It’s been a long, cold and lonely 18 years for Canadian hockey fans, who have been hoping to see one of the Canadian teams bring home the most sought after trophy in the game of hockey. A Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup since the season of 92-93 when the Montreal Canadiens brought home the title. Fans still had their share of excitement when Canadian teams such as the Oilers and the Flames fought their way to game seven contests. Canadians around the world watched hoping these teams would have what it takes to win the honours of Stanley Cup champions, only to taste the bitterness of disappointment in both cases.
Last Wednesday was a chance to make history and bring back the cup to Canada once again. Although I am not anything close to a Vancouver Canucks fan, (being a born and raised Oilers fan just won’t allow it) there is something exciting about the cup being won by a Canadian team – even if the Sedin twins give me the creeps.
Throughout the playoffs I have never really jumped on the Vancouver bandwagon, but since I had selected a lot of their players as part of my hockey pool I was always rooting for them to come up with the win. Luckily I had also selected a good number of Boston players, so when the two teams met in the finals I was hoping for a long and high scoring series to help raise my status in the hockey pool standings. Thank you Luongo.
When game seven rolled around I was looking for an entertaining hard fought battle, like any other Canadian hockey fan, but I had to admit that deep down I hoped Vancouver would be able to pull it off and come out victorious.
Unfortunately that hope was short lived as a one sided game, in favor of the Bruins, unfolded and Canadian hockey fans everywhere realized they would have to keep waiting on the cup being won by a Canadian team. The Canucks ending up losing game seven 4-0 with their big offensive players coming up short. It has now been five times, since the Canadiens 1993 game seven win, that a Canadian team has made it to the big show but failed to bring home the Stanley Cup.
Now if it wasn’t bad enough to see Vancouver lose out after their dream season and tremendous playoff run, groups of fans brought embarrassment and disgrace to the nation and the city by rioting in the streets. The rioting, looting, fighting and burning of vehicles, which took place on the streets of Vancouver after the loss, was completely disgraceful to see. Yes, your team lost; yes you’ve probably had too much to drink, but seriously breaking into the Bay and lighting police cars on fire is going to help you how?
Watching the broadcasts of these Vancouver fans in action was an embarrassment to the city and to the nation. These are not the type of actions I would want associated with a Canadian team. It’s bad enough that the Canucks came up short in the final game, but to have the fans react in such a disgraceful manner is what is truly disappointing.
Now of course it is not all fans and just a few select groups of trouble causing individuals who intended to cause a stir no matter what, it’s just sad what a mob mentality can do and how many people get sucked into the violence and mayhem. It’s also sad that these types of actions will now be related to a sport we know and love.
Hopefully in the upcoming season Canadian fans will have another chance to see a home team make it this far in the playoffs. I know I will be rooting for the Oilers again when the time comes around hoping for a miracle. But if that doesn’t pan out who knows, there is always Winnipeg.
