Photo: KashklickYesterday I wrote about the handful of studies that have been done showing that large sporting events do not lead to higher rates of hospital visits, or for that matter, deaths or public violence. The latest study comes from Canada, and shows that during the 2010 Olympic gold medal ice hockey match between the U.S. and Canada, emergency room visits declined by 17 percent in Canada. I thought it was a pretty good indication of how much Canadians love ice hockey, and also of the tranquility with which they seem to consume it. I imagined an entire country transfixed by the game on their TV sets, peacefully watching their countrymen defeat the world in their most-beloved sport.
But then I saw this: “Vancouver Fans Riot After Stanley Cup Loss“:
Rioting hockey fans clashed with police officers, set vehicles ablaze, smashed windows and looted stores and set several fires in downtown areas here on Wednesday night moments after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals to the Boston Bruins.
Local hospitals reported eight people treated for stab wounds, according to Alyssa Polinsky, a spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health, the regional hospital authority.
Eight people stabbed!? And another 60 admitted to the ER for other injuries. Apparently, when it comes to hockey, Canadians aren’t so tranquil when they’re on the losing end. All it takes is a 4-0 beatdown in a Stanley Cup Game 7 on their home ice to unleash Vancouver’s inner soccer hooligan.
This outbreak of violence is consistent with a piece that Justin Wolfers wrote in 2008, on a study looking at public violence on college football game days, specifically the point that upset losses by the home team have a particularly large effect on violent assaults, while expected losses have little effect.
This seems to indicate that all the research showing no increase in hospital visits and public violence after sporting matches needs a big asterisk next to it that says: Applicable only if the home team wins.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
As a Canadian, and a hockey fan, I am embarrassed and ashamed to be represented by these fools. We do love hockey, but at the end of the day it is still just a sport. My apologies to those that were hurt in any way, and to our neighbours to the south.
I live in Vancouver and walked the streets before the game. This riot had nothing to do with hockey. Watch the videos, most of the rioters aren’t wearing hockey gear.
From 5 o’clock onwards it was clear that there were people downtown geared up to cause trouble. They knew they wouldn’t get caught. Hockey fans don’t bring malatov cocktails to watch hockey.
Very sad ending to an amazing three weeks.
For the 2010 Olympic gold medal ice hockey match, any data on the hours after the match, or on the next day?
I live in Vancouver, went to the game, and walked through a small amount of the riot while trying to get home safe last night.
Please DO NOT refer to these rioters as hockey fans – this was pre-planned. These idiots showed up downtown with masks, pepper spray, and Molotov cocktails. That’s not the work of a hockey fan angry at a loss; that’s a pre-planned show of destruction.
Please do not judge our team, loyal and dedicated fans, or our beautiful city for the actions of some classless jerks that think it’s funny to set a city on fire.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
10 
1
Should be noted that last nights violence in Vancouver was organized & planned. It was pulled off by the “Black Block” groups of the Anti-Poverty Alliance – the same groups that disrupted the beginning of the Olympics last year, and targeted the same companies.
Why I am sure a few joined in after drinking all afternoon in the mob mentality. This wasn’t hockey inspired violence, it was hockey being used as an excuse for a violent group to cause mayhem
I’ll point out that there where more than 200,000 people downtown for the game (most watched outside on big screen TV’s…)
And for the most part probably more than 95% of those people had nothing to do with any of the (as the CBC initially called it) the Post-Game CHAOS…
There was a certain small segment of the community who really was not so much into hockey as they where into seeing what they could get started after the fact. Unfortunately the police had got used to the exemplary behavior of the Olympic crowds last year (where hooliganism was severely constrained by the smaller crowd sizes and the reaction of most of the other people there to enjoy the show) and they let things get a little (!!!!) out of hand.
There was also lot of coverage of a couple of blocks. This was in no way a burning down of the entire downtown area.
In soccer riots at least the police fear more that the home team wins. If the loose, most people are just depressed and go home. If they win, they go crazy and all hell breaks loose.
Perhaps Vancouver/ Montreal are filled with people who love to riot and rarely get a chance to except for at major sporting events, rock concerts or large political events (G8, APEC, canceled Guns N Roses concerts etc).
Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa have all lost the cup in the past 10 years, and I don’t recall too much rioting then.