2011 WEEK 39 Pt. 3: Third Period

With the zambonis finished their work, the nets back in place and fresh ice awaiting, the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers hit the ice for the third period.

I snapped this one of Oiler team Captain, Shawn Horcoff, as he circled the net and psyched himself up for the final twenty minutes.

Every goaltender has their routine between plays. For Khabibulin its taking a swig from his bottle then skating off to the right of his net to adjust his mask until the play is ready to start. As soon as the players prepare for the face-off, he jams his stick into his blocker glove with determination then hustles back to his net and hunches down.

After his time in the sin-bin from the 2nd Period fight, Theo Peckham was put to the test by Henrik Sedin. Andy Sutton takes a different approach, not worrying about Henrik but instead keeping his eye on the puck.

Seconds later, Henrik had to slam on the brakes before slamming into the boards.

Five minutes and thirty-six seconds into the period, Jannik Hansen put the Canucks up by a goal. The Oilers came close to tying it several times. Jeff Petry tried an up-ice pass but Vancouver's defence quickly turned it back.

Both Henrik and Daniel Sedin looked to be in fine form again. Seeing their puck-handling skills up close really makes you appreciate their talent. They didn't make it on to the scoreboard on Saturday night but they certainly created lots of opportunities.

Every time they were on the ice their line mate Alex Burrows was causing all kinds of problems in the crease for Khabibulin as he circled the net.

Ultimately it was the combination of the hard work of the 2nd and 3rd scoring lines that made the difference in the third period.

With under one minute to go, Mikael Samuelsson wristed a shot into the back of the net off of a point shot from defenseman Dan Hamhuis. Both of whom I caught in this final shot a few seconds earlier.

That's Samuelsson leaning back to avoid the puck flying by. Oiler #93 is 18 year-old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the 2011 number one Draft Pick. I'm not sure what he was doing there but it looks like the puck might have clipped him. Either way, he has no idea where the puck is.

With seconds to go on the clock, that same puck was in the back of the Oiler net again care of Cody Hodgson for a 4-1 Vancouver win.

I'd love to shoot some sport action again - it's a huge challenge. Anyone got a spare ticket to a Lions game or a Vancouver Whitecaps game???

Thank you to everyone who's come to check out my blog this week especially to the many folks who came here from Canuck Nation. Thanks to you this weeks entries have been the most popular yet. I hope you come and visit again or I'll be "forced" to go to another game and capture some more action!

Until next time folks...

2011 WEEK 39 Pt. 2: Second Period

I received more visits to the blog after Part 1 of this weeks blog than ever before! So it's just as well I have more pictures to share from the Canucks vs Oilers pre-season game I attended on Saturday night.

At the beginning of the 2nd Period the score was 1-0 Canucks. Roberto Luongo looked calm, cool and collected in net.

And it was just as well since he was certainly challenged by the Oilers, facing several Edmonton powerplays and several breakaways.

Here's a nice blocker save... See that black thing sticking out of Lou's blocker? Yes, that's the puck. I got lucky on that one...

WARNING: CAMERA GEEK STUFF TO FOLLOW!

This was my first time shooting a professional sport close-up. There are a number of challenges too. Firstly, many sports arenas have strict policies when it comes to non-pros bringing their semi-pro gear into the building. In the case of Rogers Arena DSLR cameras are allowed providing the lens on the camera is less than 6" in length and/or the focal length of the lens is less than 70mm. All of these pictures in this weeks entries were captured with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 a.k.a. "The Nifty Fifty".

And it needed to be pretty nifty. Shooting a fast moving sport like hockey means a fast shutter speed otherwise movements are blurred. This then means a wider aperture causing less depth-of-field. It also meant a higher ISO to give me a fighting chance of getting any kind of an exposure and some room to work with focusing.

Auto-Focus was not an option with any of these pictures since the glass kept confusing it so every single one of these pictures was taken completely manual. I found I got better (i.e. more usable pictures!) the longer the game went on.

All of these pictures were captured with a shutter speed of 1000 and with ISO set to either 640 or 800. Aperture was set to f/2.8 throughout.

In my opinion, some of the best pictures in this series are those that freeze dynamic action but even these pictures end up lacking when there is no sign of the puck. The picture feels like it's missing a certain amount of context.

Which is why this next one works on multiple levels - It showcases dynamic movement, the crush of bodies in the crease that is so much a part of the game, the goaltender fighting to keep sight of the puck and... making the big save when it counts...

This next one shows great movement but sadly no puck. Maybe I should have cheated and photoshopped it in flying towards the lens. I love the expressions and degree of effort on the players' faces.

Something the Canucks have been criticized for in the past is a supposed "lack of grit". This years' team sees the addition of a couple of new players who look like they'll be bringing some great muscle to the fourth line alongside Maxim Lapierre who was once again mixing it up at Saturday nights game.

This scrum resulted from a hit that Edmonton took issue to. I love how everyone is just standing casually watching as Lapierre slams a fist into Theo Peckham's chin amid a mess of thrown down sticks and gloves!

Thanks Maxim for dragging the fight a little closer to where I was seated so I could get a close-up.

Just another day at the rink. "So how's the wife?"

Off to the sin-bin for Lapierre.

Despite Luongo making some great saves, the score was tied at the end of the 2nd.

Final round of pictures from the 3rd Period tomorrow. Until then, thanks for visiting!

2011 WEEK 39: Canucks vs Oilers

Where has this year gone? It seems like just yesterday that the city was in the midst of play-off fever (and I was blogging about it here). It seems like only yesterday that thousands were crowding the streets, waving flags, cheering, yelling, looting, lighting fires- No, let's not go there. There's been more than enough debate on that subject!

What better symbol of hope and determination than these new sculptures of Terry Fox?

So here we are again. A new season of hockey. New hopes. New dreams of going all the way to the end and hoisting the cup. This past Saturday night was the final game of Pre-Season with the Vancouver Canucks taking on the Edmonton Oilers.

Pre-Season is all about experimenting for the team. New players. New line combinations and a testing ground for discovering new chemistry between players. For the first time fans got a close look at what will in all likelihood be the opening night roster on October 6th when the new season officially kicks off against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For me, I got an extra special close look because thanks to the awesomeness of eBay I scored a ticket for Row 2 for less than the price of dinner and a movie!

No, not a home goal just the pre-game warm-up...

Warm-up over, it was time to get patriotic and sing "Oh Canada".

Experiencing the game this close is entirely different than sitting anywhere else in the stadium and a world away from watching it on TV.

One gains a whole new appreciation for the game and the talent of the players. It's fast, really fast. The players are a lot, lot bigger and every time the puck slams into the glass with a deafening CRACK! it's hard not to flinch.

Someone who rarely flinches is Kevin Bieksa (known as "Juice") seen above talking smack to Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin after receiving a whack to the legs from a goalie stick.

Khabibulin was a large factor in the Canucks loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in their 2009 Stanley Cup campaign where he earned the moniker of "The Bulin Wall".

Thankfully the Canucks found holes in the wall on Saturday night. The above image was snapped as the Canucks scored their first goal off of a point shot from Dan Hamuis that was tipped in by Cody Hodgson. A millisecond earlier and I would have caught the puck flying through the air - you can see from the expressions on the players faces that they're all still looking to see where the puck is.

I'll talk more about the shooting of these pictures, the challenges involved and what I learned from it over the coming days.  Overall I'm really surprised and happy with what I captured especially since I was shooting through the glass the entire time.

Here's new Canuck addition Marco Sturm battling hard.

The enemy gathers to plan their next attack...

Here's one of my favorites from the First Period...

I'm not sure why team Captain, Henrik Sedin, was grimacing like this but it would make a great picture for a caption contest. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comment box!

Lots more hockey action to come over the next few days so come back soon.

Until then, I hope you've enjoyed the First Period!