At the end of the first period of tonight’s Game 6 playoff match between the Blackhawks and Predators I was almost sure we would be ending the night in overtime. Given the Hawks’ recent ordeals with extra periods, it just felt like we were in for that kind of night.
I covered the game with fellow Tribune photojournalist Nuccio DiNuzzo. During the playoffs, when we have two photographers covering a game, one takes the “up” position, which means shooting with a long lens from high up in the stands next to the TV cameras. It’s nice because it gives us a clear view of the entire rink for the whole game. Where as the person who takes the “down” position shoots though a hole in the plexiglass. The angle is right at eye level with the players so can lend itself to more dramatic shots, but we can only photograph when they’re on our side of the ice.
Tonight Nuccio was up in the elevated position and I was down at the glass. The tricky part for me was that I haven’t photographed a Blackhawks game all season. In the middle of last year I switched to a midday shift so I’m usually off before the games even start. But I volunteered to work tonight and I was happy to be there. It just took me a little bit to remember how to photograph the game.
During the second period goaltender Cory Crawford was on my end after Scott Darling was pulled in the first. The goaltending situation this series had left a lot of folks wondering whether Crawford was going to stay benched, but he redeemed himself tonight and gave a shutout performance once on the ice. I spent most of the period with my camera trained on him, knowing his reentrance into the series was going to be noteworthy.
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Duncan Keith’s goal in the third period clenched the game. Of course he was just out of my view though. Instead I turned to the crowd behind me and was able to make some frames of their reaction. There were a few interesting moments with the open net after Nashville pulled goaltender Pekka Rinne, but nothing ever materialized and Crawford stayed strong in the net to give the Hawks the win.