Calamity in Canada: The Aftermath of the Canucks' Cup Loss
Talk about sore losers, the people of Vancouver have taken the meaning of poor sports to a completely different level. On Wednesday night, the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in Game 7 the NHL Finals to win the Stanley Cup.
This loss was very surprising, considering Vancouver was the clear favorite heading into the series, but I don’t think anyone was ready for how the Canucks fans would react to the loss. After the defeat, Canuck fans flooded the streets of Vancouver, destroying the city in what looked like a response to a natural disaster when it was simply just a hockey game.
After over 100 injuries, 4 stabbings, 2 destroyed police cruisers, looting and multiple arrests, the catastrophe was put to an end, this all over the loss the Canucks suffered at the hand of the Boston Bruins. As the videos flooded newsrooms all across the nation, people could not believe that this was all happening over a hockey game.
This is nothing new for the city of Vancouver, however. In fact, these events came on the 17-year anniversary of the Canucks losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to the New York Rangers, which caused similar destruction and violence to occur. 17 years later, Canuck fans still have not found a way to properly deal with losing the Stanley Cup.
I think that what went on in Vancouver after the Canucks loss is completely ridiculous and flat out childish. For a group of young adults to set things on fire, loot stores, and cause damage to themselves and others over a hockey game is simply ludicrous.
This not only tarnishes the city of Vancouver’s reputation, but it also is a bad example to show young children who are hockey fans. With all the talk of playing fair and to not be sore losers, for them to see adults acting in such a way over a hockey game is not exactly a good example to set.
The people that were at all a part of this nonsense should be ashamed of themselves. There is no reason at all to act the way they did under any circumstances, much less over a hockey game.
I understand that Canadians take their hockey very seriously, but there is a line that needs to be drawn between diehard fans and crazed lunatics. In this case, the “fans” of Vancouver were expressing their love for their team in an unorthodox, and quite frankly stupid, manner, which led to unnecessary property damage and injuries.
No sporting event of any kind is so major that it should lead to the destruction of a city. Now I’m relieved that the Canadian hockey team defeated the United States in the Winter Olympics this year, because I could not imagine how the fans would’ve reacted if they lost.
