Minnesota Wild defeat San Jose Sharks 2-1

Headed down to the Shark Tank for Sharks vs Wild.

Wild were without their starting goalie Niklas Backstrom and Sharks scored in the first minute against the backup goalie Josh Harding.

A minute later Harding was injured after accidentally getting an elbow to the head by his own teammate and escorted off the ice.

Wild were left with rookie Matt Hackett in his first ever NHL game.

You would think Sharks would dominate.

But Hackett saved all 34 shots that came his way. An amazing debut!!

Wild were able to score twice in the first period and battle it out through two more periods for a 2-1 win over the Sharks.

But the win doesn't make Cal Clutterbuck's (the prototypical hockey player name according to Don Cherry) moustache any less ridiculous.

But I guess I'm not one to speak when I wore my new boots that I thought/still think are really cute. And one of the guesses to my guess where feet tweet was "Civil War reenactment in the Shark Tank??" Haha. Apparently I am also ridiculous =)

San Jose Sharks defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 1-0

Headed down to the Shark Tank between Vacaville days of mom's birthday and Thanksgiving for the Sharks vs the Blackhawks.

Antti Niemi had a great game defending the goal against his former team.

With an impressive block from a one-on-one with Bryan Bickell.

The goal itself was more afraid than Niemi, as it tried to escape the line ;-)

Jason Demers came up with the only goal of the game for the Sharks as they held off the Blackhawks 1-0.

It's crazy how hockey players have this reputation of brutish men, and that might not be that far off as Ryan Clowe is still sporting a black eye.

But some, like Jonathan Toews, look like little boys, at only 23, he is pretty young. As a 24 year old, I can call a 23 yearr old young =)

Nashville Predators defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-3

Headed back to the Shark Tank for Predators vs Sharks. As I've mentioned before in my Sharks blog, there are a limited number of "holes" to shoot from ice level. These are cut outs in the glass that you can put your lens through. AP, Getty, San Jose Mercury News, and the Sharks team photographer all have designated holes, and the remaining hole is left for us wire agencies photographers to coordinate. But every once in a while, the company doesn't send a photographer and then us wire photographers get to mix it up. One of the best positioned holes is for the Mercury, so as much as I like the two main Merc photographers Nhat Meyer and Josie Lepe, I was excited when Nhat mentioned the Merc wasn't sending anybody and I was able to share with Damon Tarver and shoot from the hole in the second period.

I started first in the "Sharkshead" hole which instead of trying to get the same shot behind Marleu skating out to the ice, I went the other way to get the players coming out of the locker room towards the ice.

I'm sure Douglas Murray is a lovely person... but I wouldn't mess with him!

The other holes have a very limited view, normally being able to catch the action at your nearest goal, but unable to turn your lens enough to shoot anything across the rink. The Merc's hole is in a perfect corner that has almost zero limitations.

You can even shoot across the rink and still get decent shots.

And there's great shots of the players really coming at you, as opposed to across your line of vision.

But it's also in one of the most dangerous spots, and even this fast action Jackson had the puck skim the top of my lens as is curled/whipped around behind the goal along the rink. Thankfully no damage was done, but I still felt a bit of relief when I went up top for the third period.

That said, I would love to photograph from there every game!

Sharks lost 4-3 to the Predators.

San Jose Sharks defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a Shootout

Headed over to the Shark Tank, aka HP Pavilion for the Sharks vs the Penguins. Starting off with honoring Joe Thornton for 1,000 career goals, you already knew you'd be in for a good game. Not to mention the Penguins haven't won a game at the Tank since '97.

Though the Penguins put up two early points and another in the third, somehow between the punches, Sharks were able to match and come back for 3-3 in the third period.

Go into a fourth period, then into a shootout.

Though I've seen soccer penalty shots determine a game, this was the first time I'd photographed (or even seen) a shootout in ice hockey, how exciting!

Thomas Greiss really stepped up to the plate... or the rink I suppose, and didn't allow any shots. Epsecially considering he wasn't even the starter and replaced Antti Niemi after Niemi allowed two goals in the first 2:04 of the game.

And Ryan Clowe, put it in the net for the win.

On the way home, I called my mom who had been watching the game on TV, and the first thing she says "I've decided I love ice hockey! It's so exciting!" I'm still getting used to photographing the game, but you can't deny it's excitement, especially games like tonight!

St. Louis Blues defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-2

Headed down to HP Pavilion for the Sharks vs the St. Louis Blues.

Since there's only one hole on the ice for some of the wire photographers to share, I photographed from up top for the first two periods. Which is a great place to get the player intros coming out of the Shark's head.

And have ice as a nice clean background.

Plus you can get shots from both sides of the rink, unlike the hole where you are limited to half of the rink.

I was able to get low ice level for the third period, but unfortunately all the scoring happened at the other end as the Blues defeated the Sharks 4-2.