Jerry, I have to tell you that Canucks fans simply INVADED California this year for games late in the season and in the playoffs... with fans numbering in the 1000's at each game.
As a season seat holder in Anaheim, I can tell you that collectively they didn't do themselves any favors as their behavior wasn't well received - in fact I've never seen so much bad blood develop (here in Anaheim and up in L.A.) towards a single team in a single season going back 30+ years of watching the great game of hockey... and it had little to do with the team and everything to do with the Canucks fans.
For better or worse, it's the riots and scenes like this that many fans associate Canucks fans with:
I know it's not all the fans, or even the majority of fans... but Canucks fans are now lumped in with the worst of the worst... Flyers fans, Raider fans, Dodgers fans, Lakers fans, etc, where riots and violence seem to have an overlapping demographic that's higher than in most other cities.
I took videos of the game we went to and i couldn't believe how many VAN fans were in SJ. It was an experience that I'll never forget.
As for the portrayal of Canuck fans, I don't think we can be compared to the hockey fans like in Montreal and Philly, or the Cali teams you mentioned above. We're pussies compared to them. As much as the initial view of a Canuck fan can be compared to those teams, we're hoping the public knows and are educated that the rioters were an organized group that brought their own masks, gasoline, etc. to kick start the riots. There was even a truck that was purposely brought to downtown to torch after the game concluded.
Lesson learned though...need to contain fans (similarly to how things were set up during the Winter Olympics). Set up fan zones that checks fans at the gate before entrance into the zone.
As a season seat holder in Anaheim, I can tell you that collectively they didn't do themselves any favors as their behavior wasn't well received - in fact I've never seen so much bad blood develop (here in Anaheim and up in L.A.) towards a single team in a single season going back 30+ years of watching the great game of hockey... and it had little to do with the team and everything to do with the Canucks fans.
For better or worse, it's the riots and scenes like this that many fans associate Canucks fans with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MJU1SEDpM
I know it's not all the fans, or even the majority of fans... but Canucks fans are now lumped in with the worst of the worst... Flyers fans, Raider fans, Dodgers fans, Lakers fans, etc, where riots and violence seem to have an overlapping demographic that's higher than in most other cities.
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As for the portrayal of Canuck fans, I don't think we can be compared to the hockey fans like in Montreal and Philly, or the Cali teams you mentioned above. We're pussies compared to them. As much as the initial view of a Canuck fan can be compared to those teams, we're hoping the public knows and are educated that the rioters were an organized group that brought their own masks, gasoline, etc. to kick start the riots. There was even a truck that was purposely brought to downtown to torch after the game concluded.
Lesson learned though...need to contain fans (similarly to how things were set up during the Winter Olympics). Set up fan zones that checks fans at the gate before entrance into the zone.
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