Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson told reporters Thursday that he did not read the report on riot prevention that came out of the Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss in 1994.

“Certainly there was discussion about the scenario of a riot and how that would be responded to,” Robertson said.

“I think what took place would be far beyond what anyone anticipated.”

The British Columbia Police Commission recommended against letting fans gather for large public viewings in front of giant TV screens, the exact scenario that happened last Wednesday for Game 7.

Robertson said that Police Chief Jim Chu, who had read the report, approved setting up large television downtown.

The 17-year-old report also noted that the number of police required for riot control should be overestimated, not underestimated. The police requested $648,000 in funding for the playoffs, only a third of what was requested for last year’s anticipated playoff run.

Robertson told reporters he is still waiting for the result of an independent investigation of last week’s riot before he can comment on future prevention.

“There are a lot of detailed questions around the police’s deployment and their operations,” he said. “I certainly have those questions now.”

According to the Downtown Business Improvement Association, 60 stores in Vancouver’s downtown were damaged, and about 20 of those were also looted.

Total losses were between $4 million and $5 million.

Unsurprisingly, New England is well represented in a skiing event at the Olympic games. But Freestyle Skiing is not your normal downhill affair — it takes a little bit of flair. Whether it is in moguls, aerials or the new ski cross event, these athletes show you have to go all out. Yes, that is actually the U.S. ski team’s catchphrase.

Here are the New England hopefuls from the Freestyle events. For a full list of the athletes competing, click here.

Hannah Kearney

The star of the above video, Kearney headed to Torino, Italy, for the 2006 Olympics as one of the favorites in the Freestyle moguls event. The then 19-year-old Norwich, Vt., native was coming off a gold medal win in the World Ski Championships in 2005, but stumbled to a disappointing 22nd place finish. Now she will head to Vancouver as one of the favorites once again, as she is pegged to finish on the podium after finishing at the top of the overall World Cup standing in 2009. Needless to say, Kearney has had up-and-down results. The question is, will she falter again, or can she rise to the occasion this time around?

Oh, and if you ever wanted to get the feel for what it is like to be an Olympic-level skier, she can help you in that regard, too.

Michael Morse

Morse is well traveled as he competes in his first Olympics at the age of 28. The Duxbury native grew up skiing the slopes at Killington in Vermont, and headed to the University of Vermont for college. But halfway through, Morse transferred to Northeastern to pursue a degree in English, or so he thought. Once again he left school, this time to move to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to ski full time.

Morse almost made the Olympic team in 2006 thanks to a remarkable run in the final World Cup at Lake Placid before the team was named. Sitting in third place with just one skier remaining, Morse seemed on the verge of an improbable spot on the Olympic squad. But that skier was Australian Dale Begg-Smith, who ended up the victor in the event and went on to win gold in Torino

Morse suffered through injuries after that fourth-place finish, but came back to win the moguls and dual moguls titles at the U.S. Freestyle Championships in 2008. That victory helped him get an invite from the Red Sox to throw out the first pitch in a game that May. Sox fans might remember that one, because it was the game where Jon Lester no-hit the Royals. That should be enough to get Morse some fans for his 2010 campaign.

Emily Cook

Cook has had a hard road at the Olympics. The Belmont, Mass., native made the team in 2002, but was injured three weeks before the games when she had a hard landing, shattering both of her feet and leaving her in a wheelchair. Forced to give up her spot on the squad, Cook spent years rehabbing her injured feet. Though doctors thought she would have trouble even walking, she miraculously returned to competing. She came back in 2006 and finally seems to be fully recovered, as evidenced by her career-best fourth-place finish in the World Championships in 2009.

Dylan Ferguson

The 21-year-old Amesbury resident has been making a name for himself as of late, and seems to be peaking at the right time. He earned a career-best sixth-place finish at a World Cup on Jan. 15 in Deer Valley, Utah, on a day when most of his other high-profile American teammates faltered.

When you combine shooting guns and skiing, the one word that might not follow is “safe.” But there is one word that might describe the biathlon, an Olympic sport that combines rifles and cross-country skiing, and that word is…”GENIUS.”

Every four years, fans get to see some of the greatest marksmen and women test their accuracy while cruising the slopes on a pair of skis. It has to remind you of a James Bond movie where guns and skis just seem to go hand and hand.

In Vancouver there will be one name that New Englanders can keep an eye on: Spector…Laura Spector.

Spector is making her Olympic debut in Vancouver, and the Lenox, Mass., native didn’t expect to be considered for these Olympics. Instead, she looked ahead to 2014.

The biathlon has not been kind to the U.S in the past, as no American has brought home a medal in Olympic competition. Spector will compete in the sprint, pursuit, individual and the relay, so there will be a few opportunities for her to medal.

If she wins, she’ll probably take her celebration beverage shaken, not stirred.

Lindsey Vonn has most of the spotlight, but she's not from New England. (AP)

Lindsey Vonn has gobbled up most of the Olympic headlines heading into Vancouver, but there are still other competitors on the team. There are five U.S. Olympic hopefuls from the New England region all looking to come back home with a gold, silver or bronze medal.

Here is a look at the New England-born alpine skiers who will showcase their skills on the biggest stage of them all.

For a glance at the entire roster, click here.

Bode Miller

Has there ever been a more polarizing figure in the history of the Olympics than Bode Miller? Considered a mortal lock to win multiple medals four years ago, Miller came up empty in the Torino Games and considered retirement.

But the Franconia, NH., product is back in the saddle for the U.S. alpine team in Vancouver, hopefully 100 percent sober. Miller made headlines with a 60 Minutes interview where he said that he has skied drunk, and said he would potentially do it again. Not the message you want to send to kids, Bode, especially after the heralded deaths of Michael Kennedy and Sonny Bono on the mountain.

This could be Miller’s last hurrah for the Olympic ski team, and a career without a medal will leave him in the company of a Charles Barkley, Dan Marino or Karl Malone. Great careers, but never broke through when it counted most.

Hey, if this ski thing doesn’t work out for Miller, at least he has a potential future in tennis.

Jimmy Cochran

Being an Olympic skier has always been in Cochran’s blood. He probably didn’t have a choice. His family has been part of the Olympic scene for decades, and he is the latest installment of the “Skiing Cochrans.” Just like a son who takes over a family business, it was almost as if the skiing duties were handed down to Jimmy. His grandfather was an Olympic coach, his father was an Olympian and three of his aunts also competed in Olympic competition.

So there really was no hiding what this Keene, N.H., native was going to do when he got older.

Cochran is looking to break through onto the medal stand after he finished in 12th place during the 2006 Torino Games.

Nolan Kasper

At 20 years old, Kasper is the youngest member of the U.S. ski team. If Kasper takes to the medal stand, he can’t legally enjoy an adult beverage in the United States. (See: Miller, Bode.) Kasper took a leave from Dartmouth to take aim at the US team, and the risk paid off.

The two skiers listed above will overshadow the Vermont native, but Kasper can make a name for himself in New England if Miller fails to do anything and if Cochran doesn’t improve on his finish from the last games.

Chelsea Marshall

Marshall followed in the footsteps of her brothers, Cody and Jesse, much like Cochran followed his family name. Her two older brothers were member of the US ski team, but a terrible accident stopped Cody’s progress as a full-time skier and Chelsea was by his side the whole time.

Marshall also had to overcome an injury of her own. A bad back hindered her in the World Championships in 2009, which affected her performance, but a healthy 2010 has her geared up for a run in Vancouver.

Leanne Smith

In 2008, Smith suffered a torn ACL during competition and her career was in jeopardy. But the Conway, N.H., native bounced back in Tom Brady-esque fashion and is now eying success in Vancouver.

She’s probably hoping her runs don’t end up like this fall she took in competition.

Smith has become a local hero in her hometown of Conway, NH. The locals have honored her name by dedicating Feb. 5 in her name from here on out. Not many people have a day named after them, and imagine what happens if she comes back with a meda — a Leanne Smith Month could come to Conway.

While snow crippled the ill-prepared Mid-Atlantic region on the East Coast, Vancouver finds itself starved for powder. Go figure.

Instead of snow, an unrelenting rain has pounded the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. No matter. Technology — and shipping — is a marvelous thing, and so the enterprising officials of the Games and Canada will no doubt find a way to produce all the ice and snow necessary to get the world to reflect on the delights of the obscure: from bobsledding, the luge and the skeleton to the meaning of the rarely invoked word “quadrennial.”

It is the once-every-four-years spectacle that is the Winter Olympics, when citizens of the world find themselves with rooting interests in people they’ve never heard of, who are participating in sports that they would never otherwise watch. When else do we get to cheer on gun-toting people on skis? It is a celebration of athletics for it’s own sake, and as such, a uniquely entertaining stretch of two weeks across an otherwise barren stretch of the sports landscape.

New England will be well represented in the Games, with more than 50 natives of the region filling out the Team USA roster. For details on the Olympic participants who will represent both the United States and New England, check back in this space for sport-by-sport previews of the local athletes taking part in the Winter Olympics:

– Ski Jumping

– Snowboarding

– Women’s Hockey

– Biathlon

– Alpine Skiing

For complete coverage of the Games, check out the Winter Olympics page at WEEI.com.

LEEInks will offer a daily recap of the previous day’s Olympic events, including a look at how New Englanders did.

TODAY: The Olympics are scheduled to kick off on Friday (snow permitting!), with the qualifier for the Individual Normal Hill Ski Jump. As Tom Layman notes, Nick Alexander of Lebanon, N.H., has paid his own way to Vancouver in order to take part in the Olympics. For more on “Zander,” click here. For more on a US Olympic Ski Jumping Team that has been banished  to obscurity and may be bounced out of the Games before the opening ceremonies take place on Friday night, click here.

Although he's not from New England, Shaun White will lead the US team into Vancouver. (AP)

For years, snowboarders have been misunderstood. “Yo, bro, let’s go shred some gnar.” It seems like a different language, doesn’t it?

But these high-flying athletes have made themselves a nice home during the Winter Olympics. Since 1998, when snowboarding officially became an Olympic sport, the best in the world have been making the crowds “ooh” and “ahh” and made us wonder why their parents would let them attempt some of the crazy stunts that they seem to pull off with ease.

In Vancouver 2010, the U.S. Olympic snowboarding team will be heavily stocked with local talent from all over New England. No, New England can’t lay claim to the greatest snowboarder in the world — Shaun White — but these are some of the local riders who will be putting on a show north of the border.

You can see these dare devils rock Cypress Mountain from Feb. 15 to Feb 27.

Jonathan Cheever

Cheever has an interesting story. He doesn’t have the luxury of having sponsors pay for him to sit on the slopes all day and hone his craft. Cheever is a local plumber who has to put in a long days work before he can hit up the slopes. He works with his father and finds side work when he can.

Which other Olympic snowboarder has a feature on ContractorMag.com?

Cheever is originally from Saugus, Mass., went to Malden Catholic High School and will be competing in the snowboardcross event in Vancouver.

Kelly Clark

Clark, of Newport, R.I., burst onto the scene in the 2002 Olympics with a gold medal win in the halfpipe competition, she was only 18 years old.

This year will be her third Olympic go-around at the ripe old age of 26. She grew up in Vermont and learned to snowboard on Mount Snow before she was 10 years old. Clark is a tough girl. In 2005 she landed wrong on a trick in a halfpipe competition and suffered some serious injuries.

Scotty Lago

Right behind Shaun White, Lago is a prime-time candidate to grab a gold medal in Vancouver. A native of Seabrook, N.H., the 22-year-old has been a wild man since he was a kid, as his father recalled a story of his son trying jump off the balcony with a sheet, which he called a parachute.

You have to be a little crazy to enjoy doing this kind of stuff:

Kevin Pearce

Pearce was looking like a lock to be on the medal stand, as he defeated Shaun White in an event earlier in the year, but a Dec. 31 accident while he was training left him in critical condition.

According to his website, Pearce was attempting a cab double cork, for you non-snowboarders it’s a twisting double back flip, and he caught the front of his board on the landing and came crashing down on his head.

Pearce will miss the Olympics, and the recovery process is still continuing for the 23-year-old from Vermont.

Ross Powers

Powers is the elder statesman of the group from New England. Born in 1979, he has at least four years on the rest of the riders on this list. Powers was also one of the top-rated picks in Shaun Paulmer’s Pro Snowboarder game for Playstation 2.

A connoisseur in the halfpipe competition, Powers — a native of Vermont who lists his home as Okemo Mountain — is now taking his aim at a medal in the boarder cross competition in Vancouver. Powers captured the first ever medal in the halfpipe competition for the United States, and it will be interesting to see if he can capture that same magic in a new competition.

Hannah Teter

The sky is the limit for Hannah Teter in Vancouver. (AP)

We have a feeling America is going to fall in love with Teter this Olympics, especially since she can be found in this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

While she’ll make heads turn off the slopes, on it she will be just as mesmerizing. She claimed an Olympic gold medal during the 2006 Olympic Games, and this year decided to donate all of her prize money to help the people in Haiti.

The Belmont, Vt., product will no doubt win over fans with her good intentions, good looks and killer abilities on the slopes.

Shoot down a man made ramp at high speeds, vault off a gigantic jump and pretty much fly down on mountain…on a pair of skis. That’s the world of ski jumping all right. What may look insane to the average human being is just another day’s work for Nick Alexander of Lebanon, NH. Alexander is the lone New Englander on the US Men’s Olympic ski jumping team and the 21-year-old will taste the Olympic competition for the first time.

Alexander has put his time into this competition. Just look at the video where he is training for ski jumping in the summer, yeah, no snow.

According to his website, Alexander started jumping at the age of 10. This doesn’t seem like a sport for young men who are 10 years old, but if it gets you to the Olympic Games more power to you.

Alexander, and the rest of the US ski jumpers, are paying their own way to get to Vancouver, proving that the Olympic Dream is still alive and burning.

To see a list of all the US Olympic hopefuls click here.

When the first puck drops in Vancouver on Sunday, there will be a heavy East Coast presence on the ice.

Julie Chu will be one of seven New England natives heading the U.S. women's hockey team. (AP)

Names such as Chris Drury, ex-captain for the Boston University Terriers, Jon Quick, former UMass goalie, and Brooks Orpik, who spent his teenage years playing for Thayer Academy in Braintree, will take their positions for the U.S. men’s team this month.

But it will be the women’s team that will be laden with New Englanders come this weekend, when the United States begins its quest for gold in Vancouver. Led by Meghan Duggan, a Danvers, Mass., native who led the Wisconsin Badgers to an NCAA championship as a junior, the U.S. women’s team will feature seven New Englanders, including four from the Bay State.

Here are the local players to watch:

Julie Chu — This two-time Olympian (2002, 2006) makes her return to the World Stage in 2010 in search of her first gold medal.

Chu, a Fairfield, Conn., native who played her collegiate years in record-setting form at Harvard University, was a member of the U.S. All-American team three times, and currently owns Harvard’s all-time assists lead with 196.

The forward was named one of Team USA’s top three players back in 2009 and won a bronze medal with the United States in 2006 and silver in 2002. But the NCAA’s career points leader would prefer to bring home a gold in 2010.

Caitlin Cahow – Also a Harvard graduate, as a senior Cahow was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, an award given to the NCAA’s top women’s ice hockey performer each season.

Born and raised in New Haven, Conn., Cahow started her collegiate career as a forward but was shifted to defense in her rookie season with the Crimson.

The switch to D has worked out well for Cahow, who ranked third in the nation for defensive scoring in 2005 and was named top defenseman at the Canadian Women’s Hockey Championship.

Kacey Bellamy — Hailing from Westfield, Mass., the 22-year-old forward-turned-defenseman currently ranks third all-time on the University of New Hampshire’s defensive scoring list.

While at UNH, Bellamy also finished fourth in the NCAA among defenders with 28 points, gaining Hockey East First Team All-Star honors in the process.

Named one of Team USA’s top three players in 2009, Bellamy will be making her debut on the Olympic team. no stranger to the World Stage, a two-time member for the U.S. women’s national team.

Meghan Duggan — A current resident of Danvers, Mass., Duggan played her entire teen career in the Bay State before moving on to the University of Wisconsin. During her time at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass., Duggan was a four-year class president as well as participant in varsity level soccer, softball and lacrosse.

But at Wisconsin, Duggan made her focus ice hockey — and perfected the trade. As a sophomore, the now-22-year-old finished second on the team with 43 points in 38 games, helping the Badgers reach the NCAA title game. In 2009, she helped them win the title, being named to the All-WCHA third team following her junior season.

Erika Lawler — Hailing from Fitchburg, Mass., Lawler roomed with Duggan at Cushing Academy before she went on to the University of Wisconsin as well. Lawler won an NCAA title with the Badgers as a freshman, sophomore and then again as a senior. And during her time at Wisconsin, she scored 174 career points, which ranks third in school history.

With Lawler’s three NCAA titles in four years, Team USA will surely look for Lawler’s championship poise to come through in their time in Vancouver.

Hilary Knight — The youngest of the group, the 20-year-old Hanover native is yet another Wisconsin grad sporting the red, white and blue this winter.

Knight finished first in the NCAA with 45 goals, 43 assists and 83 total points in her 2008-09 sophomore season. Her league-leading performance was crucial in the Badgers’ pursuit of their third national championship in four years.

Molly Schaus — Schaus, who originally made her home in Natick, Mass., currently makes her home between the pipes.

The now-21-year-old immediately burst onto the college scene as one of the best goalies in the league, leading Boston College to its first-ever NCAA Frozen Four berth as a freshman, posting league bests in save percentage (.931) and GAA (1.90) in the process.

She continued her domination as a sophomore, when she broke the school record for saves with 920, and then as a junior when she finished second in the nation in both shutouts (10) and save percentage (.938).

But in 2010, Schaus will look to save something she never has before – a gold medal for the U.S. national team.