Regina Pats photographer aims to take the right shot

Keith Hershmiller has photographed the Regina Pats throughout the years, but he's never seen a season quite like this.

The Regina man is this season'sofficial home ice photographer, and he's also a hugefan of the WHL team.The gig has allowed him aunique perspective from behind his Canonlenses.

"The season's been very special," he said. "This is big time for these boys right now and it's really good to see the crowd stand behind them."

The Pats are currently in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference final with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

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The atmosphere inside the rink is different than it used to be, and Hershmiller thrives on a hot crowd.

"It's really neat to see a lot more fans here," he said. "We have some new fans, we have some diehards."

But it's not just the current playoffs that have people excited Hershmillersays he started to notice a change at the end of last season.

"People were starting to understand the direction the team was going," he said, noting the steady number of sellouts that have since followed. The crowd is just as passionate as he and the players are, Hershmiller said.

Ongame nights, he arrives early and settles into the rink to watch the warm up and assess the atmosphere before the game begins. Once the puck drops, his focus turns to capturing the passion.

"You just capture the moment that a lot of people would like to try and remember."

Hershmiller said it's hard not to get caught up in those moments.

"There are times where I miss the big hit because I'm too busy watching the play," he said, adding that'sthe nature of the business.

Though itwas hard for the photographer to narrow it down, two moments stand out in his mind as most memorable of this season.

The first was a line brawl between the Pats and the Saskatoon Blades. He said Pats players Connor Hobbs and Bryan Locknerseemed to try torally the fans.

"They're just raising their hands, just, 'Yeah, let's do this.' And the crowd just went ballistic."

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The other was the ending to the Pats-Swift Current Broncos series.The Pats were down in the series 3-1 but the teamcame back and beat the Broncos to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

"When I went out on the ice to grab the shots of the handshakes, the emotion down there was incredible," he said."The hugs between goalies and captains it's almost a surreal moment you can't describe."

He said he'll probably remember that moment forever.

He said he hears the banter between the teams when he's shooting down by the benches, but then watches them leave that behind at the series' end.

"To see that friendly handshake at the end of the series, that was kind of cool."

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The Regina Pats are in LethbridgeTuesday to face the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference championship series.They'll remain in town for Game 4 on Wednesday before returning home to Regina for Game 5.

That game is already sold out.