Fans riot after Canucks' final defeat

Thousands of people had jammed into the heart of downtown Vancouver in the hope of celebrating the Canucks' first-ever Stanley Cup but the party turned violent after the Bruins won 4-0 in the seventh and deciding game of the series.

The ugly scenes brought back memories of a riot that erupted when Vancouver also lost the Stanley Cup in 1994 as groups of mostly young men threw bottles, attacked parked cars and smashed store windows.

"There was a group of people fully intending to make this into a 1994 event," said Gregor Robertson, mayor of the Canadian city, adding that a group of "angry young men" had decided to disrupt an otherwise peaceful event.

Hospital officials said several people had been treated for stab wounds and many more for exposure to tear gas or pepper spray. Police have not released any information on how many people had been arrested.

At least a half dozen cars were set alight, including two police cars. Many more were overturned or had windows smashed. Several shops were looted.

While many fans were in a party mood, others, clearly fueledl by alcohol, were furious at their team's defeat.

The crowd had thinned by the early hours yesterday morning but some continued to try to destroy property as police in riot gear attempted to contain them in a small area of downtown.

The scenes were in sharp contrast to those after the 2010 Winter Olympics, when a massive street party erupted in the same area after Canada beat the United States to win the men's ice hockey gold medal.

Earlier, boos rang out inside the Canucks' packed Rogers Arena when NHL commissioner Gary Bettmann presented the trophy to Boston's Slovakian captain Zdeno Chara after Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand had each scored twice. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas won the most valuable player award after his second shutout of the finals.

The Bruins, one of hockey's "Original Six" teams, had not won the sport's most coveted prize since 1972 and defied the odds in one of the most enthralling finals series in years.

Three of their four play-off rounds went the full distance of seven games and they came from 2-0 and 3-2 behind in the finals to beat the Canucks, who were favourites after finishing the regular season with the NHL's best record.

Boston coach Claude Julien said: "Every game, all we talked about was going out there and earning it. It wasn't ours to have, it was ours to earn."