Occasionally I’ll share one of my vintage hockey photos to show some minor hockey history from various places in the province. This one was taken nearly 30 years ago at an Agincourt Canadians game in Scarborough Ontario. Though I shot countless photos of many different players I still remember the name of this boy and details of the shoot. He was involved in a special hockey event which I photographed and did interviews for a newspaper article. At that event I got photos of the boy on the ice with Bob Nevin. During Nevin’s NHL career he played on the Toronto Maple Leaf Stanley Cup winning team, and with the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.
I was shooting film in a full manual 35mm camera, no fancy modes or electronics, no auto-focus, no flash, no LCD display on the camera to check the photos either and no Photoshop to rescue any poorly taken images! Back then there were no second chances to get the shots right. You had to know your gear, the shooting conditions and just do it right the first time!
I loved shooting with the Agincourt Canadians as the people were among the best to work with. At the beginning of the season I had been called to the rink to do a few game action photos and once other people saw the work I was doing they asked me to shoot for them too. I was instantly adopted by the league and found myself living at the rink shooting photos of almost every team and player over the course of the season.
As players and families ordered their hockey jackets at the start of the season I put myself on the list for a jacket too. I wanted them to put “Photographer” on the sleeve but the person taking the order wasn’t sure that would be possible – so I settled for “Goalie” since that’s the position I always played. The players couldn’t wait for their new jackets to arrive so on the weekend they came in there was great excitement at the rink. Boys of all sizes crowded around a table piled with new jackets while a frantic volunteer tried to hand them out as quickly as possible. Each player received their new brilliant red “Canadians” jacket and rushed to try it on while everyone else looked on with admiration. There were a lot of smiles and league pride at the rink that day! I eagerly waited my turn too and like the rest of the boys I immediately tried mine on to check the fit. It was perfect. From then on I wore that jacket for every shoot with the league.
During the Canadians playoffs, near the end of my rookie season with them, the league president met me in a hallway and asked if I’d be back next year. I told him I was looking forward to it and thanked him for all the help he gave me during the season. I was constantly asking about game times and where to find certain players. It got to the point that he decided to make print-outs and have them waiting for me when I arrived at the rink so I’d always know where everyone would be at all times!
The league president replied that he had heard only good things about the work I was doing. Since my photography was “a rare perk for the league and kept parents happy” he wanted to see me continue. He explained that this is why he was eager to help me during the season. He then went on to fill me in on some of the extra help that I hadn’t known about. Apparently during the season many parents had come to him for help in tracking me down to get photos done. Each time it happened he did whatever he could to help them find me.
I was pleased to hear that he appreciated my work but a little surprised too when I realized how much extra behind the scenes help he gave, and his reasons for doing it. He was truly dedicated to going the extra mile to give the players and families the best hockey experience so they would keep coming back year after year. I was happy to learn that they felt I was contributing a valuable part to that good experience for the players and that they wanted me to keep coming back too. League officials like those are awesome. I feel lucky that almost all the leagues I worked with, and there were many, were run by people with that dedication, good sense and perspective.
It was during this conversation with the league president that I discovered he had a son playing on one of the teams too. He never once mentioned it during the season and never pushed me for photos. When I asked why he never thought to bring it up he said he wanted to be sure all the other parents had their action photos done first. I naturally spent the rest of the playoffs trying to get some nice shots of his little goalie!
The Agincourt Canadians were one of the leagues I eagerly returned to for years. They were my winter family and I always looked forward to hanging out with them on the weekends.
Unfortunately over the years the neighborhood changed and enrollment declined so the league merged with another association. The Agincourt Canadians are now gone but I feel most fortunate to have been adopted into that friendly family during their heyday. Even though they are a now a part of minor hockey history I still try to keep part of it alive, if only for the fond memories, by wearing that special red hockey jacket every winter!
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