How proud Vancouver must be.

The Canucks couldn’t get it right on the ice and those masquerading as fans certainly couldn’t get it right in the streets.

Shocking footage of so-called Canucks’ supporters rioting following Vancouver’s 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals are everywhere from TV, to the web, to virtually every major daily newspaper across North America.

How proud Vancouver must be.

Their hockey team once again came up short, just like they did in 1994 when they dropped  Game 7 to  the New York Rangers in the finals. They rioted in 1994 and they rioted again in 2011, only this time on a much larger scale.

The thought was that after 1994 the city had learned its lesson. Apparently not. I was hoping for the best, but got the worst. I should have figured things were going downhill in a hurry when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the Bruins were booed during the presentation of the Stanley Cup. Sore losers, those Vancouver fans. No such thing as tipping your cap to the opposition for a job well done.

And while the fans booed and the Bruins celebrated inside Rogers Centre, things got out of hand quickly outside. Cars set on fire, property damaged, people injured. All because the Canucks lost.

How proud Vancouver must be.

Part of me believes this would have happened even had the Canucks prevailed. It seems there are professional protesters in Vancouver who were just looking for a cause. The Canucks — good or bad — gave them one and they ran with it.

It’s unfair to lump all Vancouver fans together and call them all Canuckleheads. The vast majority no doubt are ashamed of what happened and had nothing to do with the problems. Like anything else, a few bad apples spoil it for everyone.

Still, the whole scene looks bad for the fans, the organization, the city, and for Canada. Canadians pride themselves on being gracious, polite and dignified. Thanks to this incident, the world will see Canada in a totally different light.

Thanks Vancouver. You are no championship city, on or off the ice.

How proud you must be.

As a sports reporter, cheering is definitely a no-no. Unbiased coverage is essential to maintain any type of credibility. Deep down we may prefer one team to win over another simply for story line purposes, but generally we’re more interested in how long the game lasts so we can get our story written.

But all that impartiality has gone out the window in the NHL playoffs. Since I’m not covering the games, I can cheer all I want and I’m pulling big time for the Boston Bruins to take home the Stanley Cup.

Why the Bruins? Simple. I know Dan Paille and Nathan Horton and am pulling for them both. Paille is a Welland boy I’ve covered from the time he was a Welland Cougar junior B player all the way up the the NHL. Dan — he’s known as Hot Apple Paille to his friends — is a great guy who would no doubt bring the Cup to his hometown and I’d be the first one there to get a pic with it.

Horton, who hails from Dunnville, is another top-notch guy off the ice who has always made time for me. It’s tough not to look at Horton now as a key member of the Bruins and not think back to his time with the Thorold Blackhawks, where he debuted as a 13-year-old. If the Bruins win, perhaps Horton would bring the Cup to the Thorold Arena for some pics. That would be cool.

The Tampa Bay Lightning also have a local connection in goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who also started his junior career in Thorold and still keeps up with his former coach, current Hawks bench boss Chris Johnstone.

The Vancouver Canucks also had a tinge of local flavour in Grimsby native Kevin Bieksa. Bieksa, who has family in the Grimsby and Hamilton area, would no doubt bring the cup home as well.

Whatever happens, there seems to be a good chance Lord Stanley could make an appearance in the Niagara region this summer.

My job as a sports writer at The Standard has enabled me to meet so many people in the world of sports it’s almost hard to pick out a highlight.

I’ve been fortunate enough to cover the 1999 Stanley Cup final in Buffalo, the 1993 World Series in Toronto, the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto and countless local events.

I’d hate the big bosses at QMI to read this (I can’t image they will) but sometimes it’s seems too good to be true to get paid to cover sports.

Anyway, perhaps my most memorable meeting with a major sports celebrity came in 1996 when I covered the last wrestling card at the Aud. The late, great Tony Parisi of Niagara Falls helped promote the card and I had done a story to let our readers know about it. Parisi, who was a good a guy as you’ll ever meet, got me backstage and I took the opportunity to meet some of the wrestlers.

The Nasty Boys, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Sting, Lex Luger, The Giant (now the Big Show) and a bunch of others were there. I got pics and autographs and was thrilled to meet the grapplers who were all very cool.

But nothing could compare to meeting my all-time idol, Nature Boy Ric Flair. The greatest wrestler of all time (ya, even better than Hulk Hogan) was there and I had a chance to get a autograph and a quick pic.

When I spotted Flair, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to approach him or not. After all, if he blew me off, I would have been devastated. But if I didn’t take the chance, I would forever wonder if I should have.

Thankfully, I got up my nerve and introduced myself. I told Slick Ric how much I admired him as a wrestler and would he mind signing a picture I had and posing for a snapshot. Flair thanked me for following his career, signed my picture, posed with me, and even shook my hand.

It only lasted a few seconds, but Flair was a class guy all the way. I would have loved to extend the visit, but the Nature Boy was swamped.

With Flair off my list, I’ve got two major heros left to meet, Bruce Springsteen and Nolan Ryan. I met Ryan’s son Reed and gushed about his dad to the point of stupidity.

The Boss? The closest I came was being backstage before a concert in Buffalo. That’s a blog for another time.