Game 7 Stanley Cup Finals Riot - Tales of a final and a photograper.

Glass shattering above and to the right, people fighting to left, and riot police at the rear. "There's another fire over there" someone shouts. I can't explain why but instinct kicked in and I sprinted through the crowds dodging rioters and garbage on the streets and pushed my way to the front of the gathered crowds to witness the second of many vehicles flipped and set on fire.

Downtown Vancouver was more than just abuzz Wednesday evening after the Canucks suffered it's latest Stanley Cup Final disapointment.

For me, it all started at one o'clock in the afternoon. I arrived at Georgia and Hamilton and sat on the curb with the hundreds that had already gathered. For the next three hours more and more people flooded the intersection and beyond. The final hour leading up to puck drop saw even more people crowd; filling the narrow gaps making it a standing room only event. The air was not only filled with nervous anxiety but also the smell of marijuana drifting in from all directions.

The atmosphere was crazy so many flags, painted faces, and jerseys. Then I began to wonder; how many of these people are really Canucks fans, and how many are here as an excuse to party. Police and Security did their best to keep drinking and drugs at a minimum, but that didn't stop the crowds from getting rowdy. Disapointment first struck at Boston's first goal, and chants broke out that would never make it on T.V. The frustration grew from there as Boston scored two more goals, and when the empty net was filled with the puck fans knew it was over.

A women beside me was in tears and my eyes were beginning to fill with tears. Suddenly there was a commotion way to the left. I intstantly remembered the car that was parked and thought to myself; "it's starting" (in reference to the 94 riots). The car was tipped over by the time I got to it. I darted for a high vantage point and quickly snapped a few pictures and hit the record button on the camera. Things started happening everywhere and it was all decision making time. Some people were running away while others were running to all the commotion. Me... I wanted to be at the front. I don't know why but there is a certain thrill you get from these kinds of things. I didn't know what I was running towards but my feet kept moving, when I turned a corner riot police were lined up and ready to charge. I remember thinking "maybe I should back off," of course while I was thinking this I was pushing people to get to the front of the commotion and at one point even ended up behind riot police. I followed the riot for a while then heard the smashing of windows and let my ears and my feet be my guide and by this time I knew there was no thinking, just reaction. So there I was trying to get a good shot, acknowledging the fact that the glass that hit the side of my face hadn't cut. Eyes burning from being so close to the riot patrol and their pepper spray when someone shouted "there's another fire over there." And my legs took off...

 

I made it to the second vehicle, in awe that I was kneeling by the burning truck which only an hour ago was filled with fans witnessing the Canucks demise.. "What is happening? This is crazy"... A swath of emotions flowed through me but the one that stuck out the most was evident... I loved every minute of this. The months of school full of doubt were wiped clean and I was beaming with confidence and near invisibility, I remember at more than one point thinking to myself "wow, I should really be doing more conflict photography."

After a while I figured I'd better get something else somewhere else, I'd been filming and shooting the same burning cars for a while and I wanted variety so I left the area. only to find more and more commotion wherever I went.

  

 Then I put down the camera for a few minutes, and watched... witnessed through my own eyes what was happening as opposed to my lens. I watched the people, saw there emotion... And I immediately thought about some earlier thoughts. How, for some, it was supporting your team, while others it was just a giant party. Who in their right mind would do things like this... Well to be honest, not many, and that was the issue. So many of these people weren't in their right mind due to drugs and alcohol, and the City of Vancouver had turned into a giant party of vandalism and mischief. These were not the fans that came to watch the game, these were the people disguised as fans looking for a good time. I was ashamed; I was ashamed for the city and the people in it...

The next morning I walked downtown, and aside from boarded up windows, it was hard to tell a riot even took place. The party was over and people were people again. The streets were no longer filled with garbage instead there were construction workers fixing windows, people doing their daily tasks, and volunteers some of which offered to help as they walked past, all working to clean up the streets from the mess that was the night before. It was these people I credit for washing away most of the shame I'd felt just nine hours earlier.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but you could write a novel and it wouldn't compare to the experience.

It's impossible to explain exactly what happened and that's what I hope my photos and Video footage will help to define that. However the emotions are something I can only try to explain. But you would have had to been there to fully grasp what was actually going on.

Now I know you haven't heard from me in a while but I have some updates coming soon I promise. I felt like I had to share my experience at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I have lots of photos and lots of video footage to show so keep posted.

If you have any questions or inquiries leave them below or contact me at i-feel-@live.ca

Thanks for reading,

Andre