If the Blackhawks can win tonight in Vancouver, they'll return to Chicago to play Game 6 of their first-round playoff series with the Canucks on Sunday.
↵↵And if they do, Canucks officials will be sitting in a "protected" area apart from Blackhawks fans, according to the national Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, because of insults hurled by Blackhawks fans at these officials because they were seated in an upper-level area they wouldn't have normally been in:
↵↵The foul-mouthed insults began after Raffi Torres’s controversial hit on Chicago’s Brent Seabrook in Game 3 last Sunday, but the interaction between Canucks loyalists and ’Hawks boosters in that area dates back at least two years. Former Canucks radio colour man Tom Larscheid used to banter back and forth with the same group, but he did so with a twinkle in his eye, and after distributing programs and game notes to the Chicago supporters.↵↵↵
↵Profane comments were hurled towards the Canucks staff for the better part of two games, and the exchange got heated when a Vancouver official suggested the chief antagonist return to his mother’s basement.
Seriously, Blackhawks fans. Be the better person. You can have a heated rivalry and want your team to win every game and your opponent to win every game. But this kind of behavior toward officials of the other team? Decidedly uncool. You'll get your chance to show class if the Hawks can win tonight.