Edmonton riot charges inspired man to change life

Charges laid against a young man for his role in the riots during the Edmonton Oilers' Stanley Cup run five years ago prompted him to turn his life around.

"I was going nowhere really. I would drink every weekend, party. Get blitzed out of my mind," the man said Monday.

"It was kind of like a rude awakening."

The man was charged with mischief and inciting a riot for setting newspapers on fire in a shopping cart. The first charge was dropped. He pleaded guilty to mischief and was sentenced to 60 hours of community service.

CBC News has agreed to withhold his name at his request since he has served his sentence and turned his life around. He completed his journeyman's ticket and is working towards another. He bought a house and is engaged to be married.

He still volunteers for the organization where he spent his now-completed hours of community service.

Thousands on Whyte Avenue

The riot in Vancouver following the Canucks' loss to the Boston Bruins last week in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final invited comparisons to the riots in Edmonton during theOilers' Stanley Cup run in 2006.

Whyte Avenue, Edmonton's most popular destination for restaurants and nightclubs, was packed with thousands of revelers at the end of each game. Things soon got out of hand. Fires were set. Store windows were broken. Police ramped up their presence.

The man looks back to that day in May 2006 when the Oilers won against the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference final. He admits he was pretty drunk when he headed to Whyte Avenue with his friends.

"We found a shopping cart and we filled it with all those free magazines that are on Whyte Ave. and then we lit it on fire," he said. "And then raised it above our heads and cheering and then we slammed it down on the ground.

"And yeah, everyone just gets wrapped up in the moment and no one's really thinking."

What the man didn't know is that police were on a nearby rooftop videotaping what was transpiring on the street below.

'Now I'm in trouble'

One week later, he found his picturefeatured on an Edmonton police website.

"Everything just drained right out of me and I was like, 'Oh my God. Now I'm in trouble,'" he said. "I felt like my guts were twisted. I didn't eat for a couple of days. I was stressed right out. So I turned myself in."

The man was disgusted by what he saw on the streets of Vancouver last week andbelieves the situation was very different from what happened in Edmonton.

"When it was in Vancouver, that was kind of out of hate and anger. That they were smashing and stealing stuff and everyone was booing. It was anger, it was out of anger. They were looting stores," he said.

"And people were trying to stop other people from doing it and getting beat up because of it. I don't think any of that stuff would have happened in Edmonton."