Hockey, hockey and more hockey. That pretty sums up the next 7 months here
in Edmonton. I enjoy shooting it (maybe not as much as football) but I think
what I really enjoy is getting a chance to meet up with several other
photographers and shoot the shit before every game. The Sun will usually
send one photographer, the Journal will send two, one photog from Reuters,
one from Getty (sometimes I'll shoot for them), and then either myself or my
colleague will shoot for Canadian Press. Oh, and the Oilers have two
photographers. So, that's quite a few shooters.

It's interesting to hear some of the veteran photographers talk about
shooting in the Gretzky era. The excitement of multiple Cup finals and
knowing that you are covering something important in Sports history. I'm
sure that is what it's like right now shooting the Penguins or Capitals.
Those photos will live on.

The Technical Stuff: Shot with a Nikon D700 (and grip to get 8 frames a
second), 400mm lens for shooting from a high position, 300mm lens and
70-200mm lens when shooting from down low through a hole. All shot at ISO
2500 and 1/800 sec shutter. The ice level position I try to shoot from is
called the suicide hole. It looks straight up the ice so that you can cover
almost the whole ice surface. Longer lens for shooting opposite net. Of
course you risk getting a puck in your face. Or worse, one in your lens.