So the Alaska Aces Won...

And if you didn't see that coming from a mile away then you weren't paying attention. My sincere congratulations to them.  This was absolutely a banner season for quality.  Every team had it, and it has made photographing and writing about this season something I will never forget.  In honor of the occasion I'd like to post some of the photographs from the February 16th game, a game I will remember for a long long while even though it wasn't the Grizzlies' finest moment.

Some of these are precious to me and I apologize for the ugly watermarks, but SOME PLAYERS *coughcoughGIFFENforexamplecoughcough* like to use my photographs on their facebook pages without at least saying "Hey Penny! Thanks!"  (Or at least as it has been reported by others.) Goobers. 

And now....to dig myself further into a financial hole...

Paul Crowder (Grizz) and Chris Langkow (Aces)

Chris Donovan tries to keep the Aces at bay.

Hugo Carpentier weaves his way through.

Brett Parnham, I believe, in the mix.

Fergie!

Maxime Tanguay, one of the reasons I remember this game so well. I kept thinking he was going to keel over and die, because he certainly looked that way a few times out there, but he kept playing despite whatever it was that was ailing him.

You know that feeling you get when you're driving on a narrow road...bordering a cliff or a concrete barrier and you get a truck driver swaying in the wind and inching you ever closer and closer into the wall or the edge of the cliff until you very nearly pee yourself?   Well, that's Mr. Giffen Nyren. 

HA! WATERMARK IN THE MIDDLE...take that Giff! MWAHAHAHAHA.

He's that evil truck driver. The evil "innocent looking" truck driver who uses your pictures on his facebook page and doesn't give you flowers for it. Anyway, Giffen Nyren is not a guy you want to see anywhere near you should you be grinding along the boards.

You will get smooshed.

I also remember this game for the moment up there.  Kevin Deeth dropping the gloves to trade punches with the Ace's Isherwood. 

Matt Clarke is a photographer's dream...and a pain.  He's always swift, always smooth, just a beautiful painting if ever there was on the ice...just have fun trying to catch him.  Maxime Tanguay was also a dear favourite of mine for similar reasons...the man just couldn't take a bad photograph, every shot of him had him carving up ice as though his blades were brushes dipped in ink and his eyes said everything. The difference between Matt and Max is that Matt is far more challenging to capture...he's always racing along side by side with the other team's speedsters, like two drag racers bolting down the stretch.  If you have a simple lens as I do...Matt Clarke presents a challenge, but if you get it right...if you see him coming and you anticipate him correctly...he makes for a stunning shot.

I also enjoyed visits by the Aces last season because it meant I would get to see Gerald Coleman in the net:

Goaltender for the Alaska Aces and an absolutely brilliant one at that...see Kelly Cup ring on his finger...he has this endearing way of falling to his knees and saying a naughty word when he fails to stop the puck. And I could be wrong, but I swear I've heard him singing out there on the ice.