A Look Behind the Lens
- Alyssa Shimko
- Dec 12, 2025
- 5 min read
By Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports
Shooting a hockey game is a unique experience: it is one of the fastest, most intense sports in the world...even at the local beer league level. Prior to October, that was the extent of my action photography experience. Unsurprisingly, shooting a professional hockey game amplifies that speed and intensity to an almost unbelievable level.
As the new staff photographer for Thunderstruck Sports, I have been lucky enough to dive straight into the deep end by shooting Tampa Bay Lightning home games. If you've ever wondered what the behind-the-scenes experience is like for a hockey photographer, I can now give you the scoop.
My shooting day actually starts a few hours before game time. I pack up everything I need: my trusty Canon DSLR camera and f/2.8 100-400 lens for taking pics; my MacBook, charger, and card reader for editing pics; and my fancy press pass to make sure I can get into the building to do both.
After I make the (sometimes very lengthy) drive from St. Petersburg to downtown Tampa, I make the much shorter walk from Rampello to Benchmark International Arena. It feels a bit like my home away from home now.
Once security scans my gear bag and gives me the green light, I head through this door. Literally.
Then it's through another security door and, boom - I immediately find myself at ice level and in the center of some very important parking: for the various Zambonis, the ambulance, and Thunderbug's motorbike. This is also near the entrance players and VIPs use, so (at the risk of sounding like a name-dropper) I occasionally bump into people like Vinny Lecavalier and Derrick Brooks in this area.
From here, I head over to the Hospitality Lounge and check the pre-game schedule. I am endlessly intrigued by the planning that goes into producing the game itself, including things most of us would never consider: sound checks, minute-by-minute ice-maintenance plans, when the horn sounds and the bowl lights dim, and so on.
I will then double back the way I came and head toward the freight elevator, the only one that serves all floors. But by this time, about 45 minutes before the players skate out for warm-ups, there are almost always obstacles to dodge along the way.
On Saturday night, the first obstacle was a tall, handsome one: Lightning captain Victor Hedman - finally making his return to the lineup after missing 12 games with an injury - was standing right outside the door, throwing a football around and looking every bit the part of a starting quarterback. That recent Stadium Series commercial featuring Hedman and Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield instantly popped in my head. About 30 feet away from him was a group of Islanders in blue and orange hoodies, kicking a soccer ball to each other. I waited for everybody to pause play so I could sneak past.
Occasionally, there are other things in the way, set aside not for the game but for an upcoming event. In this case, the Catering team had two pallets of snacks and drinks set aside for the Stevie Nicks concert the following night.
Once I've successfully navigated my way to the freight elevator, I ask the operator - a charming jokester named Gary - to please take me all the way up to the Press Box on the 7th floor. I have to confess something here, though: there are three reasons why I go up to that level, and all are equally ridiculous.
First, I will forever be a Lightning fangirl at heart, so having the unique opportunity to be within hand-shaking distance of titans like Phil Esposito, Dave Mishkin, and Julien BriesBois is something I simply cannot pass up. (On Saturday, I said hi to Dave Randorf, and we both stood and watched a couple of minutes of the Panthers/Blue Jackets game on the TV by the catering bar! It was in complete silence, but still. I like to think we connected over our unspoken loathing for both of those teams.)
Two, there are snacks.
And three, the view is incredible.
By the time there's 15-20 minutes left until warm-ups, I pocket whatever munchies I'm bringing with me and take the creepy stairs down to the third floor. I have already learned the hard way that the closer it is to puck drop, the slower the freight elevator travels - understandably so, as a shocking amount of both people and freight need to move between floors. Taking the stairs has proven to be the quickest, if not the easiest, way to get where I need to go by this point in the evening.
The stairs eventually bring me out onto the main concourse, about a dozen sections away from my assigned shooting location: the tunnel between sections 129 and 130. This is the section closest to the Lightning's bench and locker room, and it's also where players' families and friends sit to watch them play. The usher in this section, Carol, is both a consummate professional and an absolute blast to hang out with - and perhaps just as importantly, she is also a Lightning fangirl at heart. For most of the games I have shot so far this season, I have remained parked right in this spot. Although I end up watching nearly the entire game through the tiny viewfinder on my camera, it has led to some (in my biased opinion) fun photos like these:
This past Saturday, December 6, I decided to join our very own Mike Smith up in the press box for the third period. It gave me both a literal and a figurative new perspective on the game. The difference between several-feet-above-ice-level and several-stories-above-ice-level was fascinating: I found it much easier to see how plays were going to develop from that overhead view, perhaps because both the puck and the players seemed to move a little bit slower from that distance. I think that shooting from 129/130 really shows the speed of the game, but shooting from the press box really shows the flow.
Once the final horn sounds, it's back to the freight elevator - whenever it's able to pick us up - for the ride back down to ice level. I drop my bag off in the press conference room and head straight to the Lightning locker room, where I stand in the post-game player interview scrum. On Saturday, we heard from Victor Hedman and Anthony Cirelli after a tough shutout loss.
Then it's back to the conference room again to hear Coach Jon Cooper's take on the team's performance. By the time he arrives, I will already have started importing my photos into Lightroom on my computer, where I can crop, edit, and see whether I caught anything particularly neat during the game.
I try to whittle down the 300+ photos I shoot during the game to a much more manageable 30 or so, which I post to Thunderstruck Sports once I've finished editing. Then our writers are able to choose a photo or two to accompany their articles - with any luck, it's a killer shot of a Lightning player scoring a game-winning goal!
If you ever happen to see me at a game, please feel free to say hello! Just make sure it's not during play, or I'll have Carol tell you to go sit down.
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