This past week Galileo had the chance to take a trip out to St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY for an exciting shoot focusing on the essence of the Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey teams. Appleton Arena at St. Lawrence not only houses the successful hockey program, but also the story of two hometown hockey players who grew up together and both ended up coaching hockey back at their alma mater. Women’s coach, Chris Wells and Men’s coach, Greg Carvel grew up playing hockey together and eventually became teammates at St Lawrence University, where they won the 1992 ECAC Tournament Championship together. It is no coincidence that both Wells and Carvel returned home to Canton to raise their own families and build on their personal experiences to become great coaches at St. Lawrence University.
The drive up to Canton was especially beautiful as we crossed through the mountains and serene lakes just as the fall leaves were beginning to turn. Once we had arrived at the University, we saw that the campus itself is beautiful, set back in a small, but scenic town.
Our first order of business was to shoot an interview with both coaches for the University’s Alumni magazine online. Most of our day was spent at Appleton Arena, which holds an ice hockey rink with rustic charm. The Men’s Hockey Team’s locker room where we filmed the interview looked new and prestigious, complete with a long carpet running down the middle with the school’s colors and the official school seal at each end of the room. As is tradition for most sports teams, walking or standing on this seal provides bad luck for the team. Unfortunately for our crew, keeping the set-up off of the seal was restricting our overall space for the interview. In order to maintain the tradition as well as maximize our space, we laid towels down to cover the seal before we placed the interviewer’s chair on it. The interview was lively and fun as the two coaches reminisced on their old hockey days and also talked about what makes them each successful coaches and how they enjoy working side by side today.
After the interview we got some great B-Roll shots of both the male and female hockey players on the ice with their respective coaches, as well as the coaches and players interacting on campus. Our very own director of photography, Alex Kenyon, has been playing hockey since he was a child and was really excited about this part of the day. Alex was able to put his skates on and join the players on the ice with his camera, getting some great in-action shots while dodging pucks. After fun on the ice, we packed up our equipment and headed back for Saratoga. The day went really well and the coaches and players were excited and happy to be a part of the shoot, making it a really great experience.
Check out all the behind the scenes action our our Flickr page here!
