Identity of Canucks riot 'Nutshot Guy' finally revealed

It was the nut shot heard around the world in 2011, and we now have the identity of the person who received it.

Video of a man getting hit in the testicles by a flash grenade fired by the Vancouver Police was initially captured on a live CBC broadcast.

It occurred, as you likely remember, during the Stanley Cup riot that happened immediately following the Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Someone recorded a clip of the news broadcast off of their TV then uploaded it to Youtube. It went on to capture the hearts – and the groins – of people around the world.

TMZ featured it. The late night talk show hosts of major US networks made light of it. The internet had a field day. Then it went away.

Despite the flurry of local media coverage around the VPD trying to find people involved in the riots for the weeks and months after, this infamous clip – and the man in it – faded into obscurity.

No news media has ever reported on his identity, until now.

Over the years, there were rumours of "Flashbang Nutshot Guy" being an amateur skateboarder who had a high profile at the time. 

Sure enough, a  2011 Canadian skateboarding magazine headline reads “Flash, Bang, Right in the Nugget: Canadian Skater Hit in the Nuts with Flash Grenade.”

“Nugget” is the nickname of former sponsored skateboarder Nick Moore.

Moore confirms he is indeed the person pictured in the riot video, but declined an interview request.

In the archival interview he’s quoted as saying “I was lucky it hit me in the d**k, bounced and then exploded. I was lucky it didn’t explode on contact.”

Moore said in the 2011 interview he was simply making his way through the crowd, trying to find a way out.

“Classic case of the wrong place, at the wrong time.”