Carl Hutzler's Blog

Back in June, I sent a note to Ted Leonsis asking if he could hook me up with someone in the Washington Capitals front office to get a Press Pass to a pre-season Capitals game. Ted responded within a few hours and included some folks from the Press Relations office. Within a day I had passes to two pre-season games. Thank you, Ted!

So Friday evening came. I had to be downtown one hour before game time to meet with the Capital’s Head Photographer in the “dark room”.

Of course the dark room is now just a set of tables with ethernet connections, but whatever. There were only four of us photogs there for this pre-season game. We each chose a corner of the rink we wanted to shoot from. There are only a few locations available as you need to shoot through the glass via a small hole!

I lugged my Nikon D200 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lens (which was perfect for this stuff) down to the area between sections 113 and 114. There I found my hole. (not a bad seat to watch a game, mind you!)

I asked the head photographer for any tips. He said to be careful with the puck as it can fly THROUGH the hole and cost you some big bucks. He said he has lost two pieces of “glass” in his career. I imagine it hurts a lot too! Evidently the best chance of this happening is when the goalie is trying to clear the puck by hitting it out along the glass. I spent the first 10 mins of the game scared to death, moving my camera out of the hole constantly.

Oh…during the warm-ups, I was cleaning the scum off the front of my lens to get ready when Alex Ovechkin (#8) was standing on the other side of the glass. He decided to be cute and used his stick to push the little cover that sits over the hole out and into my lap. It made a wet mess all over my gear. He laughed at me (as he should). My hazing was complete (at least I hope).

The game started and I sat perched on my little step stool with monopod shooting away at 5fps. After spending the first period trying to follow the action (which is nearly impossible), I learned that I could wait for it and expect it in certain areas. This was not perfect, mind you, and I have a LOT to learn, but it did start to make some sense. I think my first experience produced some reasonable results.

I am going to shoot the Sunday game vs the Hurricanes and try and concentrate more on the “peak of action” shots as opposed to trying to “get everything”. I would like to try and get some goalie shots with the “puck in the air”. I also want to try and get more of the hard hits into the boards with the shaved ice flying, etc. Heck, maybe a fight might break-out if I am lucky (but unlikely in a pre-seasoner).

Anyway, thanks again to Ted and all the folks at the Washington Caps that helped me get in. They all have been very nice to me and very accommodating.