"Captain Vancouver will now be your judge."
The 2024 Vancouver Canucks had an impressive playoffs run, which reminded fans of the 2011 team that should have won the Stanley Cup over the Boston Bruins. The disturbance that followed has been captured in a documentary I'm Just Here For The Riot.
The other 3 Canadian teams in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs had outdoor crowds gathered. Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton but not Vancouver. Watching the documentary shows us why after all these years, the city doesn't trust its citizens to gather outside to watch a hockey game.
Directors Kathleen Jayme and Asia Youngman start out telling the story of Game 7 in 2011 and what led to the riot. They then focus on a few people who were caught, labeled, and a bit of both as social media discovered who some of these people were. The film delves into the aspect of being the first major incident where social media can track who is involved. The obsession on social media gets quite a bit of focus.
This side step deserves its own film about rioting and social media. There is a Vancouver unique story that is more compelling.
We learn about people who stood up and defended private property. We meet people who rescued the people who stood up. We all too briefly — and at the end of the film — learn about the people who came back the next day to clean up the mess from the riot.
The Vancouver Canucks have been in 3 Stanley Cup finals. The New York Islanders swept the 1982 team. The New York Rangers barely squeaked by in 1994 over the Canucks. Turns out there was a riot in 1994 after Vancouver lost Game 7.
The mention of the 1994 riot came rather late in the documentary. The 1994 riot was not on the scale of the 2011 riot but a significant detail that deserved more time in the documentary.
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Kathleen Jayme may seem familiar to our readers since Jayme also did a documentary about the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies. Jayme made that documentary more personal where I'm Just Here For The Riot was more about presenting the elements.
Would have been nice to have a bit more personal in this documentary. Vancouver seems like an anomaly to most Americans and even a lot of Canadians. What this riot meant to Vancouver deserves a documentary all its own.
I've walked those streets in downtown Vancouver. The city is a laid back, beautiful place. They celebrated well after the Golden Goal from Sidney Crosby at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The riots are the exception, not the rule.
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The fact that this documentary is part of the ESPN 30 for 30 series makes us wonder if that affected what was covered. Reportedly, every broadcaster in Canada turned down the filmmakers.
Jayme reportedly went downtown the following morning to interview cleanup volunteers. Very little of that is in the film.
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The 1994 series was tough but reasonably fair as NHL playoff series go. The 2011 series was a much different beast. If the officiating had been remotely fair — nothing close to reality — the Canucks would have won the Stanley Cup and the reaction would have been more joyous.
In that world, 2011 would have been redemption for 1994. Then we might have had a different kind of documentary.
This doesn't justify the anger after the Game 7 in 2011. Does explain it a tiny bit.
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The documentary premiered at the 2023 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. It also screened at the 42nd Vancouver International Film Festival and the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival.
I'm Just Here For The Riot is available in the 30 for 30 Series on ESPN+.
video credit: SIFF News
photo credit: I'm Just Here For The Riot
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