OLD BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Bruce Bennett has probably played in more NHL games than anyone in history. The 69-year-old’s home offers a glimpse into a career that has taken him to the rink many times over more than 50 years.
Wayne Gretzky’s signed jerseys, sticks and photos line the living room walls, many with notes inscribed thanking Bennett for his friendship and hard work. There is a Stanley Cup model. And a closet full of camera lenses, wires and other equipment.
Bennett has an elevated office above the living room. Some of his photos are framed and hung on the walls. His bookshelf is filled with hockey and photography books, and there’s even a plastic rat that hit him on the head as he celebrated the Florida Panthers winning the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. On the bottom shelf is footage of John Tavares’ first NHL goal.
“This is really cool!” The photo features the former New York Islanders captain.
Scotty Bowman has coached 2,141 NHL games. Patrick Marleau played 1,779 games. David Poile has played 3,075 games as general manager, but management doesn’t always attend every game. Lou Lamoriello came close to this record with 2,868.
Bennett took more than 5,000 photos.
“We could play every other day throughout the season, but that would be too ambitious,” says Bennett. “So if there are four games in four nights, there’s a good chance I’ll play all four. “I don’t want to leave anything on the table.”
As of July 2, when Bennett most recently updated his statistics, he had played in 5,240 NHL games between the regular season and playoffs. 44 of those were Stanley Cup deciders. Including the preseason, he recorded more than 328 reps. Including all hockey games – international, PHWL, junior and exhibition – he was up to 6,142 games during the summer.
The Islanders custom-made No. 1 for him when he reached that goal. I gave him 5000 jerseys. A framed display hangs just above a shelf of toys for his grandchildren.
Bennett, now director of hockey photography for Getty Images, was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. When he was in elementary school, he borrowed his father’s Kodak Instamatic to take pictures on school field trips. He calls it a “horrible photo,” but it sparked passion.
He played his first hockey game at Madison Square Garden when he was 17 or 18 years old. Since he did not have press credentials, he took pictures from the balcony. Around the same time, he snuck into the Islanders photo box and filmed a game. He mailed some of his photos to the Hockey News and asked if they would be interested in using his work. The publication said yes, which led to Bennett earning a photography license and a legendary career. It’s a career that has given Bennett a front row seat to some of the biggest moments in hockey history.
Whether they know it or not, sports fans’ lasting memories of significant hockey moments are often seen through Bennett’s lens.
How does he capture them, and what are the most meaningful to him?
To give that feeling, he walked. athletic Here are 10 of his favorite photos, introducing him to the process he takes to create them and why he cherishes them.
Varlamov from above
Islanders goalie Semyon Balamov seen from above in 2023.
To take photos from above, Bennett must walk along the stadium’s catwalk and attach a remote camera to the rafters. Then, while filming a game on the ice, he presses a button on a remote control that activates a rafter camera to take a picture.
Walking on the rink is not for the faint-hearted, but don’t let the fact that Bennett does it fool you. “I’m scared because I’m short,” he says.
Getty Images wants photographers to be creative, and Bennett had the idea of placing a single camera on a net with a slower shutter speed. This way, if the goalie is on the puck during a scramble in front of the net, he will appear to be still, with all the action around him blurred. Bennett got his wish with a photo of New York Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Just this in the box
Steve Yzerman, a 1984 Red Wings Hall of Famer, leans against the boards.
A box of old photos at Nassau Coliseum was located right between the penalty boxes, allowing Bennett to take a photo of a young Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings in 1984. It was an ideal location in many ways. Apply liniment to the player’s skin and listen to them talk trash.
There were also disadvantages. Bennett was hit by numerous pucks thrown by players trying to get out of the defensive zone. These days, he takes pictures in the corner of the rink, which has a 4-by-5-inch hole for the camera lens.
Richter and Vanbiesbrouck share jersey
Rangers goalkeepers Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck pose together in 1991.
The Hockey News assigned Bennett to photograph New York Rangers goalies Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck, who shared the net in the early 1990s. Prior to filming, Bennett bought the largest Rangers jersey he could and cut the back out so they could fit both of them. He remembers feeling weird as he destroyed his expensive jersey.
“I hope this works,” he thought to himself as he took the cut.
Fortunately, both goalies were interested in the idea and happily posed for pictures. Afterwards, Bennett had no idea what to do with the jersey, so he asked Richter and Vanbiesbrouck to sign it. Now the photo is framed in his living room, matted over a copy of the photo used.
2017 Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist and Devils goalie Cory Schneider watch the puck go into the goal.
Bennett sometimes places a camera at the bottom of the net. He can secure it inside a polycarbonate box and then take pictures remotely using the same type of remote control he uses for rafter pictures. He likes this photo showing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist scoring on Cory Schneider. Because you can see the New Jersey Devils’ logo on the puck, the symmetry of the players, and the scoreboard showing that New Jersey was awarded a penalty kick. kill.
“That’s a really cool angle,” he says. “For me, this point is a little bit cliché. … But if you get something good, it’s good.”
Crosby’s golden goal
Sidney Crosby celebrates Ryan Miller’s overtime goal in 2010.
Before the Olympic gold medal and Stanley Cup championship game ends, Bennett will line up in the Zamboni corner, where he will be taken on the ice for the postgame presentation. He hates it.
“It’s terrible,” he says. “You’re standing there looking at the scoreboard. “You can’t shoot.”
Bennett placed a camera in the rafters during the 2010 Olympic gold medal game between the United States and Canada. During overtime, he knelt down to look at the scoreboard. When Crosby caught a pass from Jarome Iginla, Bennett was holding down the remote button, hoping the scoreboard monitor would synchronize with the live action. Fortunately for him, it was. He got the opportunity he was looking for.
“This is a moment for Canada to breathe a sigh of relief,” he says.
Gayny with a cup
1979 Bob Gainey hoists the Stanley Cup.
Bennett was in trouble after the Montreal Canadiens beat the Rangers to win the 1979 Stanley Cup in five games. He couldn’t find his way up onto the ice and didn’t know French, so he ran in both directions around the rink trying to find a way to get closer to the celebration. Eventually, he gave up on getting on the ice and headed to the stands. He stood on a chair and did his best to take pictures.
“Instead of clapping for their hometown, a few fans held me up so I could take pictures. “This was a really good thing for dumb Anglo-American Americans,” he says.
He was lucky enough to be photographed by Hall of Famer Bob Gainey. Bennett says it symbolizes the glory of winning the Stanley Cup.
young gretzky
Wayne Gretzky stands in the Oilers locker room in 1979.
This photo by Wayne Gretzky is the cover of the English edition of Bennett’s book “Hockey’s Greatest Photos.” It came from Gretzky’s final WHA game against the Edmonton Oilers. In those days, photographers were allowed into the locker room after games, which is how Bennett took this photo.
“High school shoulder pads,” says Bennett. “A skinny, scrawny guy.”
This was the first famous photo of Gretzky, who wrote the foreword to ‘The Greatest Photos of Hockey.’ Bennett took a long shot of Gretzky breaking Phil Esposito’s record by scoring his 77th goal of the 1981-82 season. He doesn’t consider the photo artistically special, but it captures a moment in history. A signed copy hangs in Bennett’s living room.
Bennett and Gretzky’s relationship has now spanned several decades. Gretzky brought him on as the official photographer for the Ninety Nine All Stars tour that ran during the 1994-95 lockdown, and Bennett also photographed Gretzky’s fantasy camps. That’s where some of the memorabilia on his wall come from.
Bosi’s Burning Rod
Mike Bossy of the Islanders poses for a portrait in 1980.
Bennett staged this photo for the Hockey News in the locker room at Nassau Coliseum. If you look closely, you can see that Bossy is still in the shower, toweling off. To create the image, Bennett smeared kerosene on the bottom of a stick and lit it.
“There was a bucket there, and it ended up burning the cotton and it disappeared on its own,” he says.
Bossy was a four-time member of the Islanders from 1980-83. That era of hockey was a good one for Bennett.
“I think it was a moment that helped me turn my career around a little bit,” he says. “Not just the fact that a dynasty grew on Long Island, but also the fact that I was smart or capable enough to turn off the fan switch in my head and focus on my work.”
Potvin attacks Lafleur.
The Islanders’ Denis Potvin upset the Canadiens’ Guy Lafleur in the early 1980s.
This photo of Denis Potvin punching Guy Lafleur is one of Bennett’s favorite photos from the early days of his career.
“It was one of the first best shots I ever had,” he says.
He said that if the photo had worked horizontally, he would have considered using it as the cover photo for his book. It’s similar to a photo of Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov hitting the Rangers’ Johnny Brozinski in the 2024 playoffs and leaving him in a similar position to LaFleur. However, he said, “There are some differences in Hall of Fame status. “Please don’t offend Johnny.”
Martinez’s Cup-winning goal
The Kings celebrate Alec Martinez’s Cup-winning goal in 2014.
In his lectures on sports photography, Bennett emphasizes the power of capturing celebration and dejection in the same frame. That’s exactly what Alec Martinez got when he scored off Henrik Lundqvist to win the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
“It’s gold.” Bennett said. “Lundqvist was someone who could tell what he was feeling through his body language, even with his mask and everything on.”
The image of Kings celebrating so close to him was captured with a remote camera positioned in the rafters, adding to the impact of the image.
“I’m just blindly pressing that button because I’m getting ready to be pushed on the ice,” he says.
More than two hours before the Rangers’ game against Montreal on Nov. 30, Bennett crouched inside Madison Square Garden and attached a camera to the bottom of the game’s net. His plan is to photograph the Rangers game at 1 p.m., then take the train to UBS Arena in the evening to photograph the Islanders-Buffalo Sabers.
Bennett’s proximity to several teams in the New York area has always allowed him to film plenty of games, and the passion that drove the 18-year-old doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
“It’s hard to leave,” he says. “I feel like a professional athlete.”
Bennett begins work in his office, looking at photos taken the night before by Getty snipers. He will send you an email. Some are complimentary, some are constructive, some are sarcastic. He will be watching the NHL Network and downloading media notes for the next game he will be filming. He prepares to capture the big moments by taking note of which players will capture them.
While hockey is off for the summer, Bennett stays busy with photography. He enjoys taking day trips around Long Island and photographing wildlife. He blew up one of his favorites, an eagle catching a fish at Centerpoint, and had it framed in his office.
And when the season starts, he’s always ready to go.
“The golfer’s expression, ‘One good shot can get you back the next day,’ is how I feel about the game of hockey,” he says. “If you’re not there, you can’t get it.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photo: Peter Baugh / The Athletic; Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
