Vancouver mayor hesitant to allow Canucks watch parties

The Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators are tied at one game apiece so far in their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series, which now shifts to Music City for Games 3 and 4. 

However, there have been no major outdoor watch parties in Vancouver the likes of which are common in cities like Toronto, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Additionally, we've seen large watch parties in Calgary in recent years along with many American cities for fans who are unable to secure tickets to the games. 

And understandably, the civic leadership in Vancouver has past negative incidents in 1994 and 2011 in mind as the reason why. That's not to say that there will be no watch parties whatsoever, but anything that does take place will be done with caution. 

"Can we pull something off? Absolutely," said Mayor Ken Sim on Thursday.

"Are we going to do our work? Absolutely ... We're not just going to say, 'Hey, let's throw a party. This time will be different.'"

The aftermath of Game 7 losses in both the 1994 and 2011 Stanley Cup Finals saw shocking riots led by groups of Canucks fans. Despite being a small but vocal minority, their actions cast a negative cloud over the area, something that Vancouver's leadership wants to avoid in the future. 

"I think the city realizes that I really like to have a good party as well, personally, and as mayor of Vancouver we have to be incredibly responsible and thoughtful ... We have a history of 1994 and 2011 and we've been going through the reports and what we have to do is make sure we have a very safe event," Sim said.

Tonight, the Canucks and Predators will battle in Game 3 of the series from Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. 

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