I got out of my car and grabbed my black, square bag that contained all of my items necessary for tonight's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At about eleven this morning, I had gotten a phone call from my boss saying that the main Minnesota Wild photographer called in sick for tonight's warmups and game. I was scheduled to come in to fill his spot tonight, and this was the huge opportunity to put my skills to the test that I learned from my mentor, during a possibly Stanley Cup playoff game matchup.
The fit for today was a black pair of jeans that were ripped on the knees with a Kirill Kaprizov jersey, since it was his Calder Memorial Trophy bobblehead night in honor of his accomplishment from last year. For moments not on the ice, I had a pair of black Vans with the white stripe along the side. For moments on the ice, I had a pair of Bauer Vapors that the team very kindly lended to me.
I opened the black bag containing my camera and slipped the strap behind my neck. I snapped a couple pictures of my shoes to make sure the camera quality was amazing, then I made my way inside to the Xcel Energy Center.
Ever since I was a little girl, more so a middle schooler, I have always loved photography. I was the dedicated photographer to my hometown high school's yearbook club and athletic teams, until I eventually enrolled in a two-year program in photography and visual arts at a local technical college. I'm now twenty, and about three months ago I started my internship with the Minnesota Wild to pursue my dreams of becoming a professional sports league photographer.
Some Minnesota Wild players, like Kevin Fiala and Jordan Greenway, came through the door in their pregame suits, so I began to snap some pictures of the players.
Kevin smiled and nodded his head while they walked down the hall and towards the locker room.
I looked over the pictures I snapped and waited patiently for more players to walk in through the back door of the arena.
A few more players, who were Marcus Foligno, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek, walked in one after another after ten minutes. Like I did with Greenway and Fiala, I snapped pictures in their business casual attire. Although my main job is to capture wicked and wild action shots from most of Wild's hockey games, home or away, I enjoyed taking pictures of the players' outfits they show up to the arena in. It gives you a unique perspective and eye into each individual player's personality, if you look at the pictures for long enough.
Joel Eriksson Ek waved at me while he passed by, so obviously I had to give him a wave back with a gleaming smile on my face. The Wild players knew that I was an intern for their main photographer, whom they've grown to like, and even a couple of players have had photo shoots with the photographer, including non-Wild players.
Part of my job is to send some photos off to the social media team for the Minnesota Wild team, so while I was waiting for some more players to show up, I hooked up the cable from my camera to the small computer I had in a bag over my shoulder and started to transfer some pictures. From there, I sent them off to the social media team for them to post about the Wild players showing up for fans across the world to see.
"You seem pretty busy," says Marcus Foligno.
I chuckled. "Yeah, Chris isn't here because he's sick. I was called in to take his spot over for the day," I responded as I closed my computer and unhooked the USB cable.
Marcus smiled and chuckled as well. "I could tell. Is this your first game by yourself?" He asked as I was putting my computer back into its bag.
I nodded my head in response as I zipped the bag back up. "Yeah. It's the game that'll put my skills and learning to the test. It's been what I've been working for my entire life since middle school," I told him.
"That's awesome. Well, you better get your camera back out. Kirill and Mats are coming in," Marcus mentioned as he pointed to the door opening and sure enough, in came Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
I stood up and softly chuckled. "Yeah, I see that. Go get ready for your game," I told him with slight, muttered laughter as I put my camera to my face and got ready to snap some pictures of the legendary Wild duo.
Marcus giggled. "Right. See you later!" He exclaimed before walking back to the locker room that was down the hall behind me. I loved how kind Moose was. Probably why he and Matt Dumba got alternate captain honors—they both were leaders both on and off the ice, not only to their teammates and coaches, but to others as well. Not to mention they stick up for one another and for their teammates as well, which could fall under the "leadership" aspect to their role.
While Kirill was decked out in a sleek, black suit while rocking a gray beanie and listening to some music through his wired earbuds, Mats was in a dark gray suit holding a tall Starbucks coffee in his hand. Mats waved to me, while Kirill noticed that I was rocking his jersey and he got a chuckle out of it.
"Nice jersey," Mats mentioned.
I chuckled. "Thanks. Gotta celebrate the occasion," I responded.
Mats nodded his head with a smile on his face while they walked past me and down to the locker room. I got some pretty good shots, including some that had Kirill very slightly laughing at the fact that I was repping his jersey.
Eventually, over the course of another fifteen to twenty minutes, the rest of the Minnesota Wild team entered through the back door. I snapped the rest of the pictures of the remaining Wild players, then I immediately went up to the press box to start editing the pictures I had taken from the last half hour to forty-five minutes.
"How's editing coming along?" Ryan, who was one of the public relations managers, asked as I was doing some minor editing to a shot of Marc-André Fleury in his brown suit.
I sighed as I spun my chair to look at him before continuing to edit the photo. "It's going alright. You can do some if you'd like," I chuckled.
Ryan laughed. "I'll stick to working on updates of the players. Which, this should be a pretty damn good game. The X will have a playoff hockey atmosphere if the Wild and Leafs play their best hockey," he said.
I nodded my head in agreement. "Of course. I'm so excited to grab some nice action shots, since Chris is always trying to steal my thunder," I responded, which obviously was a light-hearted joke.
"Speaking of, where is he?" Ryan asked.
"He called in sick at about ten-thirty this morning. He said he wasn't feeling the greatest after morning skate," I responded as I transferred the photo to my TOR/MIN folder, which was labeled for tonight's game.
Ryan frowned. "Poor guy. Hope he feels better, no offense to you or anything. Those pictures are lovely!" He complimented.
I smiled and softly chuckled. "Thanks, Ryan. Any updates you'd like to share?" I questioned.
He shrugged. "Nothing much. Talbot is expected to start tonight," he said as he clicked his pen to jot down some things on his small, yellow notepad next to his laptop.
"Darn, I was hoping Flower was in the net. Oh well," I chuckled as I dragged some more photos to the folder.
Ryan softly laughed. "Talbot has been fantastic this year. Safe to say that it was the better option," he responded.
I nodded my head. "I get it. On the brink of becoming a possible all-star?" I questioned. "With Kirill the Thrill?"
He chuckled. "You know it! Las Vegas is only two months away!" He exclaimed.
I giggled and continued to edit and drop the finished photos into the folder. I closed my laptop and stuck it in the bag that slipped over my shoulder, then I headed down to the ice level and patiently waited for warmups to start.
Whenever I'm in the Xcel Energy Center or another arena that's used for hockey, I get this feeling of tranquility and compelling serenity as ten men skate all over the ice chasing for a small, black, rubber puck that causes craze in each man.
Although the X does get wild at times when their team scores a goal when it is very much needed, most of the time during the regular season the crowd is calm and just enjoying a fantastic game of hockey.
—
As Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting skated after Kevin Fiala, who had possession of the puck in the last few minutes of the third period, Kirill Kaprizov skated to Fiala's aid. Kevin passed the puck past Matthews and found Kaprizov's stick.
Kirill passed the puck around to the other side of the boards to Mats Zuccarello, who got a shot deflected off of Toronto goaltender Erik Kallgren. Immediately off of the rebound, Jared Spurgeon knocked it back to defenseman Jonas Brodin, who passed it back to centerman Ryan Hartman coming off of a change.
Hartman passes the puck to Spurgeon, who goes for the slap shot. It missed wide, but Kaprizov was able to get on the rebound and complete a wrap-around to knock it into the net to take the lead 2-1.
The Xcel Energy Center roared, and I was able to get some sweet angles and shots of the release and celebration following the goal.
And that was all that was needed to give the Minnesota Wild a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I scurried my way down to the ice as I took some pictures of the team hugging each other and patting each other's heads.
"That's what we like!" exclaimed Matthew Boldy to my side. Matthew then jumped towards me, who was trying to snap a picture of Ryan Hartman and Cam Talbot from behind.
I'm assuming Matthew didn't realize that I was there, then the next thing I know is that I have a heavy hockey player on me, laying flat on my back.
"Ugh!" I grunted, then I heard something crackle on my stomach.
Matthew and I made eye contact, and his eyes flickered in guilt as he quickly got himself off of me. I laid there motionless as I was still trying to breathe, but I was okay.
However, my camera wasn't.
It was completely shattered.
Some of the other Wild players were staring at me, and even Brandon Duhaime held his hand out to let me back up to my feet.
"Hey, are you okay?" Brandon asked.
Although these hockey players were hard-skulled and sometimes brain-dead, they sure had manners and sympathy for people other than themselves.
Matt and I made eye contact again, and his face started to redden in the embarrassment that ensued.
I glanced back at Brandon. "Yeah, I'm fine. You guys can go get changed," I told him.
He nodded his head and skated towards the bench.
Instead of skating after his teammates, Matt skated towards me and held my broken camera in his hands.
He lifted his head and our eyes met again. "I'm so sorry about this. I'll get you a new camera. This was all my fault, and I should be more aware of my surroundings. It's hard to tell the difference when you're wearing a Wild jersey," he chuckled to make light of the situation.
I sighed and looked at my shattered camera.
Matt frowned. "Do you have a pen on you by any chance?" He asked.
Luckily I did have a black permanent marker on me, but what did he need it for?
I handed him the marker I had and he wrote down a phone number on my arm.
"That's my phone number. I need to keep in contact with you so we can get this camera situation figured out." He told me as he handed me back the marker.
I looked at him in confusion, but he immediately skated off to the bench and followed his team back into the Minnesota Wild locker room.
I glanced back at the phone number that was written on my arm in more confusion.
My first opportunity to prove my skill in photography as an intern, was immediately stripped away because a hockey player didn't know what his surroundings were. Now I'm probably never getting this kind of opportunity ever again, all because Matthew Boldy broke my camera.