The Cadence of our world: All Day, every Day

So at the tail end of the first week of the baseball season, the Frozen Four rolled into town and I had the chance to photograph it with my colleagues Jamie and Ryan. I was really looking forward to this event since hockey is one of my favorite sports and I've only really begun to enjoy photographing it since this was the first year that I've actually shot it on a consistent basis. Throughout the winter I photographed a few DU games and it served as a nice warmup to such an exciting event.

Despite the lack of a hometown team in the field, Notre Dame, Boston College, Michigan and North Dakota didn't disappoint. In the first game, BC blew out North Dakota. Even though it wasn't all that exciting of a game, the goals were pretty...AND A PLENTY! Good lord, I thought it was raining goals at one point. BC advanced to the final with a 6-1 win.

In the second semifinal, upstart Notre Dame shocked Michigan in an exciting overtime thriller to get to the finals for the first time in Irish hockey history. I made one of my favorite images in this game, which is the first image below...If I were to do it all over again and grow up playing hockey, I think I'd be a goalie the second time around. There's a certain grace to goaltending that I've always appreciated. If you're a hockey nut like me, you'll really understand what I'm about to say...Nothing in hockey is better than the multiple overtime 0-0 goaltending duel in the playoffs. There's something about watching two goalies trade magnificent saves into the wee hours of the night. Every save is bigger than the last one and it just builds and builds and builds until one team has to ruin it and win the darn game...You'd think they would be a little more considerate to the 23 or so hockey junkies like me who want to someday tell their grandkids about watching every minute of the famed 'Three Days Game'.

Anyway, back to the important stuff. The final was pretty exciting, with Boston College defeating a tentative Notre Dame team. The refs did make a bogus call in the game, taking back an Irish goal that would have changed the momentum of the contest drastically. Instead, Boston college came down seconds later and tacked another one on the board, handing Notre Dame a second slap in the face while they were still bummin' from the first. The better team clearly won the championship, but I always root for the underdog (unless it's the Raiders) since upsets are always fun to shoot. It was a great tournament and I really enjoyed shooting it. I can't wait to get to some more DU games next winter and hopefully, they'll get back on top where they belong!

Next up, my trip to Phoenix for another Qwest shoot with Tony Peña of the Arizona Diamondbacks!

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

What a save! If you're looking for the puck, it's in the lower right corner, just above the white underside of the goalie's skate...

This is BC's star player, Nathan Gerbe who is a speedy and shifty little guy who has a great nose for the net...

...And this his him celebrating how sweet his nose for the net really is...

The NCAA will love this strictly because of their sticker on the boards...

I love finding celebration moments like this at championships. They're on top of the world and you can see the pure joy, not only in their faces, but in their sway...