Canucks - The "Good" of Game Seven

I woke up last Monday and decided no matter what the outcome may be that I would go to Vancouver and take the pulse of the city leading up the final Stanley Cup game. Later that day of course Boston had another convincing home win so it was clear that I would be in Vancouver for game seven. I ventured into the city just before noon and right away felt the excitement in the air. Canucks jerseys and flag were everywhere. You could not have asked for better weather. Surely these were good signs. I quickly found my way to West Georgia Street where the big TV screens were set up for the crowd to watch the game and have a good time. The atmosphere in this area was amazing. A vibrant display of colour and excitement. Big TVs were also placed at Homer and Hamilton Street.

Although my goal with the following video is to show that there were lots of "good" going on in Vancouver last Wednesday, I cannot avoid touching on what happened later that day. My friend Henrik joined my on West Georgia around 4 pm. We wondered around the area for another half hour or so before we decided to head over the bridge to West 4th to enjoy the game and dinner at a pub away from the crowds. At this point it was getting congested on West Georgia and at the time we left it was getting increasingly hard to move around. The mood was still good but it just felt like it would be a long time to be stuck there. My plans were to come back to the city if Vancouver were to win the cup.

We all know what happened next as it has been covered extensively in the news over the last few days. The game ended and Boston deserved the win. There were a few sighs at the pub after the loss but no one acted up in any way or form. We quickly left the pub and from an office building (still across the bridge) we saw the smoke rise from the city. Of course we did not know what had happened but it was pretty clear that it couldn't be good. At this point we had already decided not to go back to the city for more photos (why rub it in). The last photos in the slideshow, the kids out playing in the street, is taken about an hour after the game.

Now almost a week later I am still shocked to see such a good vibe turn so bad. I am literally baffled beyond words by some of the coverage I have seen on the news and hope that Vancouver gets to the core of this problem and that we will never witness a repeat of the riots again.