It’s been 10 years since the 2011 Stanley Cup riot took over Vancouver’s streets

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s been 10 years since Vancouver was taken over by rioters after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins.

While the final game in the NHL post-season didn’t go as planned, it was what happened off the ice that drew eyes from around the world.

“We were told, ‘Okay, there is something going on. You guys probably can’t leave the rink right away. You’re gonna have to stay here a while,'” recalled former Canucks forward Jannik Hansen. “The TVs were on and you could see what was going on in the streets, so it was a little bit surreal.”

Tens of thousands of people flooded into the streets of Vancouver’s downtown core, setting cars on fire, looting businesses, and destroying storefronts and other infrastructure.

In the end, at least 140 people were hurt — one critically. Four people were stabbed, nine officers were injured, and 101 people were arrested.

“There’s broken glass everywhere, there’s liquid all over the street, there are parts of barricades that are on the road. I’m being told to get off the road right now,” said former NEWS 1130 reporter Shane Bigham in a live report that night.

“We’ve got at least eight separate fires that I can see in a two-block radius on Georgia right now,” added Kim Seale, who was in the NEWS 1130 Air Patrol.

What we know now is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage was being done to local businesses. Rioters would be taken to court for the next five years.

All-in-all, prosecution costs soared into the millions.

Sportsnet senior writer Iain MacIntyre says the problem was the city was just coming off the high of the 2010 Olympics.

“I think probably that’s the mistake that a lot of people in charge made, is thinking that the crowds in 2011 would be similar in make up and mood to the crowds in 2010. And they were very different, and so was the outcome,” he said.

MacIntyre does hope Vancouver hosts large watch parties once again. However, he says things will need to be different.

“I hope when those moments come along, we’ll still find a way to be able to share that publicly. But we’re obviously going to need a lot more caution,” MacIntyre added.

Hansen feels the city has been able to slowly move on from the event, but for the players on the 2011 Canucks roster, they’ll never be able to get over that infamous Game 7 against Boston.

“I think it’ll stay with me until I lose my shoes. Nobody else on that team got back to a Final. Nobody’s won it yet — it’s hard when it’s sitting there, right in the back of your head, and you can call yourself a champion and nobody can take that away from you,” Hansen said.

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“Every time I see highlights — it seems to always play this time of year, especially the highlights of them holding the Cup — it’s always this nagging feeling that could have been Hank (Henrik Sedin), and then he’s handing it off and you’re getting it down the line.”

MacIntyre agrees, saying even 10 years later, the cut still feels fresh.

“I think to this day, the riot plays a part in that memory of that time. But when you think about the hockey, it’s not a happy memory either, because that was the best team the Canucks have ever iced. That was, at that point, the team’s best chance of winning the Stanley Cup.”

Though both the loss and riot have left a painful mark on Vancouver, a day after the riot, thousands converged on the city — this time for a very different reason.

People drove in from across the region, with hundreds of volunteers cleaning up the streets. Many left messages of hope and apology scrawled on plywood boards that had been installed on storefronts.

The 2011 Stanley Cup loss was not the first that sent Canucks fans rioting into the streets. Vancouver’s loss to the New York Rangers also saw a flood of people take over downtown Vancouver in 1994.