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.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
