfectly the feeling of this playoff season. Thank you boys for a great run, and for taking us on this wild and crazy ride.
The Bad:
The Ugly:
As many of you also know, beautiful downtown Vancouver was besieged by rioters after the game. To be honest...I'm still in shock that this happened. Maybe it was because I had been a part of the magic that was the Olympics, and had assumed that we'd come a long way since the ugly incident in 1994. Maybe it was because I'd seen all the coverage of the other Canuck games where tens of thousands had amassed with very little issues. Maybe it's because I believe that people are inherently not idiots. I saw this picture on Facebook, and it captured perfectly the absolutely insanity of these riots:
I'm sad and disappointed that this is what this great hockey season will be remembered for - a bunch of no good hooligans who trashed one of the most beautiful cities in the world. As the saying goes...you can't fix stupid.
It's not all ugly though...even though this isn't a happy time for Vancouver, the response to this unfortunate incident shows the true character of the city:
Volunteers coming to clean up the next morning:
The impromptu Wall of Pride, where people wrote messages of support on the boarded up windows at the Hudson's Bay:
A police car with post its, thanking them for the work they did to help protect the people and the stores:
Thank you, Vancouver...you're a classy city.
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