[Leica] Pond Hockey

[telyt at telus.net (David Young)]

All:

Welcome to Canada's national sport.  Hockey.

Not hockey as played in the NHL or the European professional leagues,
but hockey as it's played in small towns, across Canada.  Outdoors,
on small rinks carved from frozen lakes or ponds.

The weather was mild, on Saturday, with -4C to -6C temperatures and
light flurries.  Sunday, the sky was clear, but a wee bit chillier,
at -10 to -12.  Perfect days for Pond Hockey.

Hockey is a fast moving game, and not easy to follow with a manual
focus camera.  I ended up using ISO 400, in order to keep my shutter
speeds up, and my aperture around f8, for some DOF, to cover focusing
errors.  It mostly worked!

It's not always easy to get the framing right, with a puck that moves
at up to 145 KPH (90+ mph in the US) and skaters that seem to move
almost as fast.

http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/PH-1.htm

You can't use your hands, except to catch a flying puck and drop it
at your feet.

http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/PH-2.htm

I love the expressions ... check the chap on your left.

http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/PH-3.htm

And not all the players are toothless wonders!  These girls won by
default.  Their opponents turned up 40 minutes late for a 30 minute
long game!  The girls were true sportswomen and played the guys
anyway.  And lost.

http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/PH-4.htm

The game is played 4 on 4, with one spare player to relieve a tired
one.  The goals are 3 feet wide by 10" high. (These measurements are
time honoured, and existed long before metric came to
Canada.)   There is no goalie, but the joy of a good shot is still a thrill!

http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/PH-5.htm

More to follow, as I sort through the hundreds of shots taken.

Comment and criticism appreciated, as always.

Thanks for looking.
---

David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA

Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/
Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt