Though our local National Hockey League team is having a rough season and won't be seeing any playoff action this season, one of my other favourite teams is currently playing in a tournament in the hopes of playing in Quebec for the Dodge Cup. I am of course talking about Les Félines du St-Laurent and my favourite young goaltender, Florence Bouchard-Maynard. I made the short drive out to Saint-Basile-Le-Grand after hearing from her father, my good friend Emmanuel, to watch the team in their tournament opening match against Les Rapdies de Champlain. Both teams were heated rivals over the course of the season and this match was no
different as it ended up in a scoreless tie. Just because there were no goals that doesn't mean that there wasn't any action. Both teams had scoring chances and the final few minutes saw both teams get power-play opportunities, but neither were able to capitalize on the opportunities. Since there were fewer scoring chances, I tried to practice photographing some of the action that was taking place at other places in the rink. My priority while at these games is usually to focus on the play of Florence since she's the daughter of a friend. As such, I usually place myself in a corner of the arena where I get a clear view of the net. I generally like to place 
myself either just behind the glass near the goal line of the net she is defending, or higher up in the stands near the blue line of the zone she is in. However, this means that there are another 2/3rds of the rink that are out of my reach. I decided to give my zoom lens a little bit of the workout and tried to follow the action in the other zones a little more than usual. Rather than going through my photographs and doing a little on-the-spot triage of what I had, I tried to snap a little bit more. As a result, I ended up coming up with more photographs that usual, but I also got some decent action shots from the rest of the game as well. The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 
1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm. The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 88mm. The third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 120mm. Luckily, I had a day off from the Day Job, so I was able to go through all of my shots and present a little update here today. And what an update it is. There are lots of photographs, so get yourself some popcorn and a cola because it is time for the action to start.
different as it ended up in a scoreless tie. Just because there were no goals that doesn't mean that there wasn't any action. Both teams had scoring chances and the final few minutes saw both teams get power-play opportunities, but neither were able to capitalize on the opportunities. Since there were fewer scoring chances, I tried to practice photographing some of the action that was taking place at other places in the rink. My priority while at these games is usually to focus on the play of Florence since she's the daughter of a friend. As such, I usually place myself in a corner of the arena where I get a clear view of the net. I generally like to place 
myself either just behind the glass near the goal line of the net she is defending, or higher up in the stands near the blue line of the zone she is in. However, this means that there are another 2/3rds of the rink that are out of my reach. I decided to give my zoom lens a little bit of the workout and tried to follow the action in the other zones a little more than usual. Rather than going through my photographs and doing a little on-the-spot triage of what I had, I tried to snap a little bit more. As a result, I ended up coming up with more photographs that usual, but I also got some decent action shots from the rest of the game as well. The first photograph was taken at f/2.8, 
1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm. The second photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 88mm. The third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 120mm. Luckily, I had a day off from the Day Job, so I was able to go through all of my shots and present a little update here today. And what an update it is. There are lots of photographs, so get yourself some popcorn and a cola because it is time for the action to start.
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm
f/2.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 115mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm
f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 1600 at 110mm
f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 90mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 170mm
f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 100mm
f/2.8, 1/800sec, ISO 1600 at 100mm
f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 125mm
f/2.8, 1/640sec, ISO 1600 at 80mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 142mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at125mm
f/2.8, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 123mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 102mm
f/2.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm
f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm
f/2.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 3200 at 200mm
f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 100mm
f/2.8, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 145mm
The lighting in the arena wasn't that great. They appeared to be some new led light banks in the place where neon lights would have been. The aluminum roof didn't add much to the lighting either, so I had to shoot at a very high ISO in order to get the shutter speeds necessary to freeze the action. I was still able to get some frozen pucks in my shots, but they're a bit more grainy that I would have liked. It was still a fun night at the rink, and hopefully there will be a few more as Les Félines continue on their road to the Dodge Cup.
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