‘Grateful every day’: The men behind the lens detail favorite moments shooting the Edmonton Oilers

CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa talks to photographers in charge of capturing Oilers' memorable moments on the ice ahead of Game 2 against the Dallas Stars.

Two local photographers are catching the best shots of the best shots made by the blue and orange.

Paul Swanson and Chase Woodske work for the NHL, capturing the Edmonton Oilers on film.

“I’m grateful every day I get to do it,” said videographer Chase Woodske. “(I) get to be in the best seats of the house to watch the best players perform at the highest level, and I never know what to expect.”

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Hockey is a fast game. In addition to never knowing what comes next, it can be tricky capturing subjects like lightning-quick captain Connor McDavid or teammate Mattias Janmark.

“You kind of anticipate what’s going to happen, and then just hope it’s true, if not you miss it,” Woodske said.

Swanson said studying how the team moves can help make sure big moments are caught on camera, but there’s never a guarantee.

“There are some times where I just miss the entire thing because, you know, they’re too fast, or they’re too quick,” said Oilers photographer Paul Swanson.

“They can score and I can be uploading a photo to the Oilers social media team … then, 30 seconds later, before I even have my camera up again, they can score again,” he added. “It’s just being able to be prepared and know the shots that I want to be taking.”

Swanson has been shooting the team for four years and has recorded some of the team’s big milestones, including the shot used as the graphic for McDavid’s 1000th point.

There are candid moments, too, like Brett Kulak’s kiss blown to his daughter or the portrait of a cheeky-looking Leon Draisaitl warming up, which went viral.

“It’s super, super, super fun,” Swanson said. “It’s fast-paced, and it’s always exciting. And we are so, so very fortunate with this team to be able to be capturing who we get to capture and what we get to capture.”

Woodske, who was brought in as a videographer with help from Swanson, has caught his fair share of winning moments. His favorite? McDavid’s 2024 toe-drag goal against the Dallas Stars in Game 6.

“You never really know what McDavid is going to do,” he said. “I was just trying to keep him in frame and he toe-dragged around. My jaw dropped.”

On Woodske’s Instagram, you can find videos slowed down at key moments, offering a closer look at the magic happening in split-seconds on the ice.

It’s a dream come true, he said, to be able to immortalize those moments on video.

“I feel like everyone in the sport, every sports fan, wants to be able to be as close as they can to the action, and I feel like this is the best way to do it with the skill set I have,” he said.

You can find Swanson on Instagram here.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa