Remember the first nick in your new car’s paint job, or the first mishandled drop of your cell phone? I’ve grown accustomed to that lump in your throat unfortunately. Transporting thousands (and sometimes tens of thousands) of dollars worth of equipment, hauling it around, exposing it to the elements, purposefully putting it in harms way takes its toll. I had a small casualty last evening before the Flyers game. I was at one of the small holes photographing the warm ups for Independence Sports Magazine when a puck came flying at me. The lens I was using has a built in metal hood the extends about an inch and a half past the end of the lens. I looked at it in disbelief (pictured below). This isn’t made of aluminum or anything very malleable at all, but I guess a hockey puck flying at full speed was more than a match for it. I was a little angry about it, but then I got to thinking. If my camera hadn’t been there at the time I would have taken it in the face, so I’m happy about that, and if I would have had any other lens on the camera the glass would have been smashed by the force of the puck. All in all - I think I came out way ahead on this one, but I still have that feeling, niggling away in the back of my mind.