[1] On the night of the riot, nearly 100 arrests were made by the Vancouver police, including 85 for breach of peace, 8 for public intoxication and 8 for criminal code offenses such as assault and theft.

[4] Violence has occasionally occurred in the wake of sporting events in North America and Europe,[8][9] including multiple riots in Canada since the 1980s.

These individuals started throwing bottles after Marchand's second goal for the Bruins, at which point the police department decided to remove them.

By 7:30, there was an increase in 911 calls about rioting, with disturbances including broken windows, 100 people on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (which was showing Wicked to a 1,900-person crowd), and looting of a Gucci store.

[11]: 18–19 The riot began to take shape as the game came to a close at 7:45 p.m., with some spectators throwing bottles and other objects at the large screens in the viewing area.

[1] Boston Bruins flags and Canucks jerseys were set afire, and soon some rioters overturned a GMC Pickup in front of the main post office.

[11]: 18 At 8:26, the police began to play a pre-recorded message which alerted the rioters that they were partaking in an illegal activity, and ordered them to leave the area.

[11]: 21–23 By the end of the night, around 100 arrests were made by the Vancouver police, including 85 for breach of peace, eight for public intoxication, and only eight for criminal code offenses such as assault and theft.

[11]: 22  Their head doctor, Eric Grafstein, said that there were few injuries caused by police, especially compared to the 1994 riot, in which there were numerous baton strikes and dog bites.

[19] In the immediate aftermath, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson initially attributed the situation to "a small group of troublemakers".

[6] Vancouver Police Department Chief Jim Chu said that instigators appeared to be some of the same individuals involved in a protest on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and that they came equipped with eye protection, gasoline and other tools.

[21] The idea that anarchists were involved in the violence was rejected by UBC political science professor Glen Coulthard and others in a Vancouver Sun article on June 24.

[22] One critic indicated that authorities had made several mistakes in the planning for the crowd—among them allowing parked cars near the screens and leaving newspaper boxes nearby which could be used as projectiles.

"[24] Canucks general manager Mike Gillis claimed that the people responsible for rioting weren't their fans, saying "I think that would have happened whether we won or lost...

"[25] Singer Michael Bublé, who attended the game, launched an ad campaign which encouraged people to identify guilty parties and to make their photographic evidence public.

Many volunteers organized via texting and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and the Vancouver Police Department endorsed the efforts to help clean up.

[29] As many as 70 officers from eight different police agencies formed the Integrated Riot Investigation Team, tasked with sifting through hundreds of hours of video and other evidence to identify rioters.

[30][31] Several participants in the riots turned themselves in to police after their faces were broadcast on TV,[32] including the person responsible for setting the first car on fire.

[33] Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) offered their facial-recognition software to the police in an attempt to aid in their criminal investigation of the riot.

[27] The Vancouver Police department received more than one million photos and tips from civilians,[27] a load that one sergeant described as "overwhelming".

[42] On social media, however, the sharing of images and videos and public online shaming can identify underage riot participants.

[42] Rioters who were identified online often faced backlash, with participants being fired from their jobs, removed from athletic teams, and in some cases, receiving violent threats.

In a statement, his lawyer said that those who participated in online campaigns against rioters were "becoming part of the mob mentality that swept through members of the crowd" during the riot.

[40] Camille Cacnio, a University of British Columbia student who stole two pairs of pants during the riot, expressed concerns that the online backlash had gone too far.

[45] In 2016, the ICBC won a lawsuit against 82 rioters, in which the defendants were found jointly liable for damages inflicted to automobiles during the riot.

No plausible number of police could have prevented trouble igniting in the kind of congestion we saw on Vancouver streets that night.The department had 446 officers at the riot, which increased to 928 by the end of the evening.

The report laid out 53 recommendations for preventing a similar occurrence in the future, including the development of a regional framework for cooperation between emergency services in the event of a riot, and for TransLink to better control alcohol around the transit system.

[51] Prominent publications such as The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times and USA Today published editorials critical of the riots and its participants, as well as the city, noting the stark contrast between the Stanley Cup playoffs and the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Lam pushed back on this suggestion: "What you don't see in the frame is that twenty feet beyond is the mounted [police] squad, on horseback.

"[54] The couple, who would be identified as Alexandra Thomas of Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Scott Jones of Perth, Western Australia, claimed that they were knocked down by the police's riot shields.