The sun came out and so did BUSH for another Monday session. Today featured strong skaters, great offense and a tough day for the goalies. Josh would debut in net and show some signs midway through of becoming a future goalie but got tired in the end and got punished. Kalum Stevens showed some great flashes as a rookie, a great shot and both of these new players are expected to bring a solid rounding to our increasing Burton numbers. With Jerod Warren and Troy Waldron showing up at the end of the session there could be another session soon.

Series 1: 1. 5-2 Kyle 2. 5-0 K.J. 3. 5-2 K.J.
The calm defensive pairing of Oli and Kyle capitalized on sloppy passes and bad communication for a 5-2 victory over Josh's team in his first game in net. Their series lead would be short lived however as the current top three scorers in the league started to click and some great looking goals were scored in the uber-quick 5-0 game 2 backlash, giving Josh his first shutout. Game three was a continuation of game two but Chris stepped up the goaltending and gave his team a chance into a 2-2 tie, but the pressure ended up being to much as three tic-tac-toe's ended the game 5-2.

Series 2: 1. 5-3 Seamus 2. 5-4 Oli 3. 5-4 Seamus
An Oli for Seamus trade was conducted in the second stick toss and three close though quick games were played. Chris played solid in game 1 giving us numerous breaks and recording both his assists to lead us to a 5-3 win. Chris would take the lead again 4-2 but Oli started to take over breaking them out and Justin and K.J. finished it off with back to back across the crease set play type goals to take it in overtime 5-4. Game 3 would play out very tight as the teams traded goals all the way to another O.T. final with both sides missing chances and getting stonewalled in close the game ended on a hard wrist shot from center that beat a tired Josh to wrap up the series.

Game 7: 5-0 K.J.
After playing in front of Josh, wearing a red Flames jersey all day, Justin demanded that he get a chance to light up the "Kipper". Being that K.J. had shot on Chris all day we made teams that we thought would work matching Kyle, Oli and Seamus with Josh against Justin, K.J. and Kalum. 12 total shots later the game was over and it was apparent the day was over. Chris would get two more assists giving him 4 on the day.

Thanks, Seamus! To say that this was the shortest seven-gamer in history would probably not be an exaggeration. Even though both goalies posted a shutout, their final stats were unimpressive to say the least (certainly, posting the worst full-length session ever is an ignominious debut in goal for Josh). The threesome of Seamus, Justin and K.J. dominated for the third straight session this season. Seamus and Justin each finished with 22 points; K.J. just one behind. Offensively, there were no real slouches in this fast-paced session.

Season Stats: The three-way battle for the scoring lead continues as Seamus emerges with 55 points on the year, just one ahead of both K.J. and Justin. This could be an absolutely insane race all year. K.J. stretches out the goals lead to three over Justin, and Seamus has an assist lead of six over Justin. Justin needs one more shot for 100 on the year. K.J.’s shooting percentage remains above 40% and he is catching Lorne for the lead. Chris, Seamus, Oliver, K.J. and Justin have played all 19 BUSH games this season. Chris and Josh are the only two goalies to record shutouts so far this season (2 for Chris, 1 for Josh). Seamus has a lead of five three-star points over Justin and K.J. Seamus passes Stefan for the lead in APG; Justin is now third. Justin and Seamus post the third-highest scoring sessions of the year (and the highest scoring BUSH sessions of the year); K.J.’s session ranks fifth. Justin and K.J.’s sessions each rank third-highest in goals. Seamus’ 14 assists are the second-highest total this year, Justin’s 11 rank third, and K.J.’s 10 rank fourth. Justin’s 37 shots-on-goal rank third-highest this year. Chris’ 60 saves are fourth-highest in a session this year.

On the all-time front: Justin ties Bernie for fifth in all-time points. K.J. becomes the ninth player to reach 500 points. Kyle moves into 18th on the all-time scoring list. Justin needs ten goals for 400. Oliver needs five assists for 700. Seamus passes Lorne for fourth in assists, passes 400 assists, and is just two assists behind Lee for third. Seamus needs 35 shots for 2,000. Chris is 18 saves behind Laird for most all-time saves. Justin passes 400 games played and ties Lorne for fourth all-time. Seamus needs seven games for 400. K.J. passes Nathan for twelfth in games played. Seamus passes Lorne for third in most ten-assist sessions with 11. More importantly, he becomes just the second player to record three straight ten-assist sessions. Seamus records his 30th 15-pointer. K.J. has three straight 15-pointers. Seamus needs two more 20-pointers to tie Lorne for first all-time. Seamus now has the sixth-longest consecutive session streak of all time at 19. Justin is not far behind at 15. Seamus passes 400 three-star points. K.J. reaches 200 three-star points. Kyle falls out of the top five in shots-per-game.

SDF/GDF: Massive changes at the top of the SDF this week as, after 17 rankings and eight months at the top, Lee has been deposed by Seamus as Burton’s most dominant scorer. In fact, Lee falls to fourth as Lorne and Justin rank second and third. K.J. and Stefan are right behind, which demonstrates the parity among Burton’s elite. No big changes on the GDF as Brodie holds court for a second straight week.

BUSH looks to be back at it again really soon, especially with the prospect of Jerod and Troy getting back into action. Stefan and Bernie are scheduled to come over from VRH and play a one-off in BUSH Easter weekend. Your humble statistician will be there as well. Hopefully BUSH can get a session or two in before then.