In case that tweet ever disappears:
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While there's quite an abundance of team photos and such, from the 1910s (and earlier), actual game related photos like this one are very rare. I've seen this Winnipeg one before, but it's off the top of my head probably the best one I've seen, both in terms of resolution and information. But note that it isn't an actual action shot, meaning the game isn't in motion yet.
From what I've come to understand the reason for this was twofold: 1) they played indoors without natural lighting which meant you had to use flashlight photography techniques, and 2) the game was quite fast to capture well on camera (with said techniques).
I've scoured these years recently in Quebec sources, especially a Montreal weekly pictorial called
The Standard. This publication is available for free from the online BAnQ archives, and contains some pretty fascinating photographic material, for anyone just generally interested in the late 1890s/early 1900s. But I noticed there was actually quite a lot of action photos of lacrosse games, which makes quite a lot of sense since it was a slower outdoor sport.
But from this same season, 1911–12, I still came across this one below from an NHA game between Ottawa and Montreal Wanderers, from the February 10, 1912 issue of
The Standard. It's taken by A. A. Chesterfield and the publication claims it's "the first action flashlight photograph ever taken of a hockey match."
There's a more descriptive text about the photo (and photographic techniques in general) in the link (page 4), but as for what's happening it's basically just Odie Cleghorn trying to score on LeSueur.
BAnQ numérique
