Tonight was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.   There are no words to describe the excitement buzzing around the city all day.   I wish I could say the same for tonight.

I’m embarrassed, appalled and shocked by the small group of troublemakers that decided to transform an awesome night into one of of complete chaos.  Cars were set on fire. People were critically injured. Department stores were broken into and looted.  This all happened steps away from where I work every day.

As some of you might recall this happened before in Vancouver in 1994 when Vancouver lost to the New York Rangers. I was 14 at the time and remember it well.  The riots lasted all night and it was on the news for weeks. Reports I read earlier today indicated this definitely wouldn’t happen again.

I decided to watch the game from a local restaurant with my daughter and was lucky enough to find a quiet place!  My son was away at outdoor school otherwise I probably would have ended up downtown.  She played angry birds. I watched the game. It works!  Anyways back to the story.

We left during the second period and watched the end from home. Of course I was sad Vancouver lost! But I was also very impressed by Boston. What a goalie.  During the final moments I went on Facebook and saw this picture:

This was not a good sign.  I soon learned about all of the craziness going on in Vancouver.  Fans minding their own business were punched in the face for wearing the “wrong” jersey.

Someone fell of the Georgia Street Viaduct. For those of you that aren’t from Vancouver let me give you an idea of exactly how high this is.  Please note how far the ground is from the railing. This is where he fell from:

I’ll never understand why people do this. Pack mentality is never an excuse. I’m worried to see what downtown will look like tomorrow morning.

I’m writing this post to let you know I’m not a crazy Vancouver rioter and to show power of social media during an event such as this:

• Facebook and Twitter was used by friends and relatives to let others know they were okay.
• Facebook was used by friends to let everyone know that various bridges were shut down.
• Twitter was used by the mayor to give status updates.
• Hospitals were using Twitter to tell the public they were at capacity and not to come in.
• A Facebook Group popped up called “upload photos and facebook tag the vancouver rioters” where people are encouraged to tag pictures of rioters.

Have you ever been through a riot? What was it like? Would you stick around to capture it and share it via your social networks?  I sure wouldn’t!