from Gare Joyce of Sportsnet,

For 45 years, Bruce Bennett has captured hockey's greatest players, teams and memories, and shaped the way we see the game

Aouple of hours before ticketholders start to file into TD Garden for Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, Bruce Bennett is setting up remote cameras at both ends of the rink. It’s a chore that he’ll have to do only a six more times this spring and, as always, an opportunity to get his game face on. He quietly keeps tabs on the comings, doings and goings of Getty Images assistants as he works. Items on a checklist he has written down, items on another list that’s committed to memory. “He’s incredibly meticulous in his preparation, extremely organized, to the point of obsession,” Getty photographer Harry How says. “He actually brings a schematic to every game. He’s prepared for anything. There’s no over-preparing for him. One time a puck shattered his 70-200mm zoom lens and he got a backup out of his equipment bag. He’d be the only one carrying that big backup lens because, maybe, once in 1,000 games you need one. Maybe once in 5,000.”

As Getty’s director of hockey photography, Bennett is a player, coach and GM in one. Some staffers talk about him being “the captain” and others “the puppet master.” By the time the arena doors open, he’s back in the media room. First, he goes through the lineups and line combinations. “He studies the tendencies for all the players around the league, where they go, what they do, so he knows when to look for them,” says Al Bello, a veteran Getty shooter. Then he checks in with Getty’s editor, who will sort through hundreds, even thousands, of images filed by Bennett and the staffers while the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues let it all hang out on the business side of the plexiglass.

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