The last thing Nathan Eides wants – and he makes this abundantly clear – is to be in the spotlight.
And yet there he is.
Every TV timeout, every goal celebration, every victory, every defeat.
Dressed head-to-toe in white, the camouflaged cameraman on skates is front and centre at the world junior men’s hockey championship inside Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre.
“It’s not lost on me that I have the best seat in the house,” Eides said between two recent games. “It’s pretty neat to be in the middle of everything.”
The 39-year-old originally from Rosenort, Man., manoeuvres around the ice during stoppages to provide an intimate, up-close perspective of hockey’s next stars.
“He’s getting cool shots of the boys,” Canadian defenceman Brandt Clarke said. “I’ve seen him almost get bumped into.
“When I scored against Germany, I smiled for him.”
Eides sits in the penalty boxes and jumps into the fray – specific situations agreed upon with the International Ice Hockey Federation – as soon as play stops.
The Winnipeg-based freelancer, who mostly works for TSN on hockey and football telecasts, said the only time he notices the teenagers changing their behaviour is during warmups.
“They do a little bit more playing with the puck,” he said.
Eides weaves in and out of those chaotic yet ordered sessions where each player has a routine, and potential hazards are plenty.
“Knock on wood, never been hit with a puck,” he said. “I try and patrol the red line as much as possible.
“Then I pick my moments and get in there.”
Eides might be a few centimetres from a goaltender stretching or a silky smooth stickhandler like Canadian phenom Connor Bedard.
“Weird the first time,” Austrian forward Vinzenz Rohrer said. “Hats off to this guy. He always sneaks through everybody.”
“Pretty camouflaged,” Swedish netminder Carl Lindbom added. “The end product is amazing.”
On-ice cameras have been part of European hockey for a while, but the unfettered access at the world juniors is relatively new.
Eides used to only go on the ice at the conclusion of games, but TSN started to push the envelope at the under-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in 2018 because it wasn’t an IIHF-sanctioned event.
There was one problem. Eides was dressed in white. His camera wasn’t.
The Great One knew that had to change.
“We were at the hotel after one of the games with my director, (play-by-play man) Gord Miller and Wayne Gretzky,” Eides recalled of that event in Edmonton. “Wayne Gretzky was saying, ‘I love it … but we’ve got to cover that camera in white.’
“That’s where the white camera cover came from.”
Eides’ skate covers, meanwhile, where made by the mother of two TSN production managers adept at sewing.
The on-ice access – there’s another cameraman working in Moncton, N.B., at the tournament’s other venue – increased at the world juniors in 2019 and 2020.
“I was given a little more of a leash where I could go on the ice during TV timeouts,” Eides said.
The leash got longer in 2021 when the tournament went to a bubble format in Edmonton to keep COVID-19 at bay.
And when TSN, which also used on-ice cameras at last year’s women’s world championship, took over Memorial Cup rights last spring, Eides and his bosses wanted to go further.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘How else can we push this?'” he said. “Maybe I can hop on the ice for warmups and show (the IIHF) I’m not going to be knocking into players.”
The tape went off to the game’s decision-makers, who gave the thumbs up to have Eides out there pre-game.
“It’s important to do the warmups to develop relationships with the players – whether it’s spoken or unspoken,” he said. “Shooting is 10 per cent of the job. The rest of it is the management of people and relationships.”
A former goalie, Eides rarely lifts his skates off the ice when commandeering the camera to both create a steadier shot and lessen the likelihood of him catching an edge.
The married father of three has also garnered a bit of a cult following.
Three fans dressed in white – including helmets – during Canada’s 5-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday clapped every time Eides hit the ice.
“Mom is probably my biggest fan,” he said with a smile.
Eides is also still getting used to his unique version of the limelight.
“I’m behind the camera for a reason,” he said. “I’m a pretty modest individual. I don’t like to detract from what the camera’s actually providing.
“It’s weird to get the attention.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 1, 2023.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
