Big Shot

My favorite photo from the recent hockey game is trailing the shooter, who has just launched the puck at the goal. Lots of action at the local hockey arena!

Nice Save

Traffic in front yielded the deadly tip shot but this time the Everblades got the spot on a quick glove save.

Traffic Out Front

The Express put plenty of traffic in front of the net, resulting in a pair of rebound scores.

Faces

Hockey seats on the glass yield that close-in look at the facial expressions of the players which cannot be seen from higher up. Watching hockey players skate, you see smooth and easy at high speed. You still see that kind of skating down here, but the faces show how tough it is. Not easy.

Everblades

Florida Everblades, stickhandling and leaping over the wall on a line change.

Ten Minute Ride

Well into the second period of a scoreless hockey game, the Express RW tallied from close in, jumped for joy, and skated by the bench fiving the teammates while riding the hockey stick. It was a long ride; the lower picture shows his reaction to a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Jumping and fiving are OK but this was considered taunting!

Tending the Goal

Shots of the two goaltenders, tending the goals.

Closeup Action

Close enough to see the expression on each player's face. Close enough to see the mouth guard hanging out. Close enough to see everything.

Minor League Hockey

Earlier in the season, I had thought of getting Blackhawks tickets and decided not to take out a mortgage on the pricey seats. The Chicago Wolves offered decent seats for $19 and some weeks ago I posted some fine pics of the Wolves, a Vancouver Canucks farm club, and the Rockford Icehogs, the Hawks top farm team.

And then I looked into the league that supplies players to the Wolves and Icehogs. Playing at the excellent Sears Centre, the Chicago Express is a Columbus Blue Jackets farm club. They hosted the Florida Everblades and we sat on the glass. As a photographer, the glass is the place to be.

Here we see nice close in shots of the two goaltenders. More to come in following posts.