The 1st camera used at a NHL game inside the goal net.

Vancouver Sun photographer Ralph Bower was the first photographer to mount a camera with a 20mm lens in the net. December 13, 1970.

Bower was ‘shooting blind’ and only later in the darkroom he saw what he had captured. To snap the shutter, Bower had a wire implanted in the ice leading to a spot in the stands behind the Canucks net. He could snap a photo by pressing an electric doorbell attached to the wire. He was able to place the box into the net 4 times. A first attempt was thwarted when the Zamboni ice-cleaning machine severed the wire in the ice.

Bower had to negotiate with the NHL, the Canucks coach and the goalies for permission.⁠

A Vancouver Sun carpenter constructed this box to hold his 35mm camera with a 20mm wide lens. The box has a hinge at its base, so it could be knocked over if the goal-tender fell into the net.⁠