It sometimes comes down to relationships around the ice...

Two weeks ago I was covering the IIT/ Blackhawks Alimni game. During the second period a goalie and a defenseman took the ice for IIT. For the next twenty minutes it was a pleasure to watch these two play. They moved like a pair of dancers, knowing instinctively how the other was going to respond to challenges. It was simply beautiful. At the break I managed to find the nettie, yes, they had played together in college and were friends. The more we talked the clearer it dawned on me how important these relationships can be , it's not just "team chemistry" that's a catch phrase. It's the glue, the heart, that holds a team together, or not, during a long season and longer playoff run. As the 07'-08' season turns into the final run of the first half, it will be these intangibles that make the second happen.

As my Canon sits in it's case while my shoulder heals, this is the first wider angle shot, Relationships, on and around the ice....







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Somedays you just get lucky, a hockey double header!

Sunday March 2nd I knew was going to be a big day, it was going to be the first day I had covered two games in two locations on the same day.The first, a BlackHawks/IIT alumni game benefiting the American Diabetes Association was to prove to be a tough technical assignment and one of the easiest personally I have ever had.

After getting thoroughly lost on the way and being rescued by a hockey Mom digging out her driveway I arrived moments after the anthem. The representatives of the ADA welcomed me and reassured me everything was fine and the fun had just begun. I entered the rink and started searching for the lighting "sweet spots" to work in. Finding them I set up the mono pod,camera and set to work recording the two teams, gathered today to raise funds for a worthy cause. The first thing that struck me was faces of the players, I have never photographed so many players who wore smiles the entire time they were playing. Yes, each team was trying to win but it was definitely the friendliest competition this photographer has ever had the pleasure to record. The second thing was the lack of helmets on a few of the players, naked heads! Something I had not seen since my earliest Sabres games in the 70's. It may have been a soft touch game but it felt more than a little bit of the old time stuff with the bare heads.

In the end the IIT alumni gained the bragging rights that they had been bested by a group of Ex-NHLers, no shame in there, more smiles and photos of the winning team that included everyone including the refs. It was such a happy occasion I bet the sorest muscles the guys found this morning have to be from smiling so much.





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