10 years later, emergency responders recall tension ahead of Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot

Beforethe smashed storefronts and overturned cars, paramedic Brian Twaites saidthere was an intangible feeling in the air.

"There was some tension that was building," Twaitessaidof the moments leading up tothe 2011 Stanley Cup riot. "Certainly into the final period you could feel the shift in the air."

As one of sevenparamedics embedded with the Vancouver Police Department'spublic safety uniton June 15, 2011, Twaites was initially posted near the corner of Hamilton and West Georgia streets, where a big screen relayed the championship game from nearby Rogers Arena.

With every goal, Twaites said, the pressure continued to build, as an estimated crowd of 155,000 people watched the Vancouver Canucks struggle to contain the opposing Boston Bruins, eventually losing the game and their shot at the Stanley Cup in a final score of four to nothing.

The demoralizing loss evoked memories ofthe Canucks' 1994 playoff run, which saw the team bested by the New York Rangers.It was similar not only in its proximity to glory, but in the violent aftermath.

However, the 1994 riot paled in comparison to what happened in 2011, when roughly 1,000 rioters caused$3.78 million in damage in the span of about fivehours, according to a report from the B.C. Prosecution Service.

And yet, the paramedic and others interviewed by CBC, including police, historians and sportscasters, say the downtown destructionin 2011was not a foregone conclusion at least not early on.

"Things had been going so well over the previous games," said Twaites. "I didn't really expect what was going to happen."

Lessons, recommendations following the '94 riot

Those interviewed by CBC say, heading into the 2011 finals, there was renewed confidence in the city's ability to host public events, particularly given the success of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which saw exuberant and often drunk fans celebrating in downtown Vancouver after Team Canada won gold in men's hockey.

"There wasn't any property damage, there wasn't a riot," said Jim Chu, Vancouver's police chief in 2011. "You know, you think after the Olympics that Vancouver's matured."

WATCH | Former police chief Jim Chu recalls the role smartphones playedin 2011 riot:

Vancouver's Stanley Cup riots, 10 years later

3 years ago

Duration 5:49

Ten years after the streets of Vancouver were flooded with rioters after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, Ian Hanomansing talks to the former police chief about that night and the role cellphones played. He also catches up with a couple who went viral after being photographed kissing on the ground.

In a report delivered after the 1994 riots to what is now the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, investigator Bob Whitelaw issued 32 recommendations in hopes of avoiding similar instances of destructive hooliganism moving forward.

They included guidance around operational planning, police deployment and training, equipment and the presence of alcohol.

Fifteen years later John Furlong and Douglas Keefe, who wrote an official report about the 2011 riot, would say most of these recommendations had been addressed, or partially addressed, and that "planning was thorough and appropriate for the threat assessment."

Their report also states, however, that a combination of "congestion and free flowing alcohol" created conditions that allowed "troublemakers" to act out.

"It was obviously very concerning," Chu said. "At some point in time, though, there's not much you can do aspolice because we don't have the numbers The crowd is like 150,000 people. We had maybe 800 or 900 officers."

Play by play

Public support for the Canucks had snowballed throughout the 2011 finals, as it became increasingly clear that the team waswithin striking distance of its first Stanley Cup.

"We had the [Sedin] twins at their height, we had Kesler. It just seemed like this was a team that was built to go all the way," said CBC reporter Karin Larsen, who covered the Canucks' 2011 run.

But while the team managed to slay the dragon in Chicago, and beat Nashville and San Jose, the tide turned half way through the Stanley Cup finals. Boston battled back from a two-game deficit, eventually forcing Game 7.

"Vancouver hits the ice [and] you just get a sense that they don't have it anymore," said Larsen."Whatever magic pixie dust they had brought to that point in the series, it doesn't seem to be there for them."

Five minutes into the first period, Boston's Patrice Bergeron putone pastVancouver goalie Robert Luongo. Outside, police were called to evacuate a mass of people who hadgathered on top of the Budget Rental Car building near the corner of West Georgia and Homer streets. Nearby, food trucks were among the first targets of vandalism.

Then, in the second period, Boston scoredagain. The crowd on the roof of the Budget building beganto throw bottles at police.

Boston scoreda third time, and then a fourth. A fight involving 30 to 40 people broke out at the corner of Homer and Dunsmuir. Nearby, windows were being broken. Then theGucci store waslooted. Minutes later, a vehicle wasflipped. Garbage cans were set on fire.

Vancouver had lost the Stanley Cup final. The riot wasunderway.

This is the first of two pieces coveringthe 2011 Stanley Cup riots. You can read the second piece an oral history of the riot and its legacy on Vancouvertomorrow, June 15, 2021.