Watch: An early morning scuffle outside a city nightclub has left Milan Lucic disgusted with Vancouver. Darlene Heidemann explains.
A video of Boston Bruins left winger Milan Lucic has been posted on YouTube showing him getting into an altercation with another man outside a Vancouver nightclub.
Warning: Video contains foul language. YouTube credit to 25stanley.com
The video was reportedly shot at Granville and Nelson at around 4 a.m. on Sunday after the Bruins lost to the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 the previous night.
The video starts with Lucic and another man pushing each other and they continue to yell obscenities at each other.
Lucic can then be seen saying to a Vancouver Police officer that the man hit him twice, then he says the man hit him three times.
In a press conference on Monday, Lucic said “I have no reason left to defend my city and the people in my city. I’m disgusted and outraged that it had to come to something like that.”
“That’s one of the worst parts,” Lucic added. “It’s in my hometown, you know. Going back to the spray painting of the church, my grandparents and parents and family getting harassed during the final against the Canucks in 2011, and now it’s escalated to a point where I get attacked for minding my own business.”
“So as far as that goes, other than being in Rogers Arena, no one will ever see me in downtown Vancouver ever again.”
However, in a statement released to the media on Wednesday, Lucic appeared to backtrack slightly on what he previously said:
“This has been a very difficult week for me given the recent events that took place in my hometown of Vancouver. As I have had more time to think I want to make it clear that regardless of what has happened, I am still – and always will be – proud to be from there. It is home. While the actions of a few individuals have deeply upset me and will impact the time I spend downtown going forward, I will not let those incidents diminish the love and pride I have for the city as a whole. This will be my final comment on this subject.”
Sergeant Randy Fincham with the Vancouver Police says in relation to the incident depicted on the You Tube video, no arrests were made and no charges are pending.
Fincham says police witnessed a physical altercation between two men. One of the men suffered a minor cut to his lip and refused assistance from the police.
“Unfortunately due to privacy concerns, I would not be able to provide information that would identify a person involved in a police investigation, unless that person was charged with a criminal offence,” says Fincham in an email.
Lucic, who grew up in East Vancouver, has been with the Bruins since 2007. In February 2012 a Burnaby church attended by Lucic’s family was vandalized by graffiti. Someone wrote Lucic’s name with an obscenity on the side of the St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church.
There was also a message saying ‘Go Canucks Go’.
When Lucic won the Stanley Cup in 2011 with the Bruins he brought the cup back to the church.
One of the owners of Mean Poutine on Nelson Street says the fight took place near their business on Sunday morning. Lucic comes to their restaurant every time he is in town because he loves their poutine. “I heard it was an argument and then the guy punched him on the face two times,” says one of the owners.
“It’s not right, it’s not right. He’s a very nice person, he’s a very respectful person.”
Many people we asked about the incident said Vancouver hockey fans can be too intense about the game. The fans do have a less-than-stellar reputation around the world, mostly courtesy of the two riots that broke out in Vancouver, the first back in 1994 and the latest in June of 2011.
Around the world and when the 2011 riot broke out, many reports made a point of mentioning it was the second time Vancouver fans had rioted after a Game Seven loss.
http://storify.com/amyjudd/reaction-to-milan-lucic-reported-assault
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