Camouflaged cameraman blends in while being front and centre at world juniors

The last thing Nathan Eides wants — and he makes this abundantly clear — is to be in the spotlight.

And yet there he is. Every TV timeout, every goal celebration, every victory, every defeat.

Dressed head-to-toe in white, the camouflaged cameraman on skates is front and centre at the world junior men's hockey championship inside Halifax's Scotiabank Centre.

"It's not lost on me that I have the best seat in the house," Eides said between two recent games. "It's pretty neat to be in the middle of everything."

The 39-year-old originally from Rosenort, Man., manoeuvres around the ice during stoppages to provide an intimate, up-close perspective of hockey's next stars.

"He's getting cool shots of the boys," Canadian defenceman Brandt Clarke said. "I've seen him almost get bumped into.

"When I scored against Germany, I smiled for him."

Eides sits in the penalty boxes and jumps into the fray — specific situations agreed upon with the International Ice Hockey Federation — as soon as play stops.

The Winnipeg-based freelancer, who mostly works for TSN on hockey and football telecasts, said the only time he notices the teenagers changing their behaviour is during warmups.

"They do a little bit more playing with the puck," he said.

Eides weaves in and out of those chaotic, yet ordered, sessions where each player has a routine, and potential hazards are plenty.

"Knock on wood, never been hit with a puck," he said. "I try and patrol the red line as much as possible.

"Then I pick my moments and get in there."

Eides might be a few centimetres from a goaltender stretching or a silky smooth stickhandler like Canadian phenom Connor Bedard.

"Weird the first time," Austrian forward Vinzenz Rohrer said. "Hats off to this guy. He always sneaks