Before Jason Demers heads out on his much-delayed honeymoon, he sits down with Adnan Virk to discuss Nikolaj Ehlers and the new-look Carolina Hurricanes, Jonathan Toews' arrival in Winnipeg and Gavin McKenna's huge announcement. Then legendary photographer Bruce Bennett joins the guys to talk about his illustrious career and his all-time favorite photograph. Finally, Adnan shamelessly promotes his upcoming book and the guys talk about the new CBA and the startling demand for Marc-Andre Fleury's services.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
Unscripted Coming at You, episode number forty one, and this
is a good one today. Bruce Bennett, legendary photographer the NHL,
(00:26):
has some great stories. Almost fifty years he's been documenting
in the great sport of hockey. I'll tell us his
favorite athlete to photograph and the challenges of being a
photographer after all these years, labor pieces here again, that's
great news for hockey as we will continue uninterrupted for
a while. And Plus, the final big names du get
signed is Nikolai Eeler's as I've been saying to the
Carolina Hurricanes. You begin though. Also, Cinephile is a book
(00:48):
coming out. Gotta promote that, right, This is the best
part of writing the book, Tall as you write the book.
The worst part is the nause hitting self promotion. I'll
tell my book coming in August twenty sixth. However, JD's
but to go on a dream trip to Italy. How
about that, Buddy, bags are packed.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Right to rock or what my bags are packed? I'm
ready to go. I'm standing here outside yo, do yeah?
Going on the honeymoon a year and a half late
to Italy with the wife. So we're leaving in about
a week and can't wait. We're gonna it's we looked
at our itinerary today and we're like, we did not
leave an ounce of room to to enjoy or doing it.
(01:24):
We're just we're just humming around. I mean, I travel,
I'm I like extreme traveling. I just like, let's just
get there, get around, and you know, take a lay
of the land. Because we once went to I think
Kawahi early in our relationship and we both were like
under the impression that we want to go lay on
a beach. So we like laid on the beach and
it was like twenty minutes and we like looked at
(01:44):
each other and like is that it? Like we get
in Hawaii, so we're gonna do a lot of sight seeing.
We're gonna do a lot of through Tuscany, a little
bit of wine, a little bit of truffles, can enjoy ourselves.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah. I generally find one day relax, one day get
after it.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I got to your pointment the beach thing is, it's
like if you're just sitting there doing nothing all week,
like this.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Is I mean, we can find a beach in Jersey,
somewhere in the Jersey shore right filled with trash and broken.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Dreams to Bruce by the Way episode in two weeks,
Wall jd is gone. There will be every other week
until closer to the start of the season. That's at
least talas hope. But we're gonna try to get a
new contract to there some point as well, so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, that is the important thing. Mage, Sure Daddy, Daddy
and Uncle Uncle av get paid here.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
One hundred percent. Speaking again paid.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Hey, let us remember the Carolina Hurricanes nikolaike Eelers we
spoke with this last week in NHL in scripted The
last Big Damer will fall six years, fifty one million dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Elliott Friedman report.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The Red Wings were interested, but the Dane wouldn't even
meet with them joining a talented Hurricanes team. So you
get Keantre Miller from the Rangers last time to an
eight year, sixty million dollar contract. Logan Stank covid the
Stank Daddy eight years forty eight million dollars. The Carolina
Hurricanes gdy for years have been played with the fact
they don't have a superstar player. They don't have that
big name. Obviously, we know what happened with Ranton and
(03:04):
being burned there. Now we've got Eelers, we got Miller,
we got Stank Daddy. How you feel about Rod Brindemore's.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Team, I mean better than Steve Eiserman's team, that's for sure.
Nobody wants to go play in Detroit. I don't know
what the hell's going on there, but yeah, I mean
Eelers was I think ended up becoming the biggest name
on the board because a lot of those top guys
went very fast, and I think that was to his benefit.
He got to choose. I mean, I'm interested in the choice,
(03:29):
but it was one of the I think eight or
nine teams that I said he'd go to. So I
can't really say that I'm demercial Damas because I said
about every single team, but I did say Carolinas one
of them. I think he's a good piece. I think
there he fits well in terms of his speed and
the way he likes to play a straight line game.
(03:49):
He can add some skill, some offense. They have another
kind of game breaking type player on their team that
they needed. So you got Stank Ofvin, you got Elers.
You know this is a team that I still think
all roads lead through the Florida Panthers. But this team
with ca Andre Miller and Nikole, they have gotten a
lot better and I think they are going to be
a very different looking hockey team. And if Rod brendanmore
(04:11):
can get the most out of Candre Miller on the
back end, because they know they lost a few players
back there, but if he can get the most out
of Candre Miller, I mean, we still all believe and
I think you guys would agree with me that you know,
Candre Miller's ceiling is very high, and if he decides
to play hockey the way that we all know he can,
I think he's going to be a force. So he's
going to really help this team if he can do that.
(04:32):
If he can't, obviously, well you know it's gonna happen.
They're just going to do the same thing they've done
every year. But yeah, good on Nikola. Eeler's picking the
team that you know was maybe a little bit off
the beaten path, but I think he's a great fit
for him.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
How much does it hurt the Jets losing Elers?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I mean it's they tried to, you know, fix it
with Tanner Pearson and Gustav Nyquist. But does it. I
think their system is still good enough and their decoor
is going to be good enough where they can sustain that,
and they also have Connor Hellbucks. You're going to make
the playoffs. They still have cap space. You look, they're
bringing Jonathan Tave so that's a kind of a swing
(05:09):
to see if Taser can come in and really impact
this team. But I don't know. I mean, listen, they
still got their top line in place. This is going
to be a team that does very well in the
central and Connor Hellbook's going to play another sixty to
sixty five games and be very good and be very
good around that's around their defensive style system that's very
(05:32):
tight and kind of protects him. So I think I'm
not worried about this team at all, and I think
they'll still be in I don't think this is a
make or break kind of player to lose, as much
as people think that it might be. I just think
Winnipeg's a very good team and a very deep team.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Tal has got a little scoop hero as we can
talk a little more about tapes doing a documentary like
Gabriel Landeskog.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Is that right, Tal, that's the scoop.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Can't reveal my sources, but yeah, I mean, I think
that's the thing for a lot of players, especially the
ones like Jonathan Taze who haven't interesting story to tell.
It sounds like he will have a crew around him
sort of documenting his return to the game and his
return to his hometown team.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
TAL two scoops Tal two scoops of Gelato for Tal. Yeah,
I had heard kind of rumblings that he was Netflix
was on board, and then they were trying to sell
to Netflix, and then that didn't work and then Amazon.
So I'm glad he got it. He's got an interest.
He's an interesting cat, that's for sure. I've I've hung
(06:35):
out with him a little bit. He lives in Scottsdale
in this area, so I've kind of I've I've been
boating with him crazy enough. And he's a nice guy,
different bird, different different human.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
What do you mean about that?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
He's just like, he's just very analytical. He's very you know,
you sees the deep thinker. Some would call it an
overthinker at times, but he's very like, he's very uh
and very introspective. So you know, a lot of a
lot of things that you don't necessarily expect up certain
hockey players. But you know, that's why he went and
(07:08):
got all this really out of the box treatment for
his ailments, and you know, went over to India and
did all sorts of crazy stuff and just he's just searching.
And I think that's not a bad thing. I think
it's a good thing for somebody like him that had
so much success and is now trying to maybe find
a different avenue back into the NHL and find a
(07:29):
different way to perform and you know, perform at his
level that he's accustomed to, which is the highest level possible.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That's well said, he missed the bast two seasons very solid.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That was well, he said, No, well.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I would go back.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I'd also add quickly, the guy's revered in Winnipeg. I mean,
I feel like not enough hasn't been made of that.
I was actually there at his Cup day when he
brought the cup there in twenty thirteen to the arena
with his name on it, and literally the whole city
came out to see this guy with the cup. It
was it was it was a pretty special moment for
the city of Winnipeg. I think him being on ice
(08:04):
wearing a Jets jersey is going to be huge for
that team.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Tell how did how did you get in there?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I was at NHL dot Com at the time. I
was actually there. Yeah, legit, Yeah, tell us about it.
Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
How you were a party crashing?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Let's no, no, I was there covering for NHL dot Com.
The family was there, the whole city was there. There
was a cop there who did not think I was
legit and kept asking me what I was doing there,
honestly because the stas having me around there for some reason.
I didn't have the stash back then, so maybe the
stash would have helped, but I needed They unveiled this
(08:42):
huge mural on the side of the building of Taves
when he brought the cup there and the picture the
mural didn't look a ton like him, but it was cool.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It was nice. He had kind of like a pig
nose in the mural. What is that? What is that?
What the murals and the statues.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Nowadays, there's Dwayne Wade to go. He doesn't look like
Dwayne Waite.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh my god, that.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
The Dwayne Wade statue feel to the mural but it
was huge. It was the whole side of like the building,
so it was very cool. And you know, he did
the whole thing where he had the private party, took
it to the arena, took it to the Children's hospital, like,
he did the whole thing all day, all around town.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
You know, usually those a lot of guys bring it
to like a small town like where the whole community
comes out. But that's like, you know, five hundred people.
If you get the whole city of Winnipeg coming out
for you and you're not even playing for the Jets,
you know, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you could tell he had done it.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
He'd won the Cup before by that point, but you
could tell it still meant a lot for him to
bring it out to that community.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Coming out of the party, Hills partied up at Earlstart Winnipeg.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Good stuff. There's Jatha tapes. Hepe thing get done with Winnipeg.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Happy trails to JD's former buddy, not former buddy, former
playing partner Mark Edward Laski's still friends of them. Sure
Shark's buying up the veteran defenseman two weeks ago after
nineteen seasons with the team tough ending to a great
run for the pickleman in San lel say. We mentioned
this though because JD's thoughts on the teamMy covers the Sharks,
Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liligrin, Shakiir Mohammadulan who Tyler to fully
(10:10):
shout out on the show. Vincent Deharney just signed Nick
Letty to meet your orlof John Klingbrook. Sam Dickinson drafted
eleventh overall last year, could get a look look at
Kegnoni let All rookie defenseman scoring the HL last season.
Talk to me about the Sharks defense right now, JD.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
A lot of lefties out there, but I think there's
some trade pieces. But yeah, they you know, I think
I was quietly texting with Tafoley at the deadline, saying, listen,
you guys need to get to the cap floor. I'll
take seven to fifty. And the true story, I texted
the GM too, and I said, I said, if you
(10:47):
let me get in shape for three four months, uh,
just sign me to seven to fifty. I'll come be
like a player coach and maybe get in a game
or two, but I'll just you know, I'll fill a
roster spot because you need that.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, but they did a good job.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You know, they probably looked at that and said maybe
and then said no, we gotta do some real work.
And they did.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
They think they got some really good pieces. And I
just picture the white board. They go, okay, here's planet
plant me Plants is signed to Merse. Okay, so that
isn't it's.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
There, it's open. I look good, my body's great, tight.
But no, I think get nick Lettie, guy that can skate,
smooth skating defenseman. I think Sam Dickinson is going to
be very good. He's he's a he's another smooth skating defenseman,
very big, very offensively minded. He's going to be playing
this year for sure. So yeah, there's there's there's pieces there.
(11:32):
You know. You bring in Dimitriorlov, which that was kind
of a surprise signing too. To me. I was like,
oh wow, he came here.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And I just think maybe the the market wasn't super
large for him, especially after you know recency bias. You
look at the playoffs he had against Florida and he
kind of got exposed, and I feel like that might
have hurt him, even though he had a really good season.
So he goes to San Jose. I mean, you got
a really good They got a better decour than people think.
(11:59):
And up front they're gonna be very dynamic. It's it's
gonna be an interesting year. They're gonna do better this year.
And I played golf with Tifolio and San Jose a
couple of weeks ago, and I was just like, listen,
it's it's not about making the playoffs this year for them.
You have to show improvement. It's like what they wanted
Chicago to do last year but didn't do. It's like
you need to maybe be you know, a win for
(12:22):
this team is being ten points outside the playoffs. That's
the win. You want to be ten points. You want
to be kind of in the hunt, but you're out
of it. But you're you know, you're there, Like you're
there and you've shown that you've taken a step forward.
You cannot be and they cannot accept being basement dwellers
once again. That is just a non negotiable. And I
just think if they do that then again and then
(12:42):
you're in trouble again. But I think they've taken all
the right steps and now it's kind of on the players.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
See what happens in San Jose. A couple more topics
where we get to Bruce Bennet. Big prospect news is
Gavin McKenna, presumed top pick next Simmer's draft, leaving Canada
to play college hockey for Penn State.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You talked to us before JD recruiting coup.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
For the Nitney Lions may have the frozen fourth this
year they lost to Boston University, but that's a huge
precedent now allowing Canadian junior hockey players to go play
US college hockey. McKenna had a huge season, doesn't turn
eighteen until December, First team All Star, Canadian Junior Hockey CHL,
Player of the Year. I want a town on the
Western Hockey League with medicine hat as well as the
Helnka Under eighteen.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Tournament for Canada. So Sky's limit for McKenna.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
But greater point to me for you is what does
this mean now kids playing junior hockey?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
No, I'll going to college. Well, I tell the.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Story, and I told it yesterday on Overdrive, which is
a Toronto radio show, and they asked me about this
and I said, when I was sixteen, I was drafted
to the Monks and Wildcats. I had a full ride
to go to Saint John's in New Hampshire prep school,
had a full ride everything. I was ready to go.
(13:49):
One essay of the of the year for them, amazing essay,
just you know, just pat myself on the back. Yeah, yeah,
I got some I got. I got a little tinge
in there of writing it is the touch touch of
the Shakespeare's nice but no, so I I was about
to go, and you were allowed back then to go
for two days to training camp in junior in junior
(14:12):
hockey in Canada, and after that you lose a year
of eligibility. So I go for the two days. I
made the tough decision. I was like, do I go
to Moncton and try this? Because I wasn't expecting to
get drafted, and you know, the guy that drafted me
was like, you know, we really want you to come.
We think you have a good opportunity. So I went there.
Didn't really have NHL in my mind. I wanted to
go to Saint Thomas and go to Harvard. That was
(14:33):
my as funny as that sounds, that's what I wanted
to do. So I ended up going to Monk to
New Brunswick, I go through the two days, I'm like, oh,
this is you know, it's been fun. I had a
good camp and getting ready to leave, getting ready to
pack my bag, and the coach calls me and says, hey,
you have a chance to make the team. So he's like,
you have to make the decision if you want to
stay or not. And I was like, man, do I
(14:55):
All of a sudden, I was like, what this is wild?
Like this is probably this is the only avenue to
the NHL of those days, like this is you know,
I didn't know a young kid from from you know, Montreal.
I was like, this is you play in junior hockey
to make the NHL. You don't play and you don't
go play prep school in college. And that was kind
of unheard of, and it was a longer road. So
I called my parents and decided to stay and then
(15:17):
end up losing eligibility but you know it and then
blowing my knee out that you were just hilarious. So
but it all worked out for me. But what I
get to say is like kids can now go at sixteen,
play junior for two years and then go play college.
I think it's a great thing for the for the sport.
I think it's a great thing for junior hockey in Canada.
If they do it right, I think they're gonna have
(15:38):
a younger league, but it's gonna be you're gonna mitigate
having those you know, nineteen twenty year olds that are
kind of done and not getting drafted and just kind
of hanging around. And you know, now those guys love
the opportunity to go to college and university in the
US or stay in Canada and go to college early
and bounce back and forth. So I think it's a
(15:59):
really good thing. I think McKenna go into Penn State.
I mean, that's just gonna change the culture of Penn
State hockey forever. Like this is just so enormous, so huge.
This will go down in the annals of hockey history.
Is like one of those you know, altering moments that really,
you know, not a ware were you moment, but it's
(16:19):
gonna shape the way that you know, teams go after
and university teams go after players and how they develop them.
So I think it's it's very good. I'm I'm a
big proponent of this. I really much enjoy it, and
uh I hope that it benefits Canadian hockey as much
as it's gonna benefit university.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I just look to shut up to the canals of
hockey history.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I want to say the anals, that's there was a
US politician recent the anals history always a little dice
when you see that coming up on the annals anals,
we're gonn nail this one.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
See what happens there?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Anal taking up the ass might be U s h
L now the same one. More thought for the oil
there's a big move Tuesday, your boy Isaac Howard from
the Tampa Lighting Samuel rilly So signs an entry level
deal to Oilers to finishing a standout junior season at
Michigan State, won the Hoby Baker Top Player in College hockey.
(17:14):
I know we wanted more from the Oilers, especially their
goal to day, but how big a move is this one?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, apparently like the way Isaac Carrotter is treated, he
did not like it the way he was treated by Tampa,
decides he wants to go to Edmonton. I think this
is a guy that they've been targeting for a little bit,
and I think it's a guy that wanted to come here.
I think it's one of those plug and play young players,
you know, like a you know, high you know, a
(17:39):
high scoring, high offensive, very skilled player that they need
on their top six right now. And I just think
he's one of those guys that can drop in and
be productive. How productive, I don't know, but this is
kind of one of those things with junior versus college
is he's a little bit older and he's gonna be
able to step in. How old is he right now?
Exactly what is he? Twenty one? From a researchers on it,
(18:04):
But yeah, it's it's one of those things that I
think they needed it, and it's they need a young
guy that's on a lower base salary that can come
in and produce like the Dylan Holloways and Ryan McCloud's
that they had once. They need that again in the
need to kind of refill their their their buckets.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I'm just surprised you said that he wasn't pleased with Tampa.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
To be Tampa only feels like a first one, first
class organizations.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I'm surprised that those.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Certain teams, if you told me, wasn't treated well by
I'm like, okay, I can see that, but Tampa, Like,
I'm surprised he wasn't pleased with it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Tal Confirmation twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
One, twenty one. I got it right, man, I'm I'm
pretty hot today.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, listen, you're about to go to Italy honeymoon a
year and a half later. I love the fact you
proposed in Egypt. Now honeymoon in Italy. I mean, that's
a pretty good counterplay. And a trip to Hawaii along
the way that was.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I mean, we've been to Budapeste together, We've been to Germany,
been to San Sebastian, Spain. We've been Iceland.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Iceland amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I love Iceland. I'd put my I'd go live there tomorrow.
Do you know what? Iceland? They release all the sheep
and like all like for most of the year because
there's no predators there. And then there's like a two
week kind of celebration where everybody goes and finds the sheep,
finds their sheep and slaughter. No, they just bring them
(19:20):
back to shear them. They got to share him. But
can you imagine, can you imagine, like you know, you know, Sammy,
the sheep's all the way across across island, Like if
he's seen Sammy, he's like he's all the way on
the other side of the islands, a.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Little sheep Iceland has a lot of greenery and Greenland
has a lot more ice.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
That's something you know, you learn as a kid. You go,
is that right, mcka, go to ice the greenery, So
don't blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, that was a stute. That was my load contribution.
Good news is Bruce Bennett's gonna be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Ace photographer for the NHL for so many years.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
He'll tell you his favorite player to photograph and his
favorite photograph of all time.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
It's coming up next after this.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
For almost fifty years, our next guest has been docuing
in the game of hockey with a camera and a smile.
He's a fixture of every major hockey event around the world,
covering six Olympics and more than five thousand NHL games,
while taking some of the most iconic photographs in the
history of the sport. He is also the answer to
the popular question, who's that guy on the ice at
the Stanley Cup Finals who looks like Albert Einstein?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It is the legend Bruce Bennett. Bruce, great to see you.
Thank you so much for gracing us.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Thanks so much for having me. Guys, good seeing you.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How did you even get started shooting this wonderful sport
of hockey?
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Justin nai eighteen year old kid shot some pictures from
the blue seats at Madison Square Garden and snuck into
the photo box at Nasau Coliseum. That was in seventy
three seventy four. Send him up to the famous Ken mackenzie,
the publisher of the Hockey News based out of mind
turioll back then, and he got back to me and said,
(21:08):
sure we could use some photos. We'll give you three
bucks a photo, and away we went the next season
in seventy four to seventy five.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That is unbelievable. I love that. What's you know from
seventy four to seventy five to now, Like, what are
some of the innovations you've seen that have changed and
kind of helped over the years.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Well, obviously computers and digital digital cameras. Now you know
you're back in the old days in the In the
earlier days, we'd have to take our film back process
it and then you would know you would screwed up
and miss the image. Now you know instantly on the
back of the camera that you screwed up and you
missed the image. But yeah, digital, the whole change in
(21:54):
photography is accelerated our learning curve to make sure we
stay on top of what's going on in the in
the photo world.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Do you just kick yourself when you go home back
in the day and you unwind the film and you're
in you're in there what is it called the dark room,
and you're just like, show Jesus, I just screwed this up.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, I still do that. Actually at games, people
who sit next to me, hear myself talking to myself.
Hear me talking to myself going, what is wrong with you? Like,
how could you miss it? It was right in front of you.
How do you? What is wrong? Where's your head? Bennett?
Get your head in the game. You know, things like that.
Sometimes it's out loud, sometimes it's just in my head.
(22:39):
But as I said, you instantly know that you screwed
up in the old days with manual focus. I mean
I lived with manual focus for more than thirty years.
Then you move to auto focus, which is definitely a
step up, but still is a learning curve on exactly
when to push that shutter and when guys or in
(22:59):
your range of focus. I mean back in the early days,
most of it was, you know, just a low percentage
that we're sharp and clear.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I'm sure it's like choose between children, Bruce, But are
there some favorite pictures of yours over the years.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
It's kind of hard getting through the probably two point
five million images to pick out the ten best. He's
got the number though, I've got summer. I've got like
two months of summer here. You got plenty of time
to go through that stuff. But yeah, like you're you know,
which is your favorite kid? It changes day to day.
Every time someone says, oh, you know, what are your
(23:36):
top ten? Something else sneaks in, like Ovechkin scoring this year,
scoring his record breaking goal all of a sudden, that's
snuck into the top ten for a few weeks. I
think it's still in there. It'll be in there for
another year or two until I keep producing more images
and find something else that I like a little bit better.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Is there something you like took in the moment You're like, ah,
this is really a nothing burger, But you know now
you're like, oh my god, that was just such an
iconic moment that I caught on film.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Yeah. Yeah, Usually those iconic moments, you know, you don't
expect them and all of a sudden something pops up
in front of you, or all of a sudden an
image takes wings and people start talking about it. The
one I would point to that a lot of people
have commented on through the years as a picture of
(24:30):
Bob Gainey on the shoulders of his Montreal Canadian teammates.
It's the back of him holding up the Stanley Cup.
And that was nineteen seventy nine. It was actually only
my second Stanley Cup presentation, the first one being in
seventy six, Montreal winning in Philadelphia. So I go up
(24:50):
to Montreal and back then, if you didn't speak French,
you were kind of out of luck in terms of
getting around things. Today, Yeah, that is a good point. Yeah,
I don't try as much anymore. But I couldn't get
on the ice at the end of the Stanley Cup presentation,
(25:12):
and I ran around the rink one way in a
security guard put his hand in my face. It ran
around the other way, and I guess my inexperience, you know,
showed and I'm sure there was probably a pregame meeting
somewhere where they explained what the rules were. Long story short,
I ended up getting back to near where my photo
(25:35):
position was behind the net, stood on some chairs and
the patrons there were great. They actually steadied me to
make sure I didn't fall while they were cheering for
their beloved Canadians. And the only shot that I got
was the back of Bob Ganey holding up to Stanley Cup.
Little did I know that that would be on the
cover of three different books through the years and was
(25:57):
more symbolic of you know, with hands holding up Bob
Ganey him holding up the cup. It was more became
symbolic about teamwork and camaraderie that it takes to win
the Stanley Cup.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, it's a great point. Some of my favorite pictures
are like that, Bruce. It's like it's not just a
head on shot. It's not a profile shots from behind,
it's in silhouette, it's images dark and like that's as
you said, that's kind of where the magic happens sometimes, right,
that act of serendipity where a specific moment can become
something universal.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean sometimes we plan things out, like
I say, sometimes, you know, some photographers take photos, others
make photos, and throughout my career most of it I
was taking photos I was shooting what was in front
of me. As you get more experience in the industry,
(26:48):
you make photos, You plan out where remote cameras are
going to be, You plan out how to play with
a lighting a little bit better than you did in
the earlier days, how to actually create something. And those
are the ones you take more pride and because you
worked hard at something and maybe you maybe you did
(27:08):
several times until you got it right. One case in point,
Barbrovski does this thing to start each period where he
takes a sip of water, it looks up at the
rafters and spits it up and it lands all over
his face, I would assume, so that I planned out.
I don't see Florida as often in my local arenas
because of the alignment, so I put a camera over
(27:33):
the net because all I want to do is catch
him looking straight up and having that water spray. So,
of course, the first game, Florida comes in, the backup
goalie plays, so that was no luck. Second game they
come in cameras out of focus, so that was no luck.
And we're talking over over two seasons basically, and finally
third or fourth time was a charm where everything worked
(27:55):
out the exposure, the lighting, the spray. So I was
proud of the shot. It probably wasn't a great shot,
not a historic shot, but something that I worked hard
to achieve.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Yeah, but it's like the time you put in the effort,
and you know, it's very similar to making a scouting
report for an NHL hockey game as a player, like
you're getting ready to play. You know something might go wrong,
it might not go perfect, but you at least you
make those preparations. So is that do you have to
really study every not every single player, but the players
(28:31):
that are important to you.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, Preparation is key. Preparation is key. I start off
early in the morning. When I wake at around seven,
I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm like
run to the computer. I look for the wait for
the NHL media notes to come in. I go through
the roster. I take a look at players. Usually, you know,
when the when the Western teams come into my Eastern cities,
(28:55):
usually I go, oh my god, this guy is still playing,
you know, play Comos on his thirty seventh NHL team.
It's it's ridiculous. You know, there are guys who just
keep reappearing. Travis Hammonik. You know the guys who played
in Islanders and I shot him so many times. All
of a sudden, where is this guy now? But I
look through the rosters, I mark them up with my
(29:16):
own little code. Is a guy looking for his first
NHL goal? Is it his first game? Is somebody else
going to be dressing for the game? I haven't seen
them in that uniform before. So I do that homework.
Then during the day, I go back and I take
a look at the roster again and I go, Okay,
this guy's propensity, the team's propensity might be to shoot
(29:36):
the puck in So chances are tonight there's going to
be a lot of dump and chase. What side of
the ice? You know, if there are superstars, what side
of the ice do I really want to be focused
on that. I need to be more concerned about getting
let's call it stock images of a player for trading cards,
for the vendors who do posters and prints. There is
(30:00):
a lot of work that goes into it. And when
we set up our remote cameras in the arenas, which
is a big part of a coverage, I take that
all into consideration.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Cup celebrations are always special Bruce.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It kind of goes back to your pointment saying, you
don't just take photos, you make photos. At this point,
having seen them so many times, what are you looking
to do to make that Cup celebration picture unique?
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yeah, it's interesting through the years how the Cup celebration
has evolved from all our brawl on the wall on
the ice with all the photographers punching and kicking each other.
And I mean one of the early years, one of
the gretz Ski years, I remember just being smushed up
in front of him in the cup and the fear
(30:41):
in his eyes, and he's just saying, put back up.
Everybody back up. And I'm with all my five foot
seven and one hundred and fifty pounds and I'm pushing
back as hard as they can and bigger guys and
pushing me into him. NHL got it that under control.
And how many people are on the ice, how many
people are allowed to run on the ice, how many
(31:02):
stand on the carpet. But of course that iconic shot
of the players holding up the cup, that's the first
go that's the first shot, and then what else supplements
that to also tell the story. The team shot, of course,
is a big one that Gretzky started in the eighties
getting the team together for that informal shot. That's a
big one, and in more recent years there are other
(31:25):
images with remote cameras that have taken hold and people
love seeing. That's a camera on the goal light stanchion
directly behind the net where the players come off the
bench and they come towards the goaltender and the goaltenders
flying up in the air, sticks gloves and puck. You know,
sticks and gloves flying in the air. That's become a
(31:45):
staple of our Stanley Cup Championship imagery and this year,
you know Stanley Cup, I work with the team, so
it's Getty Images and is who I'm with, and we
decide who will be the best photographers either geographically, who
have big experience in a certain arena, which photographers we
(32:07):
bring in to supplement the coverage. Everyone does remote cameras.
This year it just kind of laid out that I
was able to do. One of the other staples as
it's become in the industry is the wide shot from
the catwalk as all the players are dancing across the
ice with the gloves and the sticks flying in the air,
going towards the goaltender. So it's a backed up view
(32:31):
and a very graphic view because the ice is just
littered with all the players equipment as they dance across
the ice to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Is that your decision or that's left completely up to
you or is there a lot of kind of back
and forth into going into that.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Yeah. I direct our coverage for Getty Images, so all
the hockey falls on me, and my experience always open
to photographers that I bring in who come up with
different angles and think outside the box. But typically what
we say is this is what we must have. This
(33:08):
is our coverage. We need to ensure not only with
handheld cameras but with remote cameras, that we ensure that
history is recorded. So I do this crazy map which
my editors hate, and usually the photographers go just tell
me where I need to be and where my remote
cameras need to be. But it's a matter of visualizing
(33:31):
that if a player scores and he goes into the
far left Zamboni corner, will there be a camera there
to capture him. Yeah, And that's constantly the insurance that
we need to make sure that for the NHL and
Forgetty images for our clients. That history is captured and ensured,
you know, for all time.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I mean, all the intricacies are so fascinating. Bruce here
and I just I see the Gretzki jersey on your wall.
Do you have a favorite Gretzky shot or moment around Wayne?
Speaker 5 (34:04):
You know, it's weird, like there's a there's one in
the background where he's scoring against Buffalo to break Esposito's record. Yeah,
And the fact is it's a pretty mundane, boring image
when you look at it, But the puck is going
across across the goal, the goal line. It is a
piece of hockey history. That image has probably been used,
(34:29):
you know, licensed properly thirty times and probably bootlegged across
the internet two hundred and seventy five thousand times. So
to me, it's kind of a boring shot, but it
is that historic moment. But Gretzky. Gretzky was always a
hard guy to photograph because he was so elusive, not
only to me but to defenders, very erratic skating pattern.
(34:55):
Nothing really stands out to me as being, you know,
an overly great image of him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Wow, how about to say, how about a favorite guy
to photograph. They're candidly like off the ice just gives
you lots of personality, lots of different looks, or somebody
on the ice you found like you were able to
capture his game.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
So well, yeah, I always liked the guys who were
the challenge. I mean Connor McDavid. I mean, I just
eat up any game that he's on the ice. I mean,
obviously it's kind of odd because you know, you guys
look at it from the video perspective, and I guess
most people do. Like you watch a video of him
(35:31):
slicing through defenders and it's I mean it's pure gold.
I mean watching him skate, just the power and the
strides and for me being at you know, a thousandth
of a second or twelve fifty of a second, you're
trying to get a freeze frame of him that tells
really the story of the speed and the agility, maybe
(35:53):
the skate digging into the ice with a little bit
of snow flying. Players like that that are super fast
and dynamic and unpredictable, those are my favorite players to
shoot because it's it's such a challenge.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, you've made it look easier over the years, and
I know it's anything but Bruce Bennett, legendary photographer of
the NHL for so many years. It's been amazing just
to look at all that you've captured, Bruce, and I
appreciate the insight here with us.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Yeah, thanks guys. Great being with.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You, cinefil and sixty. That's right, I finally joined the ranks.
I see if tal Pinchewski can do it, clearly I
can do it too. My book, Cinophile Interviews, Essays and
Tails from the Red Carpet, will.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Be available August twenty six. You can pre order right
now on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
We'll put the link out here on social Maybe we'll
get this clip out there. It's a ton of fun
to write a book, jend. I'm so happy I was
able to do. Listen three hundred and thirty six episodes
of Cinephile. You knew the book was coming eventually. Interviews
with DeNiro, Margo, Robbie, Mark Wahlbergharst Law Lee, Matthew McConaughey,
too many account essays as well. It was a blast, buddy,
and thank you in advance for the social media support.
You tweeted me you want an autograph copy. I appreciate
(37:01):
you we'll get the word out.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
This is great. Oh my, am I going to get
the autograph copy?
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So a couple of people ask the first question, go
autograph copy, how does that happen? And I go, I'll
find out for the publisher and they say, well, you'll
sign a certain amount and then we can we can
ship those whoever wants the autograph copy. And then somebody
else asked you for an audiobook and I go, come on, like,
I'm not Yeah, that'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
You doing your own audio book. I I mean I.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Have, but my comment was I'm not that big a deal.
They go, well, no, but think about you're a broadcaster.
How could you not do the audiobook? So I check
with the publisher. He goes, decent chance that will happen
as well, and then they go, what about a kindle?
He goes, yep, kindle available as well, So we're thether thing.
I goes, I don't like going online, no offense, I'm
not a priority guy.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I'm with you. He goes, Barnes and Noble will definitely
have the book. So a beilboere of our.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Bookstores are sold. Go ahead, Wow, no, I mean I
love it. If only you know we'd get back like
this this, that'd be great. We'd be off to the races.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
If we had that kind of support.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
You're saying, yeah, we'd be cooking right now.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I wanted to mention though, my buddy Randall Thorne. Our
team so proud of him. So he we're college roommates,
not college roommates, college buddies way back in the day
at Ryerson now TMU.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
He makes it movie called.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Forty Acres starring Danielle Deadwiler, came out to the Toronto
Film Festival last year. I flow up just for the premiere.
It was awesome with the whole gang together, and he
gets a deal with mag NOOI. The movie was just
released July fourth weekend, so I was texting, was this amazing?
If a movie opening July fourth up against Jurassic World
Jurassic worlds in forty eight hundred theaters?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
How many theaters you? And he was three hundred.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Well per screen average, You're gonna crush it. I got
to tell you, forty acres. I'm so proud of Randall.
This movie currently on Rotten Tweeno says that ninety one
percent according to critics and eighty eight percent for the
fans amazing. I want to read you a little bit.
Ty Burr is my favorite film. Critics like, let's see
what Ti versays. Forty Acres three and a half stars
a genre movie the way geenre movies are supposed to
be but rarely are. It invigorates an old premise with
(38:41):
fresh ideas, layers, well crafted action with thematic richness both
committed performances, and is so taught with tension that the
audience might snap before the characters due. The setting is
twelve years after the pandemic. Essentially, he's mixing basically zombies
with you know, families. Rama really smooth, the smoothly gliding
camera work, the evocative score, brooding movie music with brief
(39:02):
eruptions of hip hop, the weazing of every bit of
juice from a minimal budget and a minimalist location. This
is a movie to see and a director to watch.
Go watch forty acres in theaters.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Now, Wow, that was sexual.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Tiber is unbelievable. He's a help.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I've heerd. I'm so suppled down to my plums.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
A couple thoughts before we say goodbye and again, We'll
be back in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Great news.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
JD labor pieces here, NHL NHL Player Association, four year CBA,
we're good till twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty. The
other sports of jels. We get these things done like that.
We don't have to all the details. A bottom line
is this a couple more games being added right, eighty
two to eighty four. What else would you like to
see here added to the CBA?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Ah, I man, I wish I CBA going back to
starting earlier and finishing earlier. I know that's a hot topic.
I think it's gotten a little long. I just think,
but it's gonna be tough with four nations doing so
well now, I mean, we're screwed. It's gonna be every
other year for the Olympic after the Olympics, so we're
(40:07):
absolutely hoofed. So we're we're in this for the long haul.
And and you know, I think they got some stuff done.
I mean, listen, the the NHL wants this more than
I think the PA does. And I think there's not
enough for the NHL PA to really nitpick at. So
why wouldn't you, you know, ruin a good thing. Caps
going up, guys are getting paid more and the league's
(40:31):
in a healthy, healthy place. So I just think it's
it's new TV deal signed, it's it's one of those
tough ones. I don't really know what you had, other
than some, you know ones like when I was in
the locker where it was like can we get our
own roommates like stuff like that, like you know, just
just little little, little wild things. But no, overall, I
I really do like it. It's it is what it is.
It's I think the fans don't have to be nervous
(40:53):
and think about this. It's hockey. Hockey goes on on,
the show, keeps on.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
What about three on three OT?
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I mean we talked about that, which they change rules
in that, but that's more general managers meetings over the CBA.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
No good point bottom line.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I like, swat you there, No, it's good.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
I throw it out there and you go, no, that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Next.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
I'm just glad that at least, as you said in
baseball listen, we have a looming locket hit him next year.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Everyone's already talk about it's so great hockey is we're not.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
We're taking care of NBA new deal sizes baseball like,
oh my god, ar Mageddon. This is gonna be insane.
They're gonna lose an entire season. It's a year and
a half away. They're talking about now in hockey like, no,
we're all good, everyone gets along.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Well, because I think the MLB, I think the players
bent over the owners years ago. Now it's like the
revenge is coming. And I think the players they're holding
pat because why wouldn't you when you get a deal
that good. You know, Don Fair did what he should
have done for us.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Don, if you're amazing in baseball, struggled in hockey.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah, well that just goes to show Gary Bettman GB
bent him over.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Happy Triols.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Tyler Johnson, by the way, announcing his retirement this week,
I want to mention though, speaking of guys recently retired
Mark Andrew Flury interesting comm player agentp Al Walls, who
said on his podcast five different teams reached out to
him ask if there's anyway Flower could come back. I
think it's best just to go off into the sunset.
He's an incredible career. What do you think, though, could
Mark Andre Fleury be back on the ice next season?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
He No, I don't think so, but I mean that's
that is wild that five teams. It just goes to
show you and you're a good backup. It's like being
a good backup quarterback. You're just so sought after and
you could play forever because you come in. He's taking
care of himself. You just come in when you can
and then you know you're just whole hum every single
(42:48):
year like it's just wild. And he's a great teammate.
So that's that's just amazing. It's hard to find good
backup goalies that you can just rely on year in
and year out. And so it's Marc Andre Fleury could
have a job for the next twenty if you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
It's gonna say, if you're a good guy and can
get it done this in ten twenty games, Flower couldld
do that.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Of course we shall sell you. Anyways, this was a
ton of fun here at NHL Unscripted. JD enjoy the honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
We'll be back in a couple of weeks as we
continue her in NHL Unscripted. NHL Unscripted is a production
of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(43:34):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts,
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
Unscripted Coming at You, episode number forty one, and this
is a good one today. Bruce Bennett, legendary photographer the NHL,
(00:26):
has some great stories. Almost fifty years he's been documenting
in the great sport of hockey. I'll tell us his
favorite athlete to photograph and the challenges of being a
photographer after all these years, labor pieces here again, that's
great news for hockey as we will continue uninterrupted for
a while. And Plus, the final big names du get
signed is Nikolai Eeler's as I've been saying to the
Carolina Hurricanes. You begin though. Also, Cinephile is a book
(00:48):
coming out. Gotta promote that, right, This is the best
part of writing the book, Tall as you write the book.
The worst part is the nause hitting self promotion. I'll
tell my book coming in August twenty sixth. However, JD's
but to go on a dream trip to Italy. How
about that, Buddy, bags are packed.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Right to rock or what my bags are packed? I'm
ready to go. I'm standing here outside yo, do yeah?
Going on the honeymoon a year and a half late
to Italy with the wife. So we're leaving in about
a week and can't wait. We're gonna it's we looked
at our itinerary today and we're like, we did not
leave an ounce of room to to enjoy or doing it.
(01:24):
We're just we're just humming around. I mean, I travel,
I'm I like extreme traveling. I just like, let's just
get there, get around, and you know, take a lay
of the land. Because we once went to I think
Kawahi early in our relationship and we both were like
under the impression that we want to go lay on
a beach. So we like laid on the beach and
it was like twenty minutes and we like looked at
(01:44):
each other and like is that it? Like we get
in Hawaii, so we're gonna do a lot of sight seeing.
We're gonna do a lot of through Tuscany, a little
bit of wine, a little bit of truffles, can enjoy ourselves.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah. I generally find one day relax, one day get
after it.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I got to your pointment the beach thing is, it's
like if you're just sitting there doing nothing all week,
like this.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Is I mean, we can find a beach in Jersey,
somewhere in the Jersey shore right filled with trash and broken.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Dreams to Bruce by the Way episode in two weeks,
Wall jd is gone. There will be every other week
until closer to the start of the season. That's at
least talas hope. But we're gonna try to get a
new contract to there some point as well, so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, that is the important thing. Mage, Sure Daddy, Daddy
and Uncle Uncle av get paid here.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
One hundred percent. Speaking again paid.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Hey, let us remember the Carolina Hurricanes nikolaike Eelers we
spoke with this last week in NHL in scripted The
last Big Damer will fall six years, fifty one million dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Elliott Friedman report.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The Red Wings were interested, but the Dane wouldn't even
meet with them joining a talented Hurricanes team. So you
get Keantre Miller from the Rangers last time to an
eight year, sixty million dollar contract. Logan Stank covid the
Stank Daddy eight years forty eight million dollars. The Carolina
Hurricanes gdy for years have been played with the fact
they don't have a superstar player. They don't have that
big name. Obviously, we know what happened with Ranton and
(03:04):
being burned there. Now we've got Eelers, we got Miller,
we got Stank Daddy. How you feel about Rod Brindemore's.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Team, I mean better than Steve Eiserman's team, that's for sure.
Nobody wants to go play in Detroit. I don't know
what the hell's going on there, but yeah, I mean
Eelers was I think ended up becoming the biggest name
on the board because a lot of those top guys
went very fast, and I think that was to his benefit.
He got to choose. I mean, I'm interested in the choice,
(03:29):
but it was one of the I think eight or
nine teams that I said he'd go to. So I
can't really say that I'm demercial Damas because I said
about every single team, but I did say Carolinas one
of them. I think he's a good piece. I think
there he fits well in terms of his speed and
the way he likes to play a straight line game.
(03:49):
He can add some skill, some offense. They have another
kind of game breaking type player on their team that
they needed. So you got Stank Ofvin, you got Elers.
You know this is a team that I still think
all roads lead through the Florida Panthers. But this team
with ca Andre Miller and Nikole, they have gotten a
lot better and I think they are going to be
a very different looking hockey team. And if Rod brendanmore
(04:11):
can get the most out of Candre Miller on the
back end, because they know they lost a few players
back there, but if he can get the most out
of Candre Miller, I mean, we still all believe and
I think you guys would agree with me that you know,
Candre Miller's ceiling is very high, and if he decides
to play hockey the way that we all know he can,
I think he's going to be a force. So he's
going to really help this team if he can do that.
(04:32):
If he can't, obviously, well you know it's gonna happen.
They're just going to do the same thing they've done
every year. But yeah, good on Nikola. Eeler's picking the
team that you know was maybe a little bit off
the beaten path, but I think he's a great fit
for him.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
How much does it hurt the Jets losing Elers?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I mean it's they tried to, you know, fix it
with Tanner Pearson and Gustav Nyquist. But does it. I
think their system is still good enough and their decoor
is going to be good enough where they can sustain that,
and they also have Connor Hellbucks. You're going to make
the playoffs. They still have cap space. You look, they're
bringing Jonathan Tave so that's a kind of a swing
(05:09):
to see if Taser can come in and really impact
this team. But I don't know. I mean, listen, they
still got their top line in place. This is going
to be a team that does very well in the
central and Connor Hellbook's going to play another sixty to
sixty five games and be very good and be very
good around that's around their defensive style system that's very
(05:32):
tight and kind of protects him. So I think I'm
not worried about this team at all, and I think
they'll still be in I don't think this is a
make or break kind of player to lose, as much
as people think that it might be. I just think
Winnipeg's a very good team and a very deep team.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Tal has got a little scoop hero as we can
talk a little more about tapes doing a documentary like
Gabriel Landeskog.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Is that right, Tal, that's the scoop.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Can't reveal my sources, but yeah, I mean, I think
that's the thing for a lot of players, especially the
ones like Jonathan Taze who haven't interesting story to tell.
It sounds like he will have a crew around him
sort of documenting his return to the game and his
return to his hometown team.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
TAL two scoops Tal two scoops of Gelato for Tal. Yeah,
I had heard kind of rumblings that he was Netflix
was on board, and then they were trying to sell
to Netflix, and then that didn't work and then Amazon.
So I'm glad he got it. He's got an interest.
He's an interesting cat, that's for sure. I've I've hung
(06:35):
out with him a little bit. He lives in Scottsdale
in this area, so I've kind of I've I've been
boating with him crazy enough. And he's a nice guy,
different bird, different different human.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
What do you mean about that?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
He's just like, he's just very analytical. He's very you know,
you sees the deep thinker. Some would call it an
overthinker at times, but he's very like, he's very uh
and very introspective. So you know, a lot of a
lot of things that you don't necessarily expect up certain
hockey players. But you know, that's why he went and
(07:08):
got all this really out of the box treatment for
his ailments, and you know, went over to India and
did all sorts of crazy stuff and just he's just searching.
And I think that's not a bad thing. I think
it's a good thing for somebody like him that had
so much success and is now trying to maybe find
a different avenue back into the NHL and find a
(07:29):
different way to perform and you know, perform at his
level that he's accustomed to, which is the highest level possible.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That's well said, he missed the bast two seasons very solid.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That was well, he said, No, well.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I would go back.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I'd also add quickly, the guy's revered in Winnipeg. I mean,
I feel like not enough hasn't been made of that.
I was actually there at his Cup day when he
brought the cup there in twenty thirteen to the arena
with his name on it, and literally the whole city
came out to see this guy with the cup. It
was it was it was a pretty special moment for
the city of Winnipeg. I think him being on ice
(08:04):
wearing a Jets jersey is going to be huge for
that team.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Tell how did how did you get in there?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I was at NHL dot Com at the time. I
was actually there. Yeah, legit, Yeah, tell us about it.
Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
How you were a party crashing?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Let's no, no, I was there covering for NHL dot Com.
The family was there, the whole city was there. There
was a cop there who did not think I was
legit and kept asking me what I was doing there,
honestly because the stas having me around there for some reason.
I didn't have the stash back then, so maybe the
stash would have helped, but I needed They unveiled this
(08:42):
huge mural on the side of the building of Taves
when he brought the cup there and the picture the
mural didn't look a ton like him, but it was cool.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
It was nice. He had kind of like a pig
nose in the mural. What is that? What is that?
What the murals and the statues.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Nowadays, there's Dwayne Wade to go. He doesn't look like
Dwayne Waite.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh my god, that.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
The Dwayne Wade statue feel to the mural but it
was huge. It was the whole side of like the building,
so it was very cool. And you know, he did
the whole thing where he had the private party, took
it to the arena, took it to the Children's hospital, like,
he did the whole thing all day, all around town.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
You know, usually those a lot of guys bring it
to like a small town like where the whole community
comes out. But that's like, you know, five hundred people.
If you get the whole city of Winnipeg coming out
for you and you're not even playing for the Jets,
you know, that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you could tell he had done it.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
He'd won the Cup before by that point, but you
could tell it still meant a lot for him to
bring it out to that community.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Coming out of the party, Hills partied up at Earlstart Winnipeg.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Good stuff. There's Jatha tapes. Hepe thing get done with Winnipeg.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Happy trails to JD's former buddy, not former buddy, former
playing partner Mark Edward Laski's still friends of them. Sure
Shark's buying up the veteran defenseman two weeks ago after
nineteen seasons with the team tough ending to a great
run for the pickleman in San lel say. We mentioned
this though because JD's thoughts on the teamMy covers the Sharks,
Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liligrin, Shakiir Mohammadulan who Tyler to fully
(10:10):
shout out on the show. Vincent Deharney just signed Nick
Letty to meet your orlof John Klingbrook. Sam Dickinson drafted
eleventh overall last year, could get a look look at
Kegnoni let All rookie defenseman scoring the HL last season.
Talk to me about the Sharks defense right now, JD.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
A lot of lefties out there, but I think there's
some trade pieces. But yeah, they you know, I think
I was quietly texting with Tafoley at the deadline, saying, listen,
you guys need to get to the cap floor. I'll
take seven to fifty. And the true story, I texted
the GM too, and I said, I said, if you
(10:47):
let me get in shape for three four months, uh,
just sign me to seven to fifty. I'll come be
like a player coach and maybe get in a game
or two, but I'll just you know, I'll fill a
roster spot because you need that.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, but they did a good job.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You know, they probably looked at that and said maybe
and then said no, we gotta do some real work.
And they did.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
They think they got some really good pieces. And I
just picture the white board. They go, okay, here's planet
plant me Plants is signed to Merse. Okay, so that
isn't it's.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
There, it's open. I look good, my body's great, tight.
But no, I think get nick Lettie, guy that can skate,
smooth skating defenseman. I think Sam Dickinson is going to
be very good. He's he's a he's another smooth skating defenseman,
very big, very offensively minded. He's going to be playing
this year for sure. So yeah, there's there's there's pieces there.
(11:32):
You know. You bring in Dimitriorlov, which that was kind
of a surprise signing too. To me. I was like,
oh wow, he came here.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And I just think maybe the the market wasn't super
large for him, especially after you know recency bias. You
look at the playoffs he had against Florida and he
kind of got exposed, and I feel like that might
have hurt him, even though he had a really good season.
So he goes to San Jose. I mean, you got
a really good They got a better decour than people think.
(11:59):
And up front they're gonna be very dynamic. It's it's
gonna be an interesting year. They're gonna do better this year.
And I played golf with Tifolio and San Jose a
couple of weeks ago, and I was just like, listen,
it's it's not about making the playoffs this year for them.
You have to show improvement. It's like what they wanted
Chicago to do last year but didn't do. It's like
you need to maybe be you know, a win for
(12:22):
this team is being ten points outside the playoffs. That's
the win. You want to be ten points. You want
to be kind of in the hunt, but you're out
of it. But you're you know, you're there, Like you're
there and you've shown that you've taken a step forward.
You cannot be and they cannot accept being basement dwellers
once again. That is just a non negotiable. And I
just think if they do that then again and then
(12:42):
you're in trouble again. But I think they've taken all
the right steps and now it's kind of on the players.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
See what happens in San Jose. A couple more topics
where we get to Bruce Bennet. Big prospect news is
Gavin McKenna, presumed top pick next Simmer's draft, leaving Canada
to play college hockey for Penn State.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You talked to us before JD recruiting coup.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
For the Nitney Lions may have the frozen fourth this
year they lost to Boston University, but that's a huge
precedent now allowing Canadian junior hockey players to go play
US college hockey. McKenna had a huge season, doesn't turn
eighteen until December, First team All Star, Canadian Junior Hockey CHL,
Player of the Year. I want a town on the
Western Hockey League with medicine hat as well as the
Helnka Under eighteen.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Tournament for Canada. So Sky's limit for McKenna.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
But greater point to me for you is what does
this mean now kids playing junior hockey?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
No, I'll going to college. Well, I tell the.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Story, and I told it yesterday on Overdrive, which is
a Toronto radio show, and they asked me about this
and I said, when I was sixteen, I was drafted
to the Monks and Wildcats. I had a full ride
to go to Saint John's in New Hampshire prep school,
had a full ride everything. I was ready to go.
(13:49):
One essay of the of the year for them, amazing essay,
just you know, just pat myself on the back. Yeah, yeah,
I got some I got. I got a little tinge
in there of writing it is the touch touch of
the Shakespeare's nice but no, so I I was about
to go, and you were allowed back then to go
for two days to training camp in junior in junior
(14:12):
hockey in Canada, and after that you lose a year
of eligibility. So I go for the two days. I
made the tough decision. I was like, do I go
to Moncton and try this? Because I wasn't expecting to
get drafted, and you know, the guy that drafted me
was like, you know, we really want you to come.
We think you have a good opportunity. So I went there.
Didn't really have NHL in my mind. I wanted to
go to Saint Thomas and go to Harvard. That was
(14:33):
my as funny as that sounds, that's what I wanted
to do. So I ended up going to Monk to
New Brunswick, I go through the two days, I'm like, oh,
this is you know, it's been fun. I had a
good camp and getting ready to leave, getting ready to
pack my bag, and the coach calls me and says, hey,
you have a chance to make the team. So he's like,
you have to make the decision if you want to
stay or not. And I was like, man, do I
(14:55):
All of a sudden, I was like, what this is wild?
Like this is probably this is the only avenue to
the NHL of those days, like this is you know,
I didn't know a young kid from from you know, Montreal.
I was like, this is you play in junior hockey
to make the NHL. You don't play and you don't
go play prep school in college. And that was kind
of unheard of, and it was a longer road. So
I called my parents and decided to stay and then
(15:17):
end up losing eligibility but you know it and then
blowing my knee out that you were just hilarious. So
but it all worked out for me. But what I
get to say is like kids can now go at sixteen,
play junior for two years and then go play college.
I think it's a great thing for the for the sport.
I think it's a great thing for junior hockey in Canada.
If they do it right, I think they're gonna have
(15:38):
a younger league, but it's gonna be you're gonna mitigate
having those you know, nineteen twenty year olds that are
kind of done and not getting drafted and just kind
of hanging around. And you know, now those guys love
the opportunity to go to college and university in the
US or stay in Canada and go to college early
and bounce back and forth. So I think it's a
(15:59):
really good thing. I think McKenna go into Penn State.
I mean, that's just gonna change the culture of Penn
State hockey forever. Like this is just so enormous, so huge.
This will go down in the annals of hockey history.
Is like one of those you know, altering moments that really,
you know, not a ware were you moment, but it's
(16:19):
gonna shape the way that you know, teams go after
and university teams go after players and how they develop them.
So I think it's it's very good. I'm I'm a
big proponent of this. I really much enjoy it, and
uh I hope that it benefits Canadian hockey as much
as it's gonna benefit university.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I just look to shut up to the canals of
hockey history.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I want to say the anals, that's there was a
US politician recent the anals history always a little dice
when you see that coming up on the annals anals,
we're gonn nail this one.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
See what happens there?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Anal taking up the ass might be U s h
L now the same one. More thought for the oil
there's a big move Tuesday, your boy Isaac Howard from
the Tampa Lighting Samuel rilly So signs an entry level
deal to Oilers to finishing a standout junior season at
Michigan State, won the Hoby Baker Top Player in College hockey.
(17:14):
I know we wanted more from the Oilers, especially their
goal to day, but how big a move is this one?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, apparently like the way Isaac Carrotter is treated, he
did not like it the way he was treated by Tampa,
decides he wants to go to Edmonton. I think this
is a guy that they've been targeting for a little bit,
and I think it's a guy that wanted to come here.
I think it's one of those plug and play young players,
you know, like a you know, high you know, a
(17:39):
high scoring, high offensive, very skilled player that they need
on their top six right now. And I just think
he's one of those guys that can drop in and
be productive. How productive, I don't know, but this is
kind of one of those things with junior versus college
is he's a little bit older and he's gonna be
able to step in. How old is he right now?
Exactly what is he? Twenty one? From a researchers on it,
(18:04):
But yeah, it's it's one of those things that I
think they needed it, and it's they need a young
guy that's on a lower base salary that can come
in and produce like the Dylan Holloways and Ryan McCloud's
that they had once. They need that again in the
need to kind of refill their their their buckets.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I'm just surprised you said that he wasn't pleased with Tampa.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
To be Tampa only feels like a first one, first
class organizations.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I'm surprised that those.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Certain teams, if you told me, wasn't treated well by
I'm like, okay, I can see that, but Tampa, Like,
I'm surprised he wasn't pleased with it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Tal Confirmation twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
One, twenty one. I got it right, man, I'm I'm
pretty hot today.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, listen, you're about to go to Italy honeymoon a
year and a half later. I love the fact you
proposed in Egypt. Now honeymoon in Italy. I mean, that's
a pretty good counterplay. And a trip to Hawaii along
the way that was.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I mean, we've been to Budapeste together, We've been to Germany,
been to San Sebastian, Spain. We've been Iceland.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Iceland amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I love Iceland. I'd put my I'd go live there tomorrow.
Do you know what? Iceland? They release all the sheep
and like all like for most of the year because
there's no predators there. And then there's like a two
week kind of celebration where everybody goes and finds the sheep,
finds their sheep and slaughter. No, they just bring them
(19:20):
back to shear them. They got to share him. But
can you imagine, can you imagine, like you know, you know, Sammy,
the sheep's all the way across across island, Like if
he's seen Sammy, he's like he's all the way on
the other side of the islands, a.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Little sheep Iceland has a lot of greenery and Greenland
has a lot more ice.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
That's something you know, you learn as a kid. You go,
is that right, mcka, go to ice the greenery, So
don't blow your mind.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, that was a stute. That was my load contribution.
Good news is Bruce Bennett's gonna be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Ace photographer for the NHL for so many years.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
He'll tell you his favorite player to photograph and his
favorite photograph of all time.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
It's coming up next after this.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
For almost fifty years, our next guest has been docuing
in the game of hockey with a camera and a smile.
He's a fixture of every major hockey event around the world,
covering six Olympics and more than five thousand NHL games,
while taking some of the most iconic photographs in the
history of the sport. He is also the answer to
the popular question, who's that guy on the ice at
the Stanley Cup Finals who looks like Albert Einstein?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It is the legend Bruce Bennett. Bruce, great to see you.
Thank you so much for gracing us.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Thanks so much for having me. Guys, good seeing you.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How did you even get started shooting this wonderful sport
of hockey?
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Justin nai eighteen year old kid shot some pictures from
the blue seats at Madison Square Garden and snuck into
the photo box at Nasau Coliseum. That was in seventy
three seventy four. Send him up to the famous Ken mackenzie,
the publisher of the Hockey News based out of mind
turioll back then, and he got back to me and said,
(21:08):
sure we could use some photos. We'll give you three
bucks a photo, and away we went the next season
in seventy four to seventy five.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That is unbelievable. I love that. What's you know from
seventy four to seventy five to now, Like, what are
some of the innovations you've seen that have changed and
kind of helped over the years.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Well, obviously computers and digital digital cameras. Now you know
you're back in the old days in the In the
earlier days, we'd have to take our film back process
it and then you would know you would screwed up
and miss the image. Now you know instantly on the
back of the camera that you screwed up and you
missed the image. But yeah, digital, the whole change in
(21:54):
photography is accelerated our learning curve to make sure we
stay on top of what's going on in the in
the photo world.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Do you just kick yourself when you go home back
in the day and you unwind the film and you're
in you're in there what is it called the dark room,
and you're just like, show Jesus, I just screwed this up.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, I still do that. Actually at games, people
who sit next to me, hear myself talking to myself.
Hear me talking to myself going, what is wrong with you? Like,
how could you miss it? It was right in front of you.
How do you? What is wrong? Where's your head? Bennett?
Get your head in the game. You know, things like that.
Sometimes it's out loud, sometimes it's just in my head.
(22:39):
But as I said, you instantly know that you screwed
up in the old days with manual focus. I mean
I lived with manual focus for more than thirty years.
Then you move to auto focus, which is definitely a
step up, but still is a learning curve on exactly
when to push that shutter and when guys or in
(22:59):
your range of focus. I mean back in the early days,
most of it was, you know, just a low percentage
that we're sharp and clear.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I'm sure it's like choose between children, Bruce, But are
there some favorite pictures of yours over the years.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
It's kind of hard getting through the probably two point
five million images to pick out the ten best. He's
got the number though, I've got summer. I've got like
two months of summer here. You got plenty of time
to go through that stuff. But yeah, like you're you know,
which is your favorite kid? It changes day to day.
Every time someone says, oh, you know, what are your
(23:36):
top ten? Something else sneaks in, like Ovechkin scoring this year,
scoring his record breaking goal all of a sudden, that's
snuck into the top ten for a few weeks. I
think it's still in there. It'll be in there for
another year or two until I keep producing more images
and find something else that I like a little bit better.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Is there something you like took in the moment You're like, ah,
this is really a nothing burger, But you know now
you're like, oh my god, that was just such an
iconic moment that I caught on film.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Yeah. Yeah, Usually those iconic moments, you know, you don't
expect them and all of a sudden something pops up
in front of you, or all of a sudden an
image takes wings and people start talking about it. The
one I would point to that a lot of people
have commented on through the years as a picture of
(24:30):
Bob Gainey on the shoulders of his Montreal Canadian teammates.
It's the back of him holding up the Stanley Cup.
And that was nineteen seventy nine. It was actually only
my second Stanley Cup presentation, the first one being in
seventy six, Montreal winning in Philadelphia. So I go up
(24:50):
to Montreal and back then, if you didn't speak French,
you were kind of out of luck in terms of
getting around things. Today, Yeah, that is a good point. Yeah,
I don't try as much anymore. But I couldn't get
on the ice at the end of the Stanley Cup presentation,
(25:12):
and I ran around the rink one way in a
security guard put his hand in my face. It ran
around the other way, and I guess my inexperience, you know,
showed and I'm sure there was probably a pregame meeting
somewhere where they explained what the rules were. Long story short,
I ended up getting back to near where my photo
(25:35):
position was behind the net, stood on some chairs and
the patrons there were great. They actually steadied me to
make sure I didn't fall while they were cheering for
their beloved Canadians. And the only shot that I got
was the back of Bob Ganey holding up to Stanley Cup.
Little did I know that that would be on the
cover of three different books through the years and was
(25:57):
more symbolic of you know, with hands holding up Bob
Ganey him holding up the cup. It was more became
symbolic about teamwork and camaraderie that it takes to win
the Stanley Cup.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, it's a great point. Some of my favorite pictures
are like that, Bruce. It's like it's not just a
head on shot. It's not a profile shots from behind,
it's in silhouette, it's images dark and like that's as
you said, that's kind of where the magic happens sometimes, right,
that act of serendipity where a specific moment can become
something universal.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean sometimes we plan things out, like
I say, sometimes, you know, some photographers take photos, others
make photos, and throughout my career most of it I
was taking photos I was shooting what was in front
of me. As you get more experience in the industry,
(26:48):
you make photos, You plan out where remote cameras are
going to be, You plan out how to play with
a lighting a little bit better than you did in
the earlier days, how to actually create something. And those
are the ones you take more pride and because you
worked hard at something and maybe you maybe you did
(27:08):
several times until you got it right. One case in point,
Barbrovski does this thing to start each period where he
takes a sip of water, it looks up at the
rafters and spits it up and it lands all over
his face, I would assume, so that I planned out.
I don't see Florida as often in my local arenas
because of the alignment, so I put a camera over
(27:33):
the net because all I want to do is catch
him looking straight up and having that water spray. So,
of course, the first game, Florida comes in, the backup
goalie plays, so that was no luck. Second game they
come in cameras out of focus, so that was no luck.
And we're talking over over two seasons basically, and finally
third or fourth time was a charm where everything worked
(27:55):
out the exposure, the lighting, the spray. So I was
proud of the shot. It probably wasn't a great shot,
not a historic shot, but something that I worked hard
to achieve.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Yeah, but it's like the time you put in the effort,
and you know, it's very similar to making a scouting
report for an NHL hockey game as a player, like
you're getting ready to play. You know something might go wrong,
it might not go perfect, but you at least you
make those preparations. So is that do you have to
really study every not every single player, but the players
(28:31):
that are important to you.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, Preparation is key. Preparation is key. I start off
early in the morning. When I wake at around seven,
I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm like
run to the computer. I look for the wait for
the NHL media notes to come in. I go through
the roster. I take a look at players. Usually, you know,
when the when the Western teams come into my Eastern cities,
(28:55):
usually I go, oh my god, this guy is still playing,
you know, play Comos on his thirty seventh NHL team.
It's it's ridiculous. You know, there are guys who just
keep reappearing. Travis Hammonik. You know the guys who played
in Islanders and I shot him so many times. All
of a sudden, where is this guy now? But I
look through the rosters, I mark them up with my
(29:16):
own little code. Is a guy looking for his first
NHL goal? Is it his first game? Is somebody else
going to be dressing for the game? I haven't seen
them in that uniform before. So I do that homework.
Then during the day, I go back and I take
a look at the roster again and I go, Okay,
this guy's propensity, the team's propensity might be to shoot
(29:36):
the puck in So chances are tonight there's going to
be a lot of dump and chase. What side of
the ice? You know, if there are superstars, what side
of the ice do I really want to be focused
on that. I need to be more concerned about getting
let's call it stock images of a player for trading cards,
for the vendors who do posters and prints. There is
(30:00):
a lot of work that goes into it. And when
we set up our remote cameras in the arenas, which
is a big part of a coverage, I take that
all into consideration.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Cup celebrations are always special Bruce.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It kind of goes back to your pointment saying, you
don't just take photos, you make photos. At this point,
having seen them so many times, what are you looking
to do to make that Cup celebration picture unique?
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yeah, it's interesting through the years how the Cup celebration
has evolved from all our brawl on the wall on
the ice with all the photographers punching and kicking each other.
And I mean one of the early years, one of
the gretz Ski years, I remember just being smushed up
in front of him in the cup and the fear
(30:41):
in his eyes, and he's just saying, put back up.
Everybody back up. And I'm with all my five foot
seven and one hundred and fifty pounds and I'm pushing
back as hard as they can and bigger guys and
pushing me into him. NHL got it that under control.
And how many people are on the ice, how many
people are allowed to run on the ice, how many
(31:02):
stand on the carpet. But of course that iconic shot
of the players holding up the cup, that's the first
go that's the first shot, and then what else supplements
that to also tell the story. The team shot, of course,
is a big one that Gretzky started in the eighties
getting the team together for that informal shot. That's a
big one, and in more recent years there are other
(31:25):
images with remote cameras that have taken hold and people
love seeing. That's a camera on the goal light stanchion
directly behind the net where the players come off the
bench and they come towards the goaltender and the goaltenders
flying up in the air, sticks gloves and puck. You know,
sticks and gloves flying in the air. That's become a
(31:45):
staple of our Stanley Cup Championship imagery and this year,
you know Stanley Cup, I work with the team, so
it's Getty Images and is who I'm with, and we
decide who will be the best photographers either geographically, who
have big experience in a certain arena, which photographers we
(32:07):
bring in to supplement the coverage. Everyone does remote cameras.
This year it just kind of laid out that I
was able to do. One of the other staples as
it's become in the industry is the wide shot from
the catwalk as all the players are dancing across the
ice with the gloves and the sticks flying in the air,
going towards the goaltender. So it's a backed up view
(32:31):
and a very graphic view because the ice is just
littered with all the players equipment as they dance across
the ice to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Is that your decision or that's left completely up to
you or is there a lot of kind of back
and forth into going into that.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Yeah. I direct our coverage for Getty Images, so all
the hockey falls on me, and my experience always open
to photographers that I bring in who come up with
different angles and think outside the box. But typically what
we say is this is what we must have. This
(33:08):
is our coverage. We need to ensure not only with
handheld cameras but with remote cameras, that we ensure that
history is recorded. So I do this crazy map which
my editors hate, and usually the photographers go just tell
me where I need to be and where my remote
cameras need to be. But it's a matter of visualizing
(33:31):
that if a player scores and he goes into the
far left Zamboni corner, will there be a camera there
to capture him. Yeah, And that's constantly the insurance that
we need to make sure that for the NHL and
Forgetty images for our clients. That history is captured and ensured,
you know, for all time.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I mean, all the intricacies are so fascinating. Bruce here
and I just I see the Gretzki jersey on your wall.
Do you have a favorite Gretzky shot or moment around Wayne?
Speaker 5 (34:04):
You know, it's weird, like there's a there's one in
the background where he's scoring against Buffalo to break Esposito's record. Yeah,
And the fact is it's a pretty mundane, boring image
when you look at it, But the puck is going
across across the goal, the goal line. It is a
piece of hockey history. That image has probably been used,
(34:29):
you know, licensed properly thirty times and probably bootlegged across
the internet two hundred and seventy five thousand times. So
to me, it's kind of a boring shot, but it
is that historic moment. But Gretzky. Gretzky was always a
hard guy to photograph because he was so elusive, not
only to me but to defenders, very erratic skating pattern.
(34:55):
Nothing really stands out to me as being, you know,
an overly great image of him.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Wow, how about to say, how about a favorite guy
to photograph. They're candidly like off the ice just gives
you lots of personality, lots of different looks, or somebody
on the ice you found like you were able to
capture his game.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
So well, yeah, I always liked the guys who were
the challenge. I mean Connor McDavid. I mean, I just
eat up any game that he's on the ice. I mean,
obviously it's kind of odd because you know, you guys
look at it from the video perspective, and I guess
most people do. Like you watch a video of him
(35:31):
slicing through defenders and it's I mean it's pure gold.
I mean watching him skate, just the power and the
strides and for me being at you know, a thousandth
of a second or twelve fifty of a second, you're
trying to get a freeze frame of him that tells
really the story of the speed and the agility, maybe
(35:53):
the skate digging into the ice with a little bit
of snow flying. Players like that that are super fast
and dynamic and unpredictable, those are my favorite players to
shoot because it's it's such a challenge.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, you've made it look easier over the years, and
I know it's anything but Bruce Bennett, legendary photographer of
the NHL for so many years. It's been amazing just
to look at all that you've captured, Bruce, and I
appreciate the insight here with us.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Yeah, thanks guys. Great being with.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You, cinefil and sixty. That's right, I finally joined the ranks.
I see if tal Pinchewski can do it, clearly I
can do it too. My book, Cinophile Interviews, Essays and
Tails from the Red Carpet, will.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Be available August twenty six. You can pre order right
now on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
We'll put the link out here on social Maybe we'll
get this clip out there. It's a ton of fun
to write a book, jend. I'm so happy I was
able to do. Listen three hundred and thirty six episodes
of Cinephile. You knew the book was coming eventually. Interviews
with DeNiro, Margo, Robbie, Mark Wahlbergharst Law Lee, Matthew McConaughey,
too many account essays as well. It was a blast, buddy,
and thank you in advance for the social media support.
You tweeted me you want an autograph copy. I appreciate
(37:01):
you we'll get the word out.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
This is great. Oh my, am I going to get
the autograph copy?
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So a couple of people ask the first question, go
autograph copy, how does that happen? And I go, I'll
find out for the publisher and they say, well, you'll
sign a certain amount and then we can we can
ship those whoever wants the autograph copy. And then somebody
else asked you for an audiobook and I go, come on, like,
I'm not Yeah, that'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
You doing your own audio book. I I mean I.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Have, but my comment was I'm not that big a deal.
They go, well, no, but think about you're a broadcaster.
How could you not do the audiobook? So I check
with the publisher. He goes, decent chance that will happen
as well, and then they go, what about a kindle?
He goes, yep, kindle available as well, So we're thether thing.
I goes, I don't like going online, no offense, I'm
not a priority guy.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I'm with you. He goes, Barnes and Noble will definitely
have the book. So a beilboere of our.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Bookstores are sold. Go ahead, Wow, no, I mean I
love it. If only you know we'd get back like
this this, that'd be great. We'd be off to the races.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
If we had that kind of support.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
You're saying, yeah, we'd be cooking right now.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I wanted to mention though, my buddy Randall Thorne. Our
team so proud of him. So he we're college roommates,
not college roommates, college buddies way back in the day
at Ryerson now TMU.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
He makes it movie called.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Forty Acres starring Danielle Deadwiler, came out to the Toronto
Film Festival last year. I flow up just for the premiere.
It was awesome with the whole gang together, and he
gets a deal with mag NOOI. The movie was just
released July fourth weekend, so I was texting, was this amazing?
If a movie opening July fourth up against Jurassic World
Jurassic worlds in forty eight hundred theaters?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
How many theaters you? And he was three hundred.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Well per screen average, You're gonna crush it. I got
to tell you, forty acres. I'm so proud of Randall.
This movie currently on Rotten Tweeno says that ninety one
percent according to critics and eighty eight percent for the
fans amazing. I want to read you a little bit.
Ty Burr is my favorite film. Critics like, let's see
what Ti versays. Forty Acres three and a half stars
a genre movie the way geenre movies are supposed to
be but rarely are. It invigorates an old premise with
(38:41):
fresh ideas, layers, well crafted action with thematic richness both
committed performances, and is so taught with tension that the
audience might snap before the characters due. The setting is
twelve years after the pandemic. Essentially, he's mixing basically zombies
with you know, families. Rama really smooth, the smoothly gliding
camera work, the evocative score, brooding movie music with brief
(39:02):
eruptions of hip hop, the weazing of every bit of
juice from a minimal budget and a minimalist location. This
is a movie to see and a director to watch.
Go watch forty acres in theaters.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Now, Wow, that was sexual.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Tiber is unbelievable. He's a help.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I've heerd. I'm so suppled down to my plums.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
A couple thoughts before we say goodbye and again, We'll
be back in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Great news.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
JD labor pieces here, NHL NHL Player Association, four year CBA,
we're good till twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty. The
other sports of jels. We get these things done like that.
We don't have to all the details. A bottom line
is this a couple more games being added right, eighty
two to eighty four. What else would you like to
see here added to the CBA?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Ah, I man, I wish I CBA going back to
starting earlier and finishing earlier. I know that's a hot topic.
I think it's gotten a little long. I just think,
but it's gonna be tough with four nations doing so
well now, I mean, we're screwed. It's gonna be every
other year for the Olympic after the Olympics, so we're
(40:07):
absolutely hoofed. So we're we're in this for the long haul.
And and you know, I think they got some stuff done.
I mean, listen, the the NHL wants this more than
I think the PA does. And I think there's not
enough for the NHL PA to really nitpick at. So
why wouldn't you, you know, ruin a good thing. Caps
going up, guys are getting paid more and the league's
(40:31):
in a healthy, healthy place. So I just think it's
it's new TV deal signed, it's it's one of those
tough ones. I don't really know what you had, other
than some, you know ones like when I was in
the locker where it was like can we get our
own roommates like stuff like that, like you know, just
just little little, little wild things. But no, overall, I
I really do like it. It's it is what it is.
It's I think the fans don't have to be nervous
(40:53):
and think about this. It's hockey. Hockey goes on on,
the show, keeps on.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
What about three on three OT?
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I mean we talked about that, which they change rules
in that, but that's more general managers meetings over the CBA.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
No good point bottom line.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I like, swat you there, No, it's good.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
I throw it out there and you go, no, that's wrong.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Next.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
I'm just glad that at least, as you said in
baseball listen, we have a looming locket hit him next year.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Everyone's already talk about it's so great hockey is we're not.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
We're taking care of NBA new deal sizes baseball like,
oh my god, ar Mageddon. This is gonna be insane.
They're gonna lose an entire season. It's a year and
a half away. They're talking about now in hockey like, no,
we're all good, everyone gets along.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Well, because I think the MLB, I think the players
bent over the owners years ago. Now it's like the
revenge is coming. And I think the players they're holding
pat because why wouldn't you when you get a deal
that good. You know, Don Fair did what he should
have done for us.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Don, if you're amazing in baseball, struggled in hockey.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah, well that just goes to show Gary Bettman GB
bent him over.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Happy Triols.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Tyler Johnson, by the way, announcing his retirement this week,
I want to mention though, speaking of guys recently retired
Mark Andrew Flury interesting comm player agentp Al Walls, who
said on his podcast five different teams reached out to
him ask if there's anyway Flower could come back. I
think it's best just to go off into the sunset.
He's an incredible career. What do you think, though, could
Mark Andre Fleury be back on the ice next season?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
He No, I don't think so, but I mean that's
that is wild that five teams. It just goes to
show you and you're a good backup. It's like being
a good backup quarterback. You're just so sought after and
you could play forever because you come in. He's taking
care of himself. You just come in when you can
and then you know you're just whole hum every single
(42:48):
year like it's just wild. And he's a great teammate.
So that's that's just amazing. It's hard to find good
backup goalies that you can just rely on year in
and year out. And so it's Marc Andre Fleury could
have a job for the next twenty if you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
It's gonna say, if you're a good guy and can
get it done this in ten twenty games, Flower couldld
do that.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Of course we shall sell you. Anyways, this was a
ton of fun here at NHL Unscripted. JD enjoy the honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
We'll be back in a couple of weeks as we
continue her in NHL Unscripted. NHL Unscripted is a production
of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(43:34):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts,
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