TORONTO, ON - JUNE 12: Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals poses with the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award, the Art Ross Trophy and the Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy during the 2008 NHL Awards at the at the Elgin Theatre on June 12, 2008 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

The hockey season came to an abrupt end in early June, and was followed by the NHL Awards Ceremony in Toronto. The historic Elgin Theatre on Yonge Street provided for a classy location for the event which was televised in the US and Canada.

Getty Images trotted out a full crew of photographers including me (red carpet and theater shots) along with stringers Claus Andersen (posed trophy winners) and Dave Sandford (winners with families) along with our own fun loving award winner Al Bello.

Getty Images photographer Al Bello poses with Alexander Ovechkin.

Al spent a moment with superstar Alexander Ovechkin mocking our resident hockey loving shooter Jim McIsaac, and then got down to business producing some great portraits of all the nominees and trophy winners.

TORONTO, ON - JUNE 12: Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals poses with the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award, the Art Ross Trophy and the Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy as photographer Al Bello takes his portrait during the 2008 NHL Awards at the at the Elgin Theatre on June 12, 2008 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images for NHL)

Editor Mike Heiman cranked out the images, and media placement that evening and in the following days exceeded expectations.

(Standing L-R) Jim McIsaac, Christian Petersen, Jamie Sabau, Jessica Tomao (NHL), AJ Messier, Bruce Bennett, Patrick Sutton, Tom Nycz (NHL), (Kneeling L-R) Greg Shamus (Penguins), Dave Sandford, Dave Reginek (Red Wings) 

Bleary-eyed editors Patrick Sutton and Christian Petersen headed back to LA after posting over 200 images on game night from the 2008 Stanley Cup, which concluded in Pittsburgh. In the days ahead, the editors will cull other usable images of the presentation of hockey’s Holy Grail.

The final game was handled with a staff of four and the Getty Images-produced images joined up with shots from NHL Images to provide our clients with a choice of almost 300 images on came night to choose from.

Game night placement was five for five on the first websites we checked as images flowed quickly from the editors out on the wire. Christian pitched in by shooting the start of the post game celebration and sprinting to the computer to help beat the competition. Our images from ice level, as well as from above, gave us the broadest and most varied coverage of the prestentation of Lord Stanley’s Cup and ranked as one of our best hockey coverage efforts in recent years.

Still to come this season is full-crew coverage of the NHL awards and the NHL draft. And after that - the long awaited two month hibernation until training camp begins…

PITTSBURGH - JUNE 04: Andreas Lilja #3 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in game six of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Mellon Arena on June 4, 2008 in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. The Red Wings defeated the Penguins 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 2. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH - JUNE 04: The Detroit Red Wings celebrate after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in game six of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Mellon Arena on June 4, 2008 in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. The Red Wings defeated the Penguins 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 2. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH - JUNE 04: Chris Osgood #30 of the Detroit Red Wings is helped up by Darren McCarty #25 as they celebrate with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in game six of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Mellon Arena on June 4, 2008 in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. The Red Wings defeated the Penguins 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Three games down and who knows how many more to go. Detroit took the first two and then on to Pittsburgh where the home team triumphed. So we’re in Pittsburgh for games 3 and 4 and another 4-1/2 hour bus ride back to Detroit for game 5.

In this blog, I will dissect the coverage of game three in Pittsburgh. Besides the actual game, I assigned coverage for the pre-game fan scene outside as well as the post game press conference. Usually assigned to those events are the photographers who aren’t doing remote cameras as they need to be turned just prior to the game time and then pulled down afterwards.

Viewing the arena map, each number is delineated below:

1. From a TV booth, Dave Sandford had a 400mm trained on the north end net.

2. Jamie Sabau shot the whole ice from a spot on the concourse with a 300mm and an occasional 70-210.

3. Jim McIsaac had the honor of shooting through milky Plexiglas at ice level. A 70-210mm along with a 16-35 for grab shots covered the action did the job.

4. A camera in the net with a 15mm lens was triggered by Bruce Bennett from his position, #9.

5. Remote: A camera at the base of the boards with a 14mm lens was also triggered by Bruce as this cameras radio receiver was on the same frequency as the netcam enabling both to fire simultaneously.

6. Remote:Jamie Sabau fixed his camera up high on a TV camera pole behind the net to shoot through a 3” opening between glass sections behind the net.

7. Remote: On a high platform, Jim McIsaac placed a 300mm focused on the south end net. The platform also provided Christian Petersen a good vantage point for arena overview images in the opening moments of the game.

8. Dave Sanford took up a concourse position and could shoot the whole ice with a 300mm.

9. Bruce Bennett shot from the visiting runway with a 70-210 and a 16-35.

Anthony Jacobs and Bob Covington had arranged to have the arena ‘wired’ for us. The photographers at rink side had their laptops networked with the editors. At timeouts, digital cards were fed into laptops and sent back to editors to save time. Runners picked up digital cards from other photographers to transport by hand to the editing room, and AJ Messier helped out again at Stanley Cup this year by attending to remotes by pulling cards, changing batteries, and pulling remotes down.

In total, about 6,700 images hit the editors with over 220 making it up to our site within 24 hours of the event.

Images are all from remotes:

1. Dave Sandford’s 400mm from the opposite end of the ice

Dave Sandford/Getty Images

2. Bruce Bennett’s netcam

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

3. Bruce’s Dasher cam with a 14mm from behind the net

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
4. Jamie Sabau’s TV pole cam

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

5. Jim McIsaac with a 300mm from the opposite end of the ice

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Photo (L-R): Bob Covington, Dave Sandford, Christian Petersen, Patrick Sutton, Jim McIsaac, Bruce Bennett

Yes, it’s another Memorial Day spent on the “Trail to the Stanley Cup.” A few days short of eight months time, and 1,300 games later, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals are set to begin. A classic confrontation between the Pittsburgh Penguins rising stars and the veteran laden Detroit Red Wings. Getty Images headed to Detroit well stocked with its veteran crew. Editors Patrick Sutton and Christian Petersen are joined by photographers Bruce Bennett and Jim McIsaac, along with freelancer Dave Sandford. Added in the mix is Claus Andersen in Detroit and Jamie Sabau for Penguin games.

The joy in this Cup journey is in the travel. A 285 mile trek between cities on an NHL chartered bus will be smooth sailing over the three previous final pairings: Tampa Bay and Calgary, Edmonton and North Carolina, Ottawa and Anaheim. It could only get worse if the NHL expands to Hawaii! No long flights, and no customs or immigration. Just sit back and leave the driving to…Patrick. Shhh. (I haven’t told him he’s driving the bus yet).

So Saturday, the day of game one, is reserved for the designation of our shooting positions, and for setting up net-cam, dasher-cam and rafter-cam. Bob Covington has spent time the previous week wiring the four possible Cup venues and will be on hand to hard wire the ice level shooters. Each photographer will have a laptop by his side to download digital cards which will network directly to the editors thereby saving an enormous amount of time. The NHL is providing runners to hand carry digital cards from shooters on the concourse level. And yes, some day soon the equipment will be available and the wireless will be fast enough to transmit wirelessly from our cameras directly to the editors. That day isn’t far away.

There will be about forty photographers from varied outlets and countries covering each game and the atmosphere provides for healthy and friendly competition to get the best shots. In fact, since the team photographer has his netcam in one net and we occupy the other, our netcam images are pooled with other major wire services.

Lastly, as with most best of seven series at this point in nine month season, media members including our staff will be taking sides. Whoever wins the first game will hopefully sweep.

Here I am replacing the digital card between periods and making sure the camera is still firing.

Without a doubt, one of the best selling hockey images is the shot from inside the net. This is especially true during the playoffs. With the correct combination of experience and a bit of luck, you can usually come out of a game with at least one netcam image that will be published by many websites and national publications.

Even when your learn-from-experience days seem to be over; you are at the mercy of spotty remote signals, the possibility of players ‘relocating’ your camera (with force) and a host of other maladies that all appear on the list of Murphy’s Laws of netcam usage. That list is too long for me to delineate here. It is best explained with the phrase “this is not an exact science.” That being said, it is a stellar spot that brings you back the following game for another chance for a winning image.

Currently the equipment of choice is a Canon 5d with a Canon 15mm lens. This combination provides for a full frame view of the hockey net, so the image includes the red bars which frames the photograph nicely. The camera is placed in the housing unit and protected on two sides, front and bottom with shatterproof Lexan plastic. The Lexan provides good visibility and is strong enough to withstand impact. Even so, any scratch or abrasion creates a star-like effect in an image which could slash across a players face making the shot unusable. The other sides of the housing are protected by padding that helps disguise the camera in white, but provides very little protection from impact. However, the chances of taking a shot from the side are limited and the padding, which is stitched in Velcro, provides for easy access to changing batteries and pulling digital cards between periods.

All of the pieces are put together 3 hours prior to game time and the image framing is checked on the computer.

Our Philly stringer Len Redkoles and I check out the installation.

Attached to the bottom of the case, there are clamps so that the box can be mounted in the back of the net. A Pocket Wizard receiver is tethered to the camera through a “stay awake” cable so that the camera stays on throughout the game. It can then be tripped from the other end of the ice which is 200 feet away. That is, of course, if there is no radio interference or signal blocking electronics in the building. In some buildings the placement of the transmitter is crucial to getting a good signal. In more recent days, we have experienced jagged patterns on our images as a result of radio waves from the TV camera we share the net with - creative maybe…but certainly not desirable.

Here I am testing some shots before the game starts…

The NHL issues guidelines that outline the box specifications as well as the placement of the camera. The ideal placement is about 6-8 inches off the ice and centered in the back of the net. I use a level to try to keep all lines horizontal, and on bigger games wire the camera to a laptop to shoot test frames which will tell me if the placement is good and if I have been successful in limiting the TV netcam from view. This is not an easy task but we have been working with the NHL and the broadcasters to come up with a mutually agreeable standard.

The camera is in the net, ready for action. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Once all of the above is checked and complete you are almost ready. You just have to get one more thing in the net…your head. Being able to visualize when to push the button, especially when you are usually at the other end of the ice is sometimes a problem. So concentration is key, but failing that, the motor drive at three frames a second, and a large capacity digital card help make up for any uncertainty.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Now we sit back and wait for the goalie to miss the puck and spread out nicely in the crease with the opposing player towering over him with his arms raised. With most games, this never happens. The end result could be a winning goal, a great play, or simply a good generic image of a goalie making a save shot from a highly unusual and unobtainable angle. Historically, the netcam shot, although a cliché in my book, is a proven seller.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images