I’ve frequently thought of what I would do as an alternate career.  I love my job and really wouldn’t consider doing anything else right now, but if the right opportunity came along, I might consider changing what I did.

What is it exactly that I would do?  I’d photograph sports for a living.  I’d photograph games and also talk to the athletes.

I recently attended two games of the Providence Bruins, the minor league hockey affiliate of the Boston Bruins, based on Providence, Rhode Island.  The games were incredible fun, even more fun than the New York Ranger games I attended in the Gretzky/Messier days.  The arena in Providence (New England-ally called the Dunkin Donuts Center) is small and you get a close up look at the players.  You can really see everything in the faces of the players.  You can see how much they enjoy playing, but you can also see the frustration and the exhaustion in their faces.  They seem to play rather endless schedules, criss crossing Canada and the United States.  Some of the players on the teams are teenagers and many more older.

I spotted the name “Henrik Samuelsson” on the roster of the Portland Pirates, who played against the Providence Bruins on Friday of last week.  Samuelsson I guess is a common enough name, but a known one in the world of hockey.  It crossed my mind that this might be the son of the legendary New York Rangers bruiser Ulf Samuelsson (perfect name for a hockey player if there ever was one).  It turned out my hunch was right.

I guess I should throw in a few photography notes here on how these pictures were taken.  I used Rick to photograph these.  Chumlee stayed home and the old man rests eternally on the table in my living room.  Too bad Rick is here only for special occasions because the pictures are exceptional from that camera.  I used a zoom lens, obviously to shoot them.  I tried to focus on keeping it dynamic but then again, I had to focus on the puck.  There are two sets from two different sets of seats.  One set is shot through the boards and a net.  That was not fun.  It was like trying to photograph a hockey game through a straw.  But it worked.  I got a lot of shots I liked.

Let’s Go Providence Bruins: