I honestly didn’t think I would be photographing consecutive Stanley Cup Finals after the way the Panthers lost to the Vegas Knights last year let alone shoot a Game 7 of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup. You always hope that the team you’re covering makes it and wins the Stanley Cup, but when that moment happened to me, I don’t think I have the words to express the range of emotions I felt when I saw Sasha Barkov hoist the Stanley Cup and fireworks going off in the background. Now I can add to my resume not only that I’ve photographed multiple Stanley Cups, but also photographed the moment the Florida Panthers won the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup.
Aside from shooting the Stanley Cup, one of the best parts, for me that is, is being around and working with some of the best talent in sports. It’s always fun for me to see how others shoot and see how they see the game through their lens. I was working for the NHL social team and was the only one who was solely shooting photos. The talented team I worked with consisted of Nick Ciavarella, Lucas Casel, Troy Anderson and Juan Morales. Definitely check out their reels and videos from the series as well as their other work.
From the NHL photos side, it was Bruce Bennett, Panthers Team Photographer Eliot Schechter, Elsa Garrison and Dave Sanford. It was definitely interesting seeing how many remote cameras they put up as well as their reasoning for their positioning. Bruce is a legend regardless in hockey as a photographer, but I enjoyed watching him install the cameras in the net. There is so much that goes into covering every aspect of a hockey game let alone the Stanley Cup Finals. I can’t imagine how many frames were captured between all of them. I think I took close to 15k photos for the 4 games, but I wouldn’t doubt that is what they did just for one game.
NHL Stanley Cup Media Day
Since the Panthers had the home ice advantage, the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Media Day was held at the Amerant Bank Arena after each team held a 45 minute or so practice session. There were podiums set up in the concourse area of the arena and there was a makeshift NHL Network set with both the Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup on display.
Each team had 2 waves of players giving interviews. My job was to, obviously, take photos of the players getting interviewed. One of the first things I always do is look at the light and while I had brought a flash, I thought the available and ambient light was more interesting than just lighting the players with a flash.
Depending on where the players sat, there was rim lighting, back lighting and split lighting. I’m someone who enjoys rich shadows and I was able to make some dramatic photos of the players while they gave their interviews. I thought it was appropriate for the impending drama that could happen in the games. I mean, it is the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup, so there has to be some drama right?
Games 1, 2 and 5
Knowledge comes with experience and with my experience in photographing the Stanley Cup last year, I knew what to expect for Game 1 of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final. There were production meetings, photographer meetings, team meetings; meetings about meetings. There are so many moving pieces and everything needs to line up for everything to work. I knew I had to shoot scene setting shots of the ice, the arena and everything in between. I had to get the player arrivals, photograph any concerts and the fans arriving and entering the arena. This was all before the puck was even dropped. And how can we forget photographing all the celebrities at the games? It’s a lot of work and I’m not sure if people truly understand how much work it really takes.
For Game 1 I was assigned to photograph the warmups from the Panthers’ bench. If you’ve never photographed from the bench before during warmups it can be overwhelming. There is so much going on and you feel like a kid in the candy store with everything going on. And this is where the knowledge from experience comes in. I know the routines of the players. Who skates here, who tosses pucks and who splashes water on the face by the bench. So instead of panicking trying to figure out what to shoot, I had a cadence, if you will, of how I shot. It made my life easier just moving from player to player based on routines.
For the game action, I had to be a roamer on the concourse. During the season, more often than not, I would have an ice position, but with it being the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup, I was the lowest rung on the proverbial totem pole.
The challenge on shooting from the concourse level is the obstructed views. Ok, the obstructed views are mainly fans. They’re constantly jumping up and down, waving towels etc. and you could have a great frame lined up and it’s ruined by a huge shadow in the frame. I made it a point not to shoot from the same spot too long. I was always moving around, looking for better angles. Some times it worked and some times it didn’t.
For Games 1 and 2 the Panthers defeated the Oilers pretty easily. I’m not saying the Panthers scored a lot of goals, but they played their game and Bobrovsky had a shutout for Game 1. I wont’ lie, I felt pretty good with the team heading out to Edmonton up 2-0 lead.
For games 3 and 4 I worked the watch parties at the arena. When the Panthers won Game 3, I was thinking I’m about to get a chance to photograph a parade. For the Game 4 watch party, thousands of fans were outside the arena and the buzz was palpable. While the Panthers didn’t sweep they had a chance to clinch on their home ice for Game 5.
Game 5 was similar to Games 1 and 2 in the fashion of I had to shoot the same things except there were no more concerts. Fans were excited for the thought of the Cup being raised on the home ice and you could hear the excitement. Unfortunately that excitement was short lived. The Oilers defeated the Panthers 5-3 and was taking the series back to Edmonton.
The one play that stood out to me in Game 5 was with the maybe a minute or two left on the clock, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky from the net to have an extra man advantage. At this point in the game they were only down one goal and if they tied it, they could take it to overtime.
A lot in that time was a blur, but some how the Oilers got the puck and fired it to the empty net. I saw Matthew Tkachuk skate like a mad man and dive on the ice with his stick extended to slap the puck away from entering the net. It must have been a few centimeters away from going in. That was how close it was. The Oilers did get the empty net goal immediately afterwards thanks to Connor McDavid, but that play by Tkachuk was one of the best I’ve even seen.
Game 7
If we got to a Game 7, then there is no need to explain that the Panthers lost Game 6.
Game 7 in any sport for the title is the biggest game around. I was excited because either way a team was raising the Stanley Cup and I was going to be there to photograph it. Selfish, perhaps, but not every sports photographer gets to photograph the Stanley Cup being hoisted by the winning team.
The energy in the building was mixed. The nervousness from the Panthers fans was eerie. Their team had a 3-0 lead and lost the next 3 games. Oiler fans came out to party. Their team was down 3-0 and now forced a Game 7. They felt this was their time and I won’t lie, it felt like everywhere I turned it was Oiler fans.
Now there are some fan bases that are assholes and I’m sure you can guess which ones. I have nothing but amazing things to say about Oiler fans. Loud, passionate and respectful. I enjoyed having them in the arena.
There was a lot of excitement in the air prior to warmups. I was assigned the Panthers bench again for warmups and I went out a little earlier than usual to soak it all in. It was amazing. Loud and the energy was electric as cliche as it may be.
As I was photographing the Panthers warming up I noticed something about them. They were smiling, laughing and loose. Tkachuk was looking around at the crowd and taking it all in. Right then I knew they would win. Don’t ask me how or why, it was just a feeling I got. I even walked past one of the social media admins for the team and I said I’ll see you on the ice afterwards hinting they would win.
The entire game, fans and myself, were on edge. Every play was the biggest play. Panthers scored first and the Oilers immediately responded. Both teams just battled. The Panthers scored another goal in the second and once the third period started it was just crazy.
I was going on the ice right after the teams had won, whoever it was. I was down in the corner of the ice as I watched the seconds tick off and the Panthers players jumped from the bench jubilantly to celebrate their franchise’s first title. That is a moment I would never forget. It was brief though as I had to haul ass to run to the Zamboni tunnel to get onto the ice.
As I stepped on the ice, it hit me that I was about to photograph history. I soaked it all in. Once Sasha Barkov hoisted that trophy and fireworks went off behind him, my shutter just kept going. Each player with the Cup skating, shouting past me and I was there for it all.
After the team photo, the player’s families came out to celebrate and the rest of the media came out to interview the players and coaches. It was a whirlwind for me. Following the Cup, photographing players with their families, ducking and dodging live tv crews. Felt like time stopped honestly and I was just there in that moment, not wanting that moment to end.
Definitely a top 5 moment in my life.
Championship Parade
I finally got my wish to photograph a championship parade. It’s been a bucket list item for as long as I could remember and here I am on Fort Lauderdale beach about to shoot it.
In typical South Florida fashion there was supposed to be rain in the early afternoon. By that time the players were have supposed to been on the stage after the bus parade. Of course when 10AM rolls around the skies opened up and never stopped. Torrential rains. Sideways rain. Lightning. People on Twitter, I’ll never call it X, were calling for the parade to be canceled. It would have killed me if it was canceled but this thunderstorm was nothing to be played with.
While the lightning subsided the rain didn’t. The parade started and away I went. I had a poncho and used an industrial strength garbage bag around my camera. Sexy I know, but garbage bags are my go to for rain gear.
As the parade began I was photographing players and I could tell almost right away this was going to go off the rails. From the rain to the police not having enough presence at certain points along the route so fans could just rush the buses, you could tell this was going to be some sort of parade. Not to mention that the players haven’t stopped partying since they won so liquor was involved.
I’m walking along a bus that had Brandon Montour and Ryan Lomberg on it and Lomberg calls me over. He then proceeds to pour two beers from the top of the bus down my throat. I won’t lie drinking beer like that was a highlight for sure. These guys were having the times of their lives. Fans were throwing beers and they were chugging them. Cell phones were being tossed and they took selfies.
A few times Nick Cousins and Lomberg got off the bus to interact with fans along the parade route. Nothing crazy right?
Not even halfway through the parade route, Sergei Bobrovsky gets off his bus and walks to the bus with the Finnish players who had the Stanley Cup. He goes into the bus and takes the trophy and starts walking through the street with it. Then in was bedlam. Fans went nuts. Vladimir Tarasenko took the cup and fans were touching it. Then Lomberg takes it and runs down the street with it screaming, jumping on walls raising it above his head to the adoration of the crowd. Even Carter Verhaeghe got in on it.
Needless to say the parade came to a halt and it became a huge party in the middle of the street. Photographers jostling with each other trying to get the shot. Video people trying to capture it all and fans trying to break through to take selfies with the players and the Cup. Between the rain and the players, it was just chaos.
The end point of the parade was to go onto a stage for a formal celebration with speeches. I felt like we were never going to make it. I’m soaked and tired from chasing the players up and down the street. The players didn’t want the party in the street to end. It was so backed up that I never got to shoot the last two buses that had Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad, and others on it. That was how crazy it was. I couldn’t even get to those buses because the fans broke through and rushed them.
I finally made it to the stage, but it took the players and the other buses quite some time to fight through the fan log jam to make it to the stage. I was miserable at this point from the persistent down pouring of the rain. I just wanted to go home and the longer I was there the more agitate I got. Not to mention everything was soaked and my lens was forming fog right in the center of it so every photo at the stage looked like a dreamy haze with no contrast. Not exactly prize winning if you ask me.
After the handful of speeches, I left.
Would I trade this experience for anything else? Hell no. This was amazing. I had the time of my life and I hope I get the opportunity to experience this again. It’s something I will never forget; photographing the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup champions and all that goes with it.
For videos and other behind the scenes photos please visit my Instagram page!
Here is the link for more photos from both the 2023 and 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Finals
