Delusion-Elle

The 2010-2011 NHL hockey season is over. It was a rocky season with ups and downs for everyone, but tonight it all came down to one game.

I spent my evening at home, talking to my cousin on Skype. Since she's back east doing co-op for a term, we've been communicating regularly during Canucks playoff games. I have to say that I love talking to someone knowledgeable and passionate about the sport, and she has both of these things as she's been a Canucks fan since she was 6. My excuse for staying in for the night was something between keeping my cousin company as well as studying for my Math final on Friday.

The game ended in a blowout: the Bruins beat the Canucks 4-0 with a empty net goal late in the 3rd to seal the deal. A part of me is unsurprised -- this trend of defeat is not foreign to anyone who knows the Canucks -- but at the same time this is crushing. It feels like this team, this franchise, cannot win the most coveted prize in hockey. The team was strong this year, but maybe just not strong enough. In this series, where the teams were so evenly matched it seemed, both teams won their games on home ice. But for Vancouver, those games were all very close, in fact, I believe that they were all decided by one goal. This was not the case for Boston, as they consistently outplayed the Canucks and made a fool out of Luongo. I won't comment too much on tonight's game as I'm not the right person to do such a thing, but I will say congratulations to the Boston Bruins. It was not an easy series for the Canucks, and it was not an easy series for the Bruins, but in the end, the Canucks could not follow through and the Bruins stepped it up. I remember back in the regular season when Boston would quite comfortably trounce the Habs, my brother would say, "Boston for the Cup!" I guess he was right.

In spite of all that, I found this interesting article written before tonight's game, which really highlights a lot of the similarities between the two teams as well as summing up this whole series. And in case you're wondering, yes, Peter Forsberg did play for the Nashville Predators. I had to look that one up. (Forsberg is synonymous with the Avalanche in my mind.)

The aftermath of tonight's game is just... well. On the one hand, I understand upset fans -- true fans. But a group of hooligans who don't care for the sport, who just want to cause trouble is something that I don't want running around my city, setting it ablaze and essentially destroying it. Watching the coverage on the news, I could tell that these were not Vancouverites. The demographics were all wrong. I know that we're multicultural and that we were the 2010 Olympics host city. Everything that I saw on TV tonight was not us.

Sure, these people are from the Metro Vancouver area. But these folks are from the suburbs. And I don't want to pick on Surrey -- I've met some great people from Surrey; a little rough around the edges but still really friendly and nice -- but after seeing one young man show off his shirt listing the different neighbourhoods in Surrey to the camera, I am not happy with the way these people have come into the heart of my city and wrecked it. Again, if these were fans, I'd understand it. But these aren't fans. These aren't even Vancouverites. In some ways this year's riot was worse than the '94 one in terms of the number of people standing around trying to capture the moment for the sake of social media, but at the same time, I think that there were fewer retailers affected as the action was taken off of Robson. All in all, it is a sad time to be a Vancouverite. Whether you are a devout hockey fan or just someone who appreciates this city's beauty, today is a sad day.

Do you want to know the difference between a Vancouverite and someone from the outskirts? This is what Vancouverites do. And the hooligans? I think it's clear what they do.