Hockey Semifinals: USA vs. Canada - Another tough break for the Americans!

Wow, this has been a really tough couple of days for the US hockey teams. First the women lost a heartbreaker in the gold medal match, and last night, the much anticipated semifinal game between the US and Canada turned out to be a dud of a game. After being at the USA vs Russia game, and seeing the incredible energy from both teams, myself and many others here in Sochi thought that this game was going to be an amazing game. As it turned out, there was only one score and the game was more of a sleeper than a spectacle. And the worst part for USA hockey is that the one goal scored was for the Canadians, who once again beat the Americans to advance to the gold medal game.

Just so you all know, I am always pulling for the American team as it is my home team and the team I work for. But, in the Olympic spirit, this does not mean that I have any animosity towards any of the other teams. As a matter of fact, I have a good friend who plays on the Canadian team, and I am happy for him.

Here are the photos of last night's game:

For this game, I decided to pick a shooting location on the side of the net, and not directly behind. I found that I got better results from this in the past. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, there is a picking system here at the Olympics for the more popular games. What happens is, we have to get special press tickets to get in to the high impact events, and then two hours before the game starts, we have to line up ad ask for a shooting location. I first do my research to determine which way the US will be shooting twice, since I try to key in on the offensive more than the defense. Then I go out to the rink and inspect the plexiglass. Now that so many games have been played at the Bolshoy Ice Dome, the plexi is getting tougher to shoot through. Last night, I was the first one in line and I picked location 35 (on a bench next to the ice) and that was my home for the night.

The game started out pretty evenly, both both teams having some scoring chances.

The energy of the game (both the players and audience) seemed flat, but I figured that this would change at any time.

Zach Parise trying to get that puck in the net.

A mass of humanity in front of the net, with the puck flying away from everyone.

A little more action in front of Carey Price, the Canadian goaltender.

And then the game just seemed to get flatter. Here is the weird thing...when I am shooting a game like this, it is sometimes hard to "watch" the game, since I am looking through a tiny hole in the camera, concentrating on where my focus is, and what action I should be keying in on. Heck, most of the time, I don't know that a team has scored or drawn a penalty until I hear the crowd reaction. So, I wasn't sure if it was just me, or if this game lacked the energy I anticipated. But after the game, when in the press center at the arena, other media people were saying the same thing. Regardless of what I am photographing, my goal is to always capture the emotions of the event. This is true for a sporting event, a Bar Mitzvah, a Wedding, whatever... Reviewing the photos after the game, I swear I can see the lack of energy in the photos. Compare these to the women's game the night before. The photos are the proof.

During one of the breaks, Carey Price skated over towards my position, and I quickly raised the camera and grabbed this shot. I really like the composition on this shot. It just goes to show you, that as a photographer, we need to be ready to take a photo at any time, even during the breaks.

My friend, Patrick Marleau, skating into the play.

The photo is a combination of good news and bad news. The bad news for Team USA is that the Canadians scored. The good news for me was that they scored and turned in my direction so I could get this reaction shot. At that point, I figured that there would be many other goals and reactions. It was not to be.

It is not to say that the either team didn't have chances to score, but both goalies played very well.

Ryan Kesler taking a slap shot. When photographing hockey, I love getting a photo of the player flexing the stick like this. It shows the power in his shot.

Another photo showing action in front of the Canadian net, with the puck coming at me.

I was focusing in on Patrick Kane when he took this bomb of a shot. As he wound up and fired his shot, I burst off a bunch of photos from the Canon 1DX. As soon as I shot these photos, I knew I had a cool photo on the card.

This photo is really interesting. If you look at the puck right in the front of the net, you would swear that the American's scored a goal. But it is an optical illusion, as the puck was actually flying across the net, not into it. As I was editing this photo in the press area at the rink, another photographer walked by and said "Wait a second...I didn't see that!" and I had to explain the details of what happened. If you know hockey well, you can tell that the puck is too large as compared to the net, and therefore is closer to me.

With less than 2 minutes left in the game, Team USA pulled their goalie and did their best to tie it up. But the clock wound down to zero and this reaction sums it up. The Canadians celebrating in the background,with Phil Kessel slumped over in defeat.

Obviously, the Canadians were very happy with the win.

I love the custom of the handshake at the end of the game, showing class in this sport, which many people wrongfully think is violent and unruly. The interesting thing is, many of these competitors are actually teammates on teams in the NHL.

For the second night in a row, I was photographing the victory of an opponent. 

Note: I wrote this before the Bronze medal game and just got back from shooting that game and press conference. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for USA Hockey here is Sochi...

A day shooting photos "behind the scenes" of the Olympics - with exclusive access

I received an email last night at 2am asking if I could shoot the women's team lunch today at noon. I got to sleep at 4:30am once again, but was able to get up and make it into the Olympic Park to photograph the event. I am really glad that I did, because it was fun hanging out with the women and to see them in a little better mood than last night. And I should also mention that the USA House (where the lunch was held) had the best food I have had in a month. Seriously, I would do anything for a regular American breakfast or some good sushi. But that's another story....

I shot a bunch of photos of people mingling, like any other event, but then found this cool backdrop and started shooting all of the women with their medals. This is a photo of the Lamoureux twins showing off their silver medals.

After photographing one of the woman, she insisted that I wear her medal and take a photo. Since I had done this in London, when the women's water polo team won gold, I was eager to do it again. After all, how many people get to wear an Olympic medal? And, by the way, the medals are incredibly heavy. As I was packing up to leave around 2:30pm, one of the athletes mentioned that the whole team was going to meet at the Olympic rings, to head up to the Today Show. I saw this as a great opportunity to do a team shot for the women (like we did for the men) and get some behind the scenes of their interview with Matt Lauer.

When we all arrived at the rings, we were greeted by the Today Show team, who were getting ready to shoot a quick remote segment on the rings.

Before the Today Show went live, I got all the girls on the rings and we took some photos. I had asked Al Roker and Matt Lauer if they could photo bomb the team shot. Matt was busy prepping, but Al jumped in. :)

And then the Today Show team went to work.

They told me that the team would not be on the air for another 45 minutes, so I quickly walked the mile back to the press center to grab my ticket for tonight's game and my "up credentials" to get into the locker room area.

When I got back to the Bolshoy Ice Dome, they had all the women setup and they let me jump in and shoot during the interview. Before Matt came over we got the "eyes shot" with everyone looking at me instead of the TV camera.

And then Matt interviewed the team.

Good stuff...

And then, before Matt left to walk back to the main set, I asked him if we could do a group shot with him. He is a very nice guy and readily agreed to join the shot.

Then, I was given access to the Today Show set, where I shot a couple of photos of them doing their morning show.

And when walking around the back of the set with the team, we ran into some of the figure skaters and ice dancers. Here is a photo of Polina Edmunds (who lives in my town), Julie Chu and Meryl Davis.

Here are some of the women with Charlie White, who not only does ice dancing, but turns out to be an avid hockey player as well.

Right after shooting the Today Show photos, I quickly went down under the Bolshoy to try and get access to the men's locker room. The team wanted these photos, but getting into the locker room is always a difficult task, even with the up credentials.

I enter the arena through the media entrance and then, instead of entering the press area, I turned right and headed towards the athlete entrance. I was stopped by a security guy who refused to let me go any further. As I was pleading my case, my contact for USA Hockey popped out and started negotiating for me. While they talked, I went in. And then I stayed in for an hour and helped the equipment guys get everything set up.

It is pretty cool to be the only photographer allowed to photograph this. But what would be cooler is a win over the Canadians tonight. I guess we will know that outcome in another 4 hours. Till then...

A heart wrenching loss for the woman of USA Hockey!

I have to say that, as I write this blog, I am really bummed. Not for me, but for the women of USA hockey, who had a two goal lead with 5 minutes left in the game and then ended up losing. You see, most people root for the team for pride in their country, but I actually know these people and wanted them to win because I know how bad they wanted it.

I was so sure they were going to win, that with 6 minutes left in the game, I prepared my extra camera to take the team photo from the ice.

Well...that never happened. They played their hearts out for the whole game. It was the worst way for them to lose this one.

Here is what I captured tonight...

The women had a whole lot of offensive push throughout the game.

And honestly, I think that they outplayed the Canadians up until the very end.

Both teams played like you would expect in a gold medal game.

Unlike the last couple of games, this time I sat on a side position instead of shooting behind the net. I think it gave me better images, especially for this offensive game.

Here is a shot on goal, with the puck coming straight at the goalie.

And here is a photo of the puck coming towards me.

In the second period, Jessie (the goalie) made an awesome save on a point-blank shot from the Canadian woman.

During one of the breaks, she skated over towards where I was sitting, and I grabbed this shot of her,

Some of the action shots from my end of the ice.

Alex Carpenter scored the second goal for team USA, and it looked like the team would win gold.

Time to celebrate the goal.

The Americans did not let off on the gas, and kept pressing the Canadians. But, with a couple of minutes left in the game, the Canadians pulled their goalie to give them a one person advantage.

This was a critical point in the third period. One of the American skaters shot the puck down the ice to try and make it a three goal game, basically solidifying the win. But the puck hit the post and did not go in. If only...

And then the Canadians scored two quick goals to send the game into overtime. Myself and most others in the arena were shocked. Although most of the arena was pulling for Canada, so they were happy about the turn of events.

The first couple of minutes of overtime belonged to team USA. I thought that they were going to win it at this point.

So close...

But their goaltender came up strong and stopped the shots on goal.

Then the referees called a penalty on one of the American skaters. I heard that is was a questionable call, but honestly, I have no idea. See...most of the time I am looking through a tiny hole in a camera, more worried about being in focus and catching the action, so I do not see the same like others watching it in the stands or on TV. Most of the time, I know that there was a goal by the crowd noise as much as anything else.

Well...the Canadians did not waste the powerplay opportunity and they won the game in overtime. Obviously, there was jubilation on their side of the ice.

It was a completely different story on our side.

I am not sure what they said in this huddle, but none of them came out of it feeling any better. It was heartbreaking for all of them.

And for me, being their photographer, people might think that it would be less emotional, but I took it hard. They are such nice ladies and I really wanted this for them.

It was really hard to take these photos, for a couple of reasons. I was not sure if the team even wanted them, and I felt the same way I did when photographing a funeral. When people are crying and not feeling good, I doubt they want that captured in a photo. But I did take the photos, because it is my job and because it tells the story.

You can see it on their faces.

I know that a lot of people will say, "hey, they should be happy that they won a silver medal", but with type of game, you don't win a silver medal, you lose a gold one. It is a tough one to take, especially the way it happened.

Team Canada was all smiles, as you can imagine. And for all of you people reading this who live in Canada, you should know that I love Canada and the people. I play hockey, therefore I have a little Canadian blood in my body too. :)

Myself and a select group of photographers were allowed to walk out onto the ice to shoot the medal ceremony. I photographed the Canadian team and the Swiss team, but the American's were too devastated about the loss and just left the ice without a group shot.

They just hugged each other and then skated off (after congratulating the other teams). As I said, it was a really tough loss for them, and tough to photograph for me.

I think this is more emotional for the women because, unlike the men who play in the NHL, this is the only place for them to really shine. And therefore they work for 4 years for this one game. Anyways...they played awesome and should be proud of the silver medal.

I saw them outside the arena at 2am, as I was leaving, and I still don't think they were content with a silver.

Congratulations to Team Canada for an amazing comeback.

Now, let's see what happens tomorrow, when the USA men compete against the Canadians.