I left downtown early in the first period of game 7 in 2011. It was obvious that there was going to be a riot - there were more hoods in their twenties with alcohol than there were actual fans. And the police totally ignored the failure of '94 and the success of the 2010 Olympics, making the riot in 2011 a sure thing.
I was not expecting 1994. There were more fans, more so after the win in game 6. Game 7 was a wierd vibe, I made the call to 911 for the guy who fell from the wire. Came close to being crushed when that happened, he landed at my feet and everyone crowded in to see. Couldn't see the bike cop that got separated, thought the tear gas started before bottles got thrown but could be wrong about that. I think if that bike cop hadn't been cut off by the crowd, the riot may not have happened. Otoh, one thrown bottle could have started it. Didn't feel like it though. Didn't feel anything like the lead up to 2011.
I was with a group of teens 17-20 from high school, and we were challenged by grown ass men drunk out of their minds looking to start fights. It was crazy as a young adult barely legal to drink, it was one of those experiences where your like “damn, this is the real world” (something about a grown adult wanting to smash a bottle over a kids head). There was a certain bliss of ignorance teens from 07-12 grew up with, I’m not sure why that was, but we were very immature and naive more so than the previous and after generations (huge difference between late 80’s kids and early 90’s kids). A lot of kids our age who were at the riots were the absolute worst and yet many were the ultimate victims of the riot.
I’ll never forget this and a huge reason why I’ve matured considerably in my 20’s, but there was a girl, who didn’t look much older than 14-16, lying lifeless on the ground after she had been rumoured to be suckered punch. I’ll never forget people just walking around her, some video taping, some laughing, but no one had helped her. I regret just standing there and not doing anything about it myself. I’m glad my today’s self would never ignore someone lifeless on the ground even if others were doing the same, I always think about that girl. I felt some sort of guilt and I used to check the news for fatalities regarding the riot because I was convinced she had died. Even years later. But no deaths reported, I assumed she was fine. But she was lifeless, face first on the pavement, body mangled, a giant red road rash from where her buttock meets down to the back of her calf muscle.