Fire Vancouver for Blaming Riots on the NHL

The NHL is not responsible for this.

Governments are really good at many silly things, and in the case of the city of Vancouver, its government is really good at compiling a report on a tragedy, blaming someone else and moving on.

That's exactly what happened when the city released a report that blamed the NHL for the June 15 Stanley Cup riot that led to hundreds of arrests and millions in property damage. In the report, the city said: "In spite of four Stanley Cup riots in the last five years, [the NHL] has no approach, no policy and no apparent strategy to work with host franchises and municipalities on this issue." It is also “unfortunate and regrettable” that the league has no detailed programs to help cities “with the kind of challenge [Vancouver] faced that night.”

The NHL denied the accusation. “[The league] already has successful programs that ensure responsible fan behaviour in all our game venues,” spokesman Frank Brown said in a statement.

It's pretty appalling that Vancouver is blaming the NHL for the way its own citizens behaved during the riot. If Vancouver feels it can't handle having a NHL team, maybe it should ask the league to relocate it. Otherwise, the city needs to police itself.