Vancouver approves Canucks viewing parties, but not downtown

VANCOUVER — The City of Vancouver will host viewing parties for the Canucks’ Round 2 playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers starting with Game 3 on Sunday.

Mayor Ken Sim and others have previously expressed concern about large-scale events for the playoffs, given Vancouver’s history of Stanley Cup riots.

But Sim now says a lot of thought and planning has gone into events set to take place at a park located far from the downtown core, where hordes of drunken fans rioted after the Canucks’ Game 7 Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins in 2011. There were also riots in 1994 after a Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers.

“A lot of the individuals who were working on this year’s, you know, festivities, they were there in 2011 and so they had a lot of lived experiences, and from that came a plan that was put together with a lot of thought,” Sim told a news conference on Wednesday.

Those organizers are not alone in reflecting on Vancouver’s troubled relationship with the playoffs, as the Canucks enter Round 2 with a game at Rogers Arena tonight.

Simon Coutts said he remembered being “heckled” by passersby as he boarded up his bike shop on Vancouver’s Robson Street before the 2011 loss.

Simon’s Bike Shop had been in business since 1986, and Coutts said the 1994 riot made him take precautions when the Canucks made the final again.

“In 2011, I was out on the street every day. I was watching the parties, watching the people,” Coutts said on Tuesday. “There were just too many people out of control downtown and there’s drinking and all sorts of stuff … and then I guess you could say all hell broke loose.”

Sim had previously acknowledged the riots at a news conference last month, saying the city had “a history” and it would need to make sure any playoff viewing event would be very safe.

Sim said Sunday’s viewing party is at Oak Meadows Park, which can hold about 2,000 people, in the South Cambie neighbourhood. Tickets costing $20 go on sale on the Canucks website today, with proceeds benefiting the Canucks for Kids Fund.