The Red Light District: Flames Win Despite Another Dense Canucks Fan

A few years back I wrote an article entitled "Vancouver Canucks Fans Just Plain Dumb" in response to a few incidents I had witnessed while being at games.

Once again last night during the Canucks shootout loss to the Calgary Flames, yet another fan proved me right.

First off, for anyone who watched the game, Vancouver had no business going to a shootout after being outshot 40-21. It was yet another profound example of Calgary's inability to score and Roberto Luongo's dominance as a goaltender.

The real story, however, took place off the ice as a Canucks fan, who was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse, had a laser pointer gleaming upon Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff throughout the game.

"We could see it shining on his mask the whole night," Calgary coach Brent Sutter stated. "It was brought to the attention of the refs and security, and it's hard to believe it could go on for 60 minutes in a hockey game and it is not located."

It is this kind of ignorance that really has no place in sports, and the fact nobody sitting around the person at fault didn't report him makes me wonder if there was any intelligent being sitting in the section.

Obviously not.

But should we expect anything different at GM Place? Stupidity seems to be becoming routine while watching an NHL game there.

Two seasons ago while playing the Rangers, Vancouver forward Ryan Kesler delivered a malicious high-stick on New York defenseman Dan Girardi just under his left eye. Kesler received a double-minor to the fans dismay and they unleashed a wave of boos, even though the infraction should have been met with a major penalty and game misconduct.

A few seasons before that incident while playing the Blackhawks, a Chicago player was hit and subsequently swallowed his mouth guard. While the game was delayed to tend to the player, once again Canucks fans unleashed a series of boos, and yelled out to get the game going.

Now I am not slagging on all the fans of Vancouver; I mean, there must be some intelligent ones out there.

But maybe those are the ones that can't afford to go to the games.

The fact is the Canucks are a good, young, up-tempo team that can score in bunches most nights.

It makes me envious, especially being a Flames fan. Let's face it: Calgary scores about as much as neutered bull terrier.

So why taint your club with obnoxious behaviour? We are all Canadian, and with only six measly teams between us, there isn't much hope of bringing the Stanley Cup north of the border.

The Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames may be the only two bright spots when you look at the disappointing play of the Oilers and Leafs, and the up and down seasons of Montreal and Ottawa.

Hopefully the behaviour shown by the laser pointer fan in Vancouver is just a one-time incident, and if not, at least another fan will have the smarts to let security know.

Until then, Canucks fans are just showing their true colours, and unfortunately those colours aren't too bright.