I am sure you've seen the pictures (as above) and the postings on YouTube -- it made for great visual effects and everyone who was there could claim their brief moment in history -- a la Facebook, Twitter and/or YouTube.  Not such a surprising event if you confine 100,000 people in the 'fan-zone' to watch the game on the big screen and keep reminding them of the riot of 1994. Who comes to a hockey game equipped to torch police cars?  

What probably was missing from the news was the thousands of people who came downtown to help clean-up and heal the wounds.  

Vancouver is a beautiful city with the relaxed west coast lifestyle -- the city of my misspent youth and one I frequently enjoy visiting.