Yeah, I’ve been feeling sorry for myself. Then, yesterday I got this email.

It was from Rod Churchill of Newfoundland, Canada. He wrote to tell me that he had just bought a couple t-shirts from my website and that he really enjoyed my blog. As I was typing up a thank you response, I noticed way down at the bottom of his signature information, was a link. It said, ‘Tribute Site: www.matthewchurchill.ca’. I clicked it.  Oh my God, I thought, it’s his son – he lost his only son to a hit and run driver in 2005. As I clicked through the site and read the heart-wrenching wounds of this mother and father laid bare, I cried. I cried for the Churchills, and all of the parents who have lost a child.

I can’t know what it must be like to suffer this worst of all tragedies. And God, I hope I never do. But it must be beyond any pain imaginable. Many people never climb out of the abyss. I lost a 12-year-old cousin to brain cancer recently and I’ve seen the devastation that it leaves in it’s wake.

I thought about all the times I felt frustrated because my son got a short shift or his team lost a close game. Then, I thought about how Rod would surely give anything to see his son get a short shift, to see his son’s team lose a close game . . . to see his son. It’s so hard for us to keep things in perspective all the time. However, it’s stories like this one that can quickly make things fall into their proper place.

But from tragedy, sometimes the phoenix of inspiration rises. Rod Churchill has found a way to stay connected to his son Matthew through hockey. He has spent the last 5 years coaching other young men. Obviously, I’ve never seen Rod Churchill coach. But I’ll bet you one thing. I’ll bet Rod teaches these kids more than how to win. I’ll bet they take more away from their time with him than how to make a proper hip check. I’ll bet they learn something about life, and priorities, and what’s really important. And I’ll bet you somewhere, his son Matthew is smiling about that.

We designed and built this puppy for you, the (been-workin’-all-week-and-now-I’m-gonna-get-nasty-at-the-rink) hockey fans.
It’s SAFE! Sportin’ a state-of-the-art full-helmet cage made of space-age polymer. Take a puck, or a fist in the face and laugh it off.
It’s WARM! Lined with synthetic bleached weasel fur. And not to worry, even with the lining, there’s plenty of room for your flow to retain it’s full awesomeness.
It’s RECEPTIVE! No more wrestling pucks away from young children. Take ‘em right off the stick with the patented head-mounted ‘Scrotuff’ microweave puck catcher.

I hope you are as excited about this new bucket as we are. Just download the flyer/order form by clicking this link and get ready to wear the most exciting, innovative hockey gadget in years. The ‘Hockey Fan Hat’ from HockeyShirtShop!

It happened on March 31, 2009 by Linus Omark of Sweden in an exhibition game against Switzerland.

Related designs from the eBrush Design hockey collection? Of course there is!
But only one that does it justice . . . Wicked Sick & Nasty

I made a new hockey t-shirt design on this time-honored tradition. It’s called “Fear The Face Wash” and is available through HockeyShirtShop.com.

On a marginally related note, I also released another new hockey t-shirt design called “Wicked, Sick & Nasty” that is intended to refer to one’s hockey skills. But I suppose it could also refer to a perfected “face washing” technique

And while we’re on the subject, there is also our top-selling “Smell My Bag” design.

One of my favorite all-time hockey quotes was by Jacques Plante, speaking on the matter of his occupation: “Goaltending is a normal job, sure. How would you like it in your job if every time you made a small mistake, a red light went on over your desk and 15,000 people stood up and yelled at you.”

I made a new goalie t-shirt this week. Actually, it’s a new graphic approach to a classic phrase that has appeared on many hockey t-shirts over the years; “My goal is to deny yours”. I should point out that I have made three other shirts specifically for the netminders. You might want to take a look at these. Odds are pretty good that there will be a night in the near future in which your special goalie will need something to cheer him up – something to remind him that he is THE MAN between the pipes.

Links below to designs in photo above.

Brick Wall Goalie “Bring It”

Iron Goalie

OMG “One Magnificent Goalie”

“My Goal is to Deny Yours”

Yea, I know. Pat’s blog is not really about hockey. But there is handsomeness to be found on the ice, for sure. In fact, this blog inspired my latest t-shirt design – “Hat Trick”. Sick Speed, Mad Skills AND you’re Handsome! That’s a Hat Trick, and you’ve got it.

It was November 25th, 2005 – just a routine regular season game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Florida. A friend of mine works for the local cable company and managed to secure tickets in the club box for the Friday night game. I was very excited, being a Penguins fan. I was going to get to see Mario Lemieux and the new kid, a rookie named Sidney Crosby. Yes, it was that short period of time when both of these splendid hockey players were on the ice together. That alone would have made this night something very special, but the little surprise that came later took it to the level of once-in-a-lifetime.

Right before we left for the game, Kary, the guy that scored the tickets for us, got a phone call from his boss. He was told that we were going to have to share the box with a couple guests. We were already trying to squeeze three families into the box, but hey, the tickets were free. What were we going to do, complain? We got there early and went down rink-side to watch the teams warm-up. I had a crappy little camera with me and took some pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get Mario and Sidney together in the same frame – something that bums me out to this day. But it was cool watching them up close. I remember Mario was the only one out there without a helmet.

When we went back up to the box to sit down, it was still just our three families. We each had sons that played hockey. They were all 13-years-old at the time. About 10 minutes before the game started, two distinguished-looking older gentlemen came in to join us. One, I recognized immediately, it was Denis Potvin. He was currently the color announcer for the Florida Panthers, and of course a Hall of Fame defenseman. The other guy, well, it was none other than Bobby Orr.

Bobby Orr couldn’t have been nicer. He patiently posed for pictures and signed pucks for all of our kids. Then he sat down and watched the game with us. He chatted with the kids throughout the night – a total gentleman. People were brought in and out of our box throughout the night. He pleasantly signed magazines and pucks and shook hands with folks that must have known somebody who owed them favors. He was gracious and patient throughout – exactly what you hope your hockey heroes to be. So for those of you that have not had the pleasure, rest assured that Mr. Orr did not disappoint.

So, there you go. That’s my sports highlight story. Sitting in a club box with Denis Potvin, Bobby Orr, watching Mario Lemieux and the rookie Sidney Crosby play together on the ice. Not bad, eh?

Thanks, Kary!

And on that note, this week I released a new eBrush Design t-shirt design for Hockey Shirt Shop. It’s called ‘Hockey Hero’ and should be vaguely familiar to those of you that rock the video game console as well as the ice. Check it out here.

Been there, my friends. And it ain’t pretty. But if you’re really determined to take good hockey action photos, listen up. I’m gonna tell you exactly what you need to do to make it happen.

TIGHTEN YOUR LACES: You could pick a much easier hobby

First, let me say, you shouldn’t feel too bad that you failed so miserably in your initial attempts at taking hockey photos. What you are trying to do is one of, if not the hardest of all sports to photograph. Heck, photographing any sport is hard enough. Most of the time they just won’t stop moving around. I say ‘most of the time’ because golfers move so little you can often use time-lapse photography. But hockey photography presents the ultimate challenge – trying to stop lightning fast action in dimly lit rinks, often through scratched and scuffed plexiglass. That’s a combination that sends even pros, possessing the best cameras and lenses money can buy, into fits of frustration.

BREAKOUT: How I got my start

In my case, it all started with my stubborn attempts to take some nice photographs of my son playing hockey. I’m sure you all already know how that went. Fortunately, during my career as a design director for a newspaper I’ve worked with some fantastic photographers that generously answered my onslaught of questions and got me going in the right direction. With their help and the proper equipment, it wasn’t long before I was taking acceptable hockey action shots. I soon parlayed that into a money-making venture that has allowed me to not only pay for my photographic equipment, but much of my son’s hockey expenses. For the past three years, I’ve actually operated a successful action hockey photography business through my website, eBrushDesign.com.

FACEOFF: It all starts here

I could drone on endlessly about all the different things that will help you take great action hockey photographs, and I will. But I’m going to give you the biggest secret right up front. If you ask most folks why they can’t get good shots of their kids playing hockey they’ll say it’s because they don’t have a good enough camera. The truth is, you could have the best camera made and still not be able to take good hockey photographs. If you don’t remember anything else you read here, remember this. The single most important factor in photographing good hockey action is the lens. Yes, you will certainly need an SLR camera – you know, one of those cameras that you can change the lenses on. The better the camera, the more features, the faster the auto-focus works and more frames you can shoot per second. So the camera you use can certainly make a difference. But without the right glass, nothing else matters.

THE HAT TRICK: The three key camera settings and what it takes to get them

First off, if your camera has a ‘Sports mode’, forget about it!  It may be fine for baseball but it ain’t gonna cut it for hockey. We’re talking Manual mode here, folks. You can try TV mode (shutter priority), but I highly recommend finding the right settings in Manual mode (M) and making adjustments from there.

Photography is all about light. As you probably already know, the size of your aperture determines how much light gets to your sensor. The shutter speed determines how long it gets in. You balance those two factors for the desired effect – stopping action or depth-of-field. Obviously, stopping action is most critical in getting good hockey action shots. So, let’s start there. If you’re subject is 8-years-old, you can probably get away with setting your shutter speed at 1/250 of a second. If you are trying to shoot an 18-year-old, they skate a lot faster – hopefully. You are probably going to need to use at least 1/320 of a second.

OK. You’ve got your shutter speed set. Open up your aperture as far as it will go (the lower the number, the bigger the hole). If you’re using the lens that came with your SLR, you’re going to find that your photos are way too dark. This is because the lenses that usually come with the cameras aren’t very fast. In other words, they don’t have apertures wide enough to let the amount of light in that you’ll need in that 1/320th of a second.

This is the point where we separate those of you that really want to take these photos yourselves and those of you that should probably just buy them from someone like me – the wheat from the chaff, if you will. I shoot with Canon, so I’m going to talk about specific Canon lenses here. If you shoot with Nikon or something else, rest assured that there are equivalent lenses for almost all camera makers, and third party lens makers like Sigma and Tamron that make lenses for them all. The key here, however, is finding a lens with a very large aperture and the right focal length for shooting hockey. To keep things simple, I’m only going to recommend two lenses. There are others that might work for you in different situations but I can personally recommend these two. The important thing to keep in mind is that, no matter what, you are going to need something that has a aperture of f2.8 or lower to take good hockey photos. Here is the easy part: buy a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens or a Canon 135mm f/2.0 prime lens (here are excellent reviews of these lenses: 70-200 f/2.8 and 135 f/2.0 ).  And now the hard part: expect to spend $1,350 for the 70-200 zoom (there is also a version of this lens with Image Stabilization for around $1,900 – a great feature, but of no use when shooting moving objects) or around $1,100 for the 135mm prime. See what I meant by separating the wheat from the chaff? OK, for those of you that have decided to continue reading, the primary difference is that the 70-200mm is a zoom lens. I’m assuming you know what that means. The aperture can open up to f/2.8 all the way through the focal range. This is very important, and why this lens is so expensive. This is the lens you’ll most commonly see being used by professionals shooting hockey. It’s much bigger and heavier than the 135mm I mentioned. But it does give you the advantage of the zoom, so you can better frame the action that is closer to you as well as further away. The 135mm is a fixed focal length, or what is referred to as a ‘prime’ lens. It doesn’t zoom. It is fixed at 135mm. But it is faster, at f/2.0, than the 70-200 and the images are sharper – amazingly sharp. It is also much smaller and lighter, which starts to matter when you’ve had to hold your lens pointed at the action for any period of time. Because the focal length is only 135mm, you are only going to be able to fill the frame on about half the rink. However, if your camera shoots at a large megapixel size, you can tighten your compositions later in an image editing program.

The third setting that can help is the ISO. This used to refer to a particular film’s sensitivity to light and could bring more light to your images. In digital cameras it works a little different but the results are basically the same. To simplify, let’s just say that the higher you set this, the more light you get. But the grain or ‘noise’ in your image will also increase. It’s a trade-off. And each camera is different. You’ll have to experiment with this one. But figure on being able to set your ISO to around 800 with acceptable results.

LIGHT THE LAMP?: What about flash?

What about using a flash?, you may ask. Well, first off, a flash won’t reach all that far and won’t recharge fast enough to keep up with the frames-per-second speed of your camera shutter’s potential. You can’t use them to shoot through glass because all you’ll get is a big white reflection of the flash. Not to mention, it’s really annoying to the players. Ask any goalie how he feels about strobes going off in his eyes when he’s trying to glove a slapshot from the point. Some professionals set up strobes in the rafters that are synchronized to their cameras. This can produce fantastic results, but most likely, you will never have that luxury.

SHOTS ON GOAL:  Where should I stand to get the best shots?

Ah, your shooting location. Kind of an important factor, no? Depends. Obviously, if you can talk your way onto the bench or the penalty box, do it. Anytime you can avoid having to shoot through glass or netting, you are in a much better situation. Shooting through the glass can work. In fact, sometimes you can get great shots you can’t get any other way. Behind the goalie, with a skater driving right at you and lifting one just past the goalies glove. You’re not going to get that angle from the bench. But when you shoot through the glass you have to first find a clean area – not always easy to do. You must also keep your lens perpendicular, and as close to the glass as possible, to cut down on reflections. And even with all that, you’re still going to lose a full stop in your exposure. So that fast lens you bought just got a little bit slower. Shooting through the safety netting is equally tricky. Depth-of-field will blur the netting and almost make it seem to disappear – almost.

STICK TAPE: A few more equipment details.

Here are a few more settings for you to dial in. Remember, with many of the pro-sumer camera models, you can save all of these settings so you can bring ‘em all back after they’ve been changed to take pictures of your dog.

Set your auto focus to the ‘AI Servo’ setting on a Canon camera or ‘Continuous Focus’ for Nikons. This makes your camera continuously refocus on a subject that is moving towards or away from you.

Set your drive mode to High-speed Continuous shooting. Depending on your camera, this will let you shoot several frames per second, or a entire sequence of shots as the action is occurring.

And finally, I want to touch briefly on rink lighting. Every rink is different. In fact, even on the same rink the lighting changes from spot to spot. You can’t always see it with your eyes, but the camera does. Often the type of lights used can throw a cast on your images. I’m not going to go into detail here, but reading up on how to use your camera’s white balance adjustment can be a big help in this area.

SHOOT-OUT: Now go out there and make it happen!

So, there you go. You now know all you need to know in order to go out and get acceptable action hockey photographs. I say ‘acceptable’ because to get ‘great’ ones will take practice, timing, opportunity and mastering your camera. It also helps greatly to know the game of hockey so you can anticipate where the action is going to happen. Now go out there and capture these moments. They will never happen again.

© Mark Buzek
eBrush Design

Please stop by and see my custom design work at Hockey Shirt Shop – the place to find that unique hockey gift for the hockey player in your life!

My exposure to this outstanding game didn’t really happen until 1999. I was 39-years old. My son, who was about 7 at the time, used to watch the Mighty Ducks movies over and over again. In between screenings he would go onto our screened-in back porch and slap a hockey puck into the door of my daughters big plastic play house. When he missed, pucks tore through my screens letting all the bugs in Florida in.

I signed him up for an outdoor roller hockey league when he was 8 and the rest is history. Nine years of inline and ice hockey, traveling to tournaments around the country. He’s 17-years-old now, my screens are all fixed, and I’m a huge hockey fan. It happens that way when you are immersed into a magnificent sport that you’ve missed out on much of your life. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I could turn back the clock and play the game myself – one of the few regrets in my life.

What frustrates me now is that so many people are missing out on this wonderful sport. Hockey’s popularity hasn’t exactly grown by leaps and bounds in this country. But it’s certainly no secret to the rest of the world. If they could only get past the notion that it’s just a bunch of fighting and see the beauty of the game. The speed and the grace that these athletes display is nothing short of astounding.

It’s June and I just saw my beloved Penguins win the Stanley Cup. I’m still on a hockey high. There really is nothing quite like the Stanley Cup playoffs, is there?. Now we’ve got months of nothing but baseball and it’s steroid-ridden players lulling me into summer slumber. I’d almost rather watch golf – or the grass grow.

So here’s to hockey, and waiting for next season, when we can all wake up and witness the excitement and raw fury of the this most magnificent sport once again.

Now, in the spirit of self-promotion, I must mention that one of the best ways to keep the hockey spirit through the long, boring Summer is to score yourself a hockey t-shirt from Hockey Shirt Shop! So stop on in, where it’s always hockey season.

I went through the playoffs routing against Detroit for the same reason. I wanted him to regret joining the Red Wings. As it became apparent that the Pens themselves might actually make it to the dance, I began to push for the Wings to make it, too. How sweet would that be? The team he bailed out on beats him and the team he thought he had a better chance with.

Well, it happened exactly like that. Funny, though, how winning makes you charitable. Overnight, my feelings about Marian Hossa have changed. I started looking at his story more objectively. I began to realize that what he did was actually  the converse of what I have disliked about so many professional athletes that have left my favorite teams for more money elsewhere. We, as fans, make emotional investments into these players. And when they tell us again and again that money is more important that their teammates, the cities they represent and winning, well, we feel betrayed. It is personal to us on some level.

Hossa did leave the Penguins. But he did it for an admirable reason. He actually took less money for what he felt was a better chance to win. How often have you actually seen a player do that? So now I feel bad for him. Now, I feel bad that he wasn’t rewarded for his winning-over-money decision. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted this one to end any other way. But It would be nice some day to see a player that makes a similar decision have it work out for him.

Looking for a championship t-shirt, hat or other type of gift? Check out my favorite Pittsburgh fan store ‘The Pittsburgh Fan’ and do a little crowin’

And don’t forget my Pittsburgh gift designs got ‘burgh? and The Joy of Six

So, for all you Penguin fans out there, I found this really cool poster of this year’s Penguin studs. It features Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby. The 16×20 poster is available at AllPosters.com for $34.99. I’ve seen it for a lot more at other places. If you’ve seen it for less, please post a link in the comments.

And here’s a shameless plug for two of my Pittsburgh t-shirts: got ‘burgh? and The Joy of Six