Another old friend of Burton Hockey made his long awaited debut in VRH today. Here's Stefan to tell you more.

OK, Kuschman, we had a shorter session today. It took a while for everyone to show up, so we didn't actually start playing until close to 1pm. Both Bernie and Andrew were feeling overly tired from staying up late the night before, so we were just going to take things as they came.

We decided on teams of Stefan/Bernie with Bron in net against Steve/Andrew with Lorne in net. Right from the first faceoff we knew these teams were the epitome of balance. The first session was won by Stefan/Bernie in a hard fought 5-4 victory. The second game saw team Stefan/Bernie go up early 4-0, and looked to be a complete route. Then Steve and Andrew started to click, and the comeback was mounting. Soon team Stefan/Bernie found themselves tied 4-4, and wondering what happened. Soon after Andrew and Steve score the winner and exercise the full comeback from being down 4-0.

The final game was again another marathon session. Bernie and Stefan went up early 2-0, but then Andrew and Steve came back to get the 3-2 lead. Bernie and Stefan fought back again and turned the game to a 4-3 match, but soon after the game was tied. The two teams found themselves fighting for the winner not just for the game but for the series. 2 breaks were taken during this time. Once after the 2nd goal, another time after Stefan took a spill. Eventually after being stuck in this tiebreaker game for a good 25 minutes, which saw some amazing goaltending on both ends, did a small mistake turn costly and team Bernie/Stefan win it all. A two on one ensued with Bernie barreling down the right side, with Steve in hot pursuit. Bernie throws a no look backhand pass across the rink, Lorne comes out with stick on the ice to intercept, however the ball takes an ill-favored bounce over his stick giving Stefan a wide open net to shoot on.

So after only 3 games we called the match. 3 long very balanced matches marked the return of Steve to Burton Hockey.

Thanks, Stef. Another dominating performance from the Kloppster, as he collects 11G, 3A on 37S to take the day. Steve was impressive in his first Burton session in over three years, collecting nine goals and an assist on 42 shots. Andrew was third star with 4G, 5A, and Bernie was 3-and-5. Bron returned to his typical form in a session that was perhaps more typical of the Burton Hall than Ambleside Park, posting an .827 to Lorne's .770.

Useless Stats: Stefan passes Graeme for fourth in season scoring. Stef needs 12 points to reach Oliver in third and another beyond that to reach 200 on the year. Bernie ties Graeme for fourth in assists and in games played. Stefan passes Mitch for fifth in shots and goes over 400 on the year. Stefan ties Graeme for third in three-star points. On the SDF, Lee enjoys his 11th consecutive session on top (second-longest streak of all time). Stefan begins to fly up the charts as VRH plays more sessions; he shoots up eleven spots to fourth. Nathan spends a seventh session on top of the GDF as Bron moves up one spot to third.

On the all-time front: Stefan passes 1,500 shots and is four shots behind Justin for fifth all-time. Lorne needs ten games to become the fourth player to play 400. Bron passes K.J. to move back into the lead in saves-per-game. Joern's consecutive session streak ends at 15. Check out the Records and Honours page before you go.