Camouflaged cameraman becomes a crowd favorite at the junior men's hockey championship

The broadcasting of sports events is the live feed and coverage of sports with gripping commentators, catchy music and thorough analysis. With millions watching in stadiums and on televisions, it is important that the cameras capture the best bits and glimpses. With an ingenious idea of a camouflaged cameraman on the ice at the World Junior Men's Hockey Championship, a Canadian sports channel known as The Sports Network (TSN) was able to get dramatic close-ups of the players. He blends into the snowy white background with his white outfit as he graciously wades through the ice and captures these commendable coverage, which has now gained him his own little fan base. So much so that now the people in the arenas come dressed up as him. 

As per My Modern Met, the name of camouflaged cameraman is Nathan Eidse who is 39 years old from Manitoba, Canada. Instead of entering the arena at the end of the game, his employer made him come in during breaks and once it was established and proven to the  International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that be won't be bumping into the players, Eidse got the green flag to enter during warm-ups and timeouts. He's also a former goaltender which enables him to ease his way into the arena and get steady shots without falling over. “It's not lost on me that I have the best seat in the house,” Eidse said to the CBC. “It's pretty neat to be in the middle of everything.” 

His head-to-toe white attire, which includes white covering for his skates and, most crucially, a white cover for the camera was suggestedby hockey star Wayne Gretzky. “[He] was saying, ‘I love it but we've got to cover that camera in white.' That's where the white camera cover came from,” he recalls. Despite the numerous footages of him at work and his long chain of fans of cosplay as him, Eidse stated that he doesn't like to be center of attention.  “I'm behind the camera for a reason. I'm a pretty modest individual. I don't like to detract from what the camera's actually providing,” he said in an interview. “It's weird to get the attention.” The terrific shots he gets, such as the one where he circles a hat  thrown on the ice during a goal celebration, leave both players and spectators in awe of his on-ice stealth as well.

 “Hats off to this guy. He always sneaks through everybody,” said Austrian forward Vinzenz Rohrer, while Swedish goalie Carl Lindbom chimed in saying, “The end product is amazing.” Canadian defenceman Brandt Clarke also applauded the cameraman, saying, “He's getting cool shots of the boys. When I scored against Germany, I smiled for him.” Paul Graham, TSN’s vice-president in charge of live-event production told The Toronto Star, “We’re always looking to do things differently." “I saw it over in Switzerland seven or eight years ago, but it wasn’t very good in terms of the guy who was skating and how they incorporated it. It was cool, but I’m thinking, ‘OK, we can do something better.’”

At several games, TSN was granted longer leashes, and when Eidse shown his skill at not interfering with the game, organisers kept granting him and TSN more access. “I enjoy what I do,” says Eidse, who also works on TSN’s CFL coverage. “I’m not going to lie. It’s obviously something that a lot of people would love to do. It’s always fun. It gets to be challenging in a blowout type of game, and so that’s where I try and find new and creative ways of getting the bench celebration (from a different) angle.”