[Edit 4:38pm] As we’re all aware by now, the Canucks failed to show up in Game 7… but luckily their fans rallied and destroyed the downtown core.

I’m not taking the position that all Vancouver fans, or Vancouver people in general, are bad people, pyros or generally inclined to tear shit apart.  But I take issue with their mayor and the sports analysts out there proclaiming that these were not real Canucks or hockey fans, but rather rogue hooligans.

I have just a few quick points…

First, how do you know “true” Canucks fans were not involved?  That might be a theory or something you hope to be true … but it’s no certainty that a good portion of those who rioted are not Canucks fans.

Second, people are not either hooligans or Canucks fans.  There can, in fact, be some people who are both hooligans and Canucks fans.  It’s simply not an either/or proposition.

Third, the photos simply don’t bare out the theory that Canucks fans were subjected to the riots of other people.  The photos clearly show Canucks fans were heavily involved.  See here:

[Edit 11:36am]

Then there’s this tool:

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that despite all the chaos there was some romance in the air:

Finally, we have the necessary video of a guy getting hit in the nuts…

[Edit 4:38am]

Apparently throughout the day volunteers and professionals have been assessing the damage and helping clean it up.  Vancouver Province has a photo gallery of the aftermath and initial clean up.’

There’s also a variety of social media campaigns underway with the goal of identifying the couple making out on the street those responsible for the damage.

In particular http://www.identifyrioters.com/ lets you browse photos to see if you can identify any of the “hooligans”.

@VancouverClean was setup to organize the volunteer cleaning efforts … and the Vancouve Police are encouraging people to contatct them at @VancouverPD with any helpful videos, images etc.