NHL 2010-2011: Rick Rypien

Can I look at the brightside and say that I'm happy Montreal isn't going to be singled out anymore as the "riot" city

Honestly, there is no brightside. Rioting sucks. I think that we Canadians take hockey way too seriously. Take out your anger on an internet forum! Lots of trolling to be done at hfboards.

Also, Grats to Boston. I might not like your team or the way they play, but you definitely earned this cup.
Also, despite my loathing of Boston sports teams, I actually really like the city, area, and residents, (except when they have jerseys on).

I'm really choosing to look at the positives this morning - Habs took the Bruins to the Brink, and got a lot of bad bounces in that series, with several key injuries. Future is looking bright, and Tim Thomas is only getting older

Well, at least Tomas Kaberle has a cup now. And despite a slow start, I think he played pretty well once he found his place on Boston - good on him. Now he just needs to re-sign with Toronto and win a cup with the Leafs. That's if Burke wants him back..

Spoiler:

You'll note that the question in my head is whether or not Burke would want to re-sign Kaberle. Not whether the Leafs are going to win a cup :P

And Vancouver.. the fact is that this cup was theirs to win. Across the whole season, they were clearly the better team, but what can you say? Boston simply outplayed them in this series. Thomas totally got into the Canucks heads and you could just see the way it gnawed at them in the second and third periods. Guys started trying to do too much, started overthinking things, got away from their game. A tough pill to swallow if you're a Canucks fan.

Lothar wrote:
Gumbie wrote:

Congrats Boston! Man, were those some awesome playoffs this year or what?

LeapingGnome wrote:
MaxShrek wrote:

Will they boo Gary Bettman at the Cup hand-off speech?

Uh yeah. And booing Thomas with the MVP. Stay classy Vancouver.

they didn't boo him, congrats to Boston, im really sad vancouver lost but thomas was crazy.

As a canucks fan I endured watching them lift the cup and they were not booing Thomas. The booed Bettman, more than once and switched over to cheering when it mattered.

To bad that will not be remembered, but the riots will be.

Before the game a few guys went up to my friends who went downtown and said "Just wait, we've been planning on this. It's going to be awesome." There was a lot of media build-up mentioning the word "riot".

On a side note, a riot's a great way to find a date!

IMAGE(http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/vancouver-makeout-riot.jpg)

Swat wrote:

Before the game a few guys went up to my friends who went downtown and said "Just wait, we've been planning on this. It's going to be awesome." There was a lot of media build-up mentioning the word "riot".

On a side note, a riot's a great way to find a date!

IMAGE(http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/vancouver-makeout-riot.jpg)

Make the best of a bad situation!

So that's at least one football, hockey, baseball and basketball championship in the past 10 years for Boston. Time for soccer to step up, and then... roller derby, I guess?

ColdForged wrote:
Swat wrote:

Before the game a few guys went up to my friends who went downtown and said "Just wait, we've been planning on this. It's going to be awesome." There was a lot of media build-up mentioning the word "riot".

On a side note, a riot's a great way to find a date!

IMAGE(http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/vancouver-makeout-riot.jpg)

Make the best of a bad situation!

At least someone scored last night!

jowner wrote:
Prederick wrote:
muttonchop wrote:
SwampYankee wrote:

I don't get the rioting, win or lose. I guess I'm too old. Have fun, hug, yell, but why break sh*t? Knuckleheads.

The news was reporting that some people brought molotovs and "Riot 2011" signs, so they were clearly intending to tear sh*t up no matter how the game ended. Add tens of thousands of disappointed fans, many of whom had been drinking for hours prior to the game, and it's one giant ugly mob. I watched some of the live coverage on CBC and it was just disgusting. I am ashamed to be a Vancouverite today.

Yeah, I kind of had a sense that there were dipsh*ts out there who were intending to riot, no matter what happened. One can only hope that many of the morons who did this will have been captured by the many, many, many photos and videos i've already seen floating around social media sites, and introduce them to the notion that just because someone posted a video of you doing on Facebook, that doesn't count as "legal immunity".

Problem is the people who most likely sparked this are the crazies who are smart enough not to stand around posing for cameras in a Canucks jersey. Pretty much a rioters dream scenario. Game 7 in Vancouver, lose incite some violence and watch the drunk mob take it over.

The police conference this morning confirmed that some people showed up with incendiary devices fully intending to start some trouble. I watched a video of a guy who squirted an accelerant inside a car and then lit it on fire. He backed away from the car, cheering as it went up in flames. His face was completely visible too, so maybe they will catch this guy.

I could say I'm ashamed of being a Vancouverite, but truthfully I'm not. The people who started the riot did it intentionally because it was the perfect scenario, just as jowner described it - those people are a a**holes, as are the people that encouraged them. The damage they caused, and the stuff they stole is going to have pretty nasty financial and social repercussions. I wonder how many people were told not to come into work today because there was nothing left to sell or the places was so badly trashed it wasn't ready to open (or both)? I wonder how many days of work they will miss because of this. I feel quite certain that we won't be having any open events/fan zones/fun stuff downtown again for many years (and, of course, the idiots who did this will complain that Vancouver is a "no fun" city").

But even with all those negative things, I'm pretty impressed by Vancouver overall. The police handled things pretty well. Breaking up the worst of a riot like that in three hours is pretty decent (I think), especially given the numbers of people and that fire trucks and paramedics couldn't get in to assist in getting the fires out sooner and the injured picked up faster. I woke up this morning to read about all the volunteers who were downtown at 7 a.m. to help clean up the mess just because they wanted to help set things to right a little faster and prove that not everyone in Vancouver is a mouth-breathing moron.

My hat is off to all the law enforcement, medical professionals, city workers and volunteers who dealt with this riot and its aftermath. They make me proud to live here.

Mimble wrote:

My hat is off to all the law enforcement, medical professionals, city workers and volunteers who dealt with this riot and its aftermath. They make me proud to live here.

Exactly. The good outweigh the bad on this one, there's an amazing amount of voulenteers who are down there now cleaning up the downtown core. I'd be there too if I wasn't stuck at work all day. At least the majority of us are proud of our city. The rest need to be put on an island somewhere so they can all go fling poo at each other, or kick cars or something.

Swat wrote:

The rest need to be put on an island somewhere so they can all go fling poo at each other, or kick cars or something.

Can we liquefy them?

Some folks were bankin' on a happy riot, but then they lost and turned it into an angry riot.

Love this photo:
IMAGE(http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/1399/luchara.jpg)

Swat wrote:
Mimble wrote:

My hat is off to all the law enforcement, medical professionals, city workers and volunteers who dealt with this riot and its aftermath. They make me proud to live here.

Exactly. The good outweigh the bad on this one, there's an amazing amount of voulenteers who are down there now cleaning up the downtown core. I'd be there too if I wasn't stuck at work all day. At least the majority of us are proud of our city. The rest need to be put on an island somewhere so they can all go fling poo at each other, or kick cars or something.

Agreed. My faith in humanity was pretty low last night, but the response has been very encouraging. The volunteers were out in force when I walked to work, and a lot of the mess had already been cleaned up.

Also, I wouldn't want to be in Brock Anton's shoes today

Zdeno Chara is a huge mother.

I watched the celebration on the ice and I thought the Vancouver fans were about as stand-up as anyone could hope for. They went nuts when Lucic hoisted the cup and that made me smile. At first I thought they were booing Thomas and the cup awards but then it became clear they were ragging on the Commish.

I feel bad for true fans that went to the game and saw their team lose only to have to navigate their way home through the DMZ. That is just shameful. But as many have said, those folks are less fan than mook.

Dysplastic wrote:

I'm really choosing to look at the positives this morning - Habs took the Bruins to the Brink, and got a lot of bad bounces in that series, with several key injuries. Future is looking bright, and Tim Thomas is only getting older

I think that's a good thing because I am interested to see if Tim Thomas can be as good as he was this season because he was the reason they won, If it was a flash in the pain season for him than that's one to have, I think he just struck gold at the right time and right place.

nihilo wrote:

And Vancouver.. the fact is that this cup was theirs to win. Across the whole season, they were clearly the better team, but what can you say? Boston simply outplayed them in this series. Thomas totally got into the Canucks heads and you could just see the way it gnawed at them in the second and third periods. Guys started trying to do too much, started overthinking things, got away from their game. A tough pill to swallow if you're a Canucks fan.

Thomas was the big reason the Canucks lost, the another reason is that the Canucks didn't really score during the series at all and just felt like they weren't playing as good as they should have.

I look forward to next season because I think the Canucks still have a great chance to win the cup.

Lothar wrote:

I look forward to next season because I think the Canucks still have a great chance to win the cup.

Yeah, at this point—the day after the loss—it's tough to start thinking about going through this all over again. But the Canucks can do it again. The core is solid and not going anywhere, they just need to pick up a good powerful centre or two. Speed and skill are great for the regular season, but the Bruins were a good match-up for the Canucks, to show that this team needs more toughness too if it wants to succeed. There's also the question of Luongo, but that's beyond me.

Chicago did it, Vancouver can do it, they just need another kick at the can.

Lothar wrote:

I think that's a good thing because I am interested to see if Tim Thomas can be as good as he was this season because he was the reason they won, If it was a flash in the pain season for him than that's one to have, I think he just struck gold at the right time and right place.

Thomas was historically good this season and playoffs; About late 90s Hasek-good. It's almost certain that he won't have another year like this one and will his save-percentage will regress toward his true-talent level, but he's a top-notch goaltender who had a career save percentage .918 going into this year. Unless something goes horribly wrong next year, he should end up with a save percentage of around .920; he hasn't posted one below .915 since 2006-07.

He really is a remarkable goaltender; playing a backup or platoon role from the time he left college until 2000 when he went to Sweden. It's not like he was bad throughout his career up until 2000. He just never got much of a chance and it's hard to establish how good a goaltender is in less than 150 games nevermind the less than 40/season he was getting throughout his career.

It's really a shame he's had such a late start to his NHL career He's been one of if not the best in the league since the lockout and capped it off with this season to boot. If he had been given a chance in the minor leagues at the age of 24 he might have been the best goaltender of his generation. Post-lockout he's been better than Brodeur and it's not as if Brodeur was all that stellar pre-lockout.

Gravey wrote:
Lothar wrote:

I look forward to next season because I think the Canucks still have a great chance to win the cup.

Yeah, at this point—the day after the loss—it's tough to start thinking about going through this all over again. But the Canucks can do it again. The core is solid and not going anywhere, they just need to pick up a good powerful centre or two. Speed and skill are great for the regular season, but the Bruins were a good match-up for the Canucks, to show that this team needs more toughness too if it wants to succeed. There's also the question of Luongo, but that's beyond me.

Chicago did it, Vancouver can do it, they just need another kick at the can.

I agree, myself I don't think Luongo is a question at all, I do think when he's at his best he is one of the best goaltenders in the league and at his worst he's a mediocre goaltender but I say give him another chance because I have tons of faith he can get it all together and do amazing things.

SwampYankee wrote:

I feel bad for true fans that went to the game and saw their team lose only to have to navigate their way home through the DMZ. That is just shameful. But as many have said, those folks are less fan than mook.

I was there last night. Left after all the Canucks left the ice as my Dad and I had a feeling something bad was happening outside. Plus I was crushed.

While waiting for a skytrain we heard a loud noise. Like very big fireworks. Felt the concussive blast, then saw the smoke. Large plume of dark black smoke just a few metres from us. Couldn't get home fast enough after that.

Glad to hear you made it home safe Vector.

The rioting just plain sucks for the real fans.

Lothar wrote:

Glad to hear you made it home safe Vector.

Lothar wrote:

Glad to hear you made it home safe Vector.

Thanks. Most of my roommates managed to get out quickly and safely as well. One was 5 ft from where the first police car was destroyed. Said he got out of there right away. Some others encountered a burning garbage can and decided that was enough. My French roommate (only been in town for two weeks) got trapped for a while but caught the last bus out before they shut down transit.

SwampYankee wrote:

The rioting just plain sucks for the real fans.

It really does. As well as the people that wanted nothing to do with hockey. Many of the rioters weren't from the city and had no qualms about destroying it. Vancouver is a beautiful, wonderful, and safe city. The riot destroyed more than property.

The international postscript has now apparently become "dude, girl with cute butt kiss on street", as apparently that's the photo everyone is interested in, as if it were "From Here to Eternity", Canadian-style. The danger! The romance!

Have those kids do it in Damascus. THEN i'll be impressed.

Prederick wrote:

The international postscript has now apparently become "dude, girl with cute butt kiss on street", as apparently that's the photo everyone is interested in, as if it were "From Here to Eternity", Canadian-style. The danger! The romance!

Have those kids do it in Damascus. THEN i'll be impressed.

On the radio, this morning, they released some statements from the couples parents. I don't remember their names but the guy is a 29 year old Australian and the girl is good looking. The guy's parents said "Yup, that's our boy. He's usually disengaged from what's going on around him.".

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc...

But despite some of our initial assumptions, the kiss seen 'round the world wasn't the product of a riot-fueled, uncontrollable passion. Brett Jones instead notes that Thomas was injured and his son was coming to her aid. An alternate angle taken from above shows other bystanders later attempting to help Thomas and Jones.

Combine that different angle with Brett Jones' story and it certainly dispels the rumors that the couple had intentionally staged the photo.

But damn, what a nice ass.

Spoiler:

The chick's ain't bad either! To hopefully dispel the obvious joke, assholes.

OK this is the last I'll say on the matter: I went from hating Vancouver and it's denizens to bits to grudging respect for the classiness of their real hockey fans while thinking the rest of them hooligans, to thinking they're pretty damn stand up. Good for the good people of Vancouver.

Oh yeah, and CF is covering. He totally loves that dude's butt.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/9nghp.png)

The followup:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/jz3t3.jpg)

"What Really Happened in Vancouver":

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/DwlVx.jpg)

Thanks, Reddit!

Love Chara!

I really want to hate Chara but I can't. He's a good guy.