Over the last two weeks, temperatures in the Washington DC area have been frigid as the jet stream dipped and a bomb cyclone forced arctic winds into the area. The subfreezing weather has iced over many lakes and streams in the DMV area. Many local hockey players have taken advantage of the “free ice.”

The most picturesque area to play pond hockey has been the C&O Canal where hundreds of people have gone out to play. On Tuesday, one RMNB reader, Jeremy Schooler, played shinny with a bunch of friends for the third straight day. What he didn’t expect was meeting a passerby from Texas, who was so intrigued by seeing pond hockey for the very first time, that he took professional photos of their games.

Jeremy writes:

While we were in the middle of a game of shinny, we saw a man with a camera come down to the canal trail next to the ice, saying that had seen us while driving on the Clara Barton Parkway next to the canal and felt like he had to stop.

He went on to say that he was a professional photographer from Texas, and although he’d never seen people playing hockey on an actual natural body of water like this, he thought it was amazing and wanted to take some pictures.

He came down the ice and snapped photos of us skating, stopping and playing games, all of which turned out incredible. It’s awesome that someone who’d never seen pond hockey before got to experience it, and it reminded us why playing hockey outside, the way the sport was invented, is so cool.

The photographer, Joe Center, was kind enough to share his photos with RMNB. You can see more of his shots on his website or on his Facebook page.

Photos

Photos: Joe Center Media