After taking a single day off Burton was busy again for our longest and largest session of the year. This session would be a bit unique due to it's player content and numbers, forcing us into a game of 4 on 4 to start, which was abandoned (of course) after 1 game due to clog. Troy had to work so our second goalie spot needed to be filled, once again we would turn to Josh to guard the net, he would bring Christa's boyfriend Ben Jokiert along to give us rookies participating in 3 straight B.U.S.H sessions. On with the recap.

Series 1
Games: 5-2 Chris, 5-1 Josh, 5-2 Chris
Steve (Cain)-Seamus-K.J.-Jerod (Warren)-Graeme-Josh 58 shots, 11 goals
Mitch-Karl-Justin-Ben-Chris 40 shots, 11 goals

Josh would start out much the same as yesterday with Justin netting 4 goals in game one; the shot volume was down due to 4 on 4. After the first game K.J. started to distribute the ball very well and found both Graeme and Seamus at the side of the net for a few goals. Jerod also started to show his prowess in this game scoring 2 to force a tiebreaker. Justin would be too much in game 3 as he basically took over, 1 goal and 4 assists would carry his team to the series victory and his 3 game total would lead the way with 9 points.

Series 2
Games: 5-3 Josh, 5-4 Chris, 5-1 Josh Seamus-K.J.-Graeme-Ben-Josh 56 shots, 14 goals

The second set of teams were decided with goalies drawing there players names out of a hat; basically a Jerod-and-Steve-for-Ben trade in this one which ended up being the closest and funnest series of the day. Game one saw the O'Connor brothers take control both netting 2 goals for a 5-3 victory. In game 2 Justin and Karl carried there team to an overtime victory playing with grit and finishing off the rush. Game 3 was a strange one as it was fairly tight but Josh was starting to save some of the outside shots and with a couple of quick goals from Ben, Graeme and Seamus this game ended sooner than expected. K.J. would lead the way with 5 goals and 6 assists to give him 11 points in the 3 games.

Series 3
Games: 5-1 Chris, 5-4 Chris
Justin-Karl-Jerod-Graeme-Ben-Josh 33 shots, 5 goals
K.J.-Seamus-Mitch-Steve-Chris 30 shots, 10 goals

In an attempt to even the teams and give equal time on the weaker tender I manufactured these teams myself, not without its share of controversy as Justin and Jerod were on the bench to start to face K.J., Seamus and Mitch. We would score 3 goals in the first 2 minutes before the sub came on, causing some flared tempers. In retrospect I should have been on Justin's team in this one, he did play all day on his own with K.J. and I working on the same team most of the day. The second game was close but not as close as the score would dictate in probably the fastest overtime game ever. I think there were 5 shifts, making the game about 10 minuets long. Also the flow was constantly broken up by line changes, and due to the volume of players coming on and off we had to freeze every 2 min, making it hard to get going. Seamus would lead the way with 6 and 1 in those two games.

Series 4
Game: 5-3 Josh
Justin-K.J.-Steve-Ben-Chris 12 shots, 3 goals
Jerod-Seamus-Graeme-Mitch-Karl-Josh 18 shots 5 goals

The goalies were tired but we decided to play one more to bring our total to 9 games for the day, Graeme and Seamus each with 2 and 1 would take the one game. Justin would also manage 2 goals but huge defensive lapses by Ben and Steve would allow us the victory. Everyone was pretty burnt out after this one and it could be a while before we get it going again, so for now this is Seamus O'Connor signing out.

Thanks, Seam! A big session from BUSH. The O’Connor brothers continue to rule the roost in 2007, as both K.J. and Seamus notch 24P. However, it was K.J. giving the passes this time. Justin was not far behind, as usual, with 12G, 9A. Jerod made a nice return to BUSH with 17P. Graeme also returns for a 15-pointer. In goal, things were much better today. Chris put up 135 saves and notched .788. Josh is beginning to assert himself after Monday’s sloppy debut in goal, and made his way up to a respectable .727.

Season Stats: There already appears to be an insurmountable gulf between out three leaders and the rest of the pack. Seamus holds onto the scoring lead by one point (79) over K.J. (78). Justin is still right there at 75. After them, it’s all the way back to the absent Oliver at 38, with Graeme moving into fifth at 35. Justin ties K.J. for the lead in goals with 38, Seamus two behind. K.J. takes a chunk out of Seamus’ assist lead, 43-40. Justin is three behind. Seamus passes Justin for the shot total lead, 137-135. K.J. falls behind Oliver into third in shooting percentage. Chris moves back into the top five in save percentage, and he is untouchable in total saves. Josh moves into second in saves. With Oliver gone, Justin, Chris, and the O’Connors are the only ones to have played every single game this year in BUSH. Chris has goaltended every game; Josh is the only goaltender besides Chris to have played multiple sessions. Seamus retains a five-point lead in the three-star category over K.J. with Justin only five behind him. The low per-game totals in this session means that VRH players occupy the top four in GPG. Seamus hands the lead in APG back to Stefan while K.J. ties Lorne for third. Chris moves up to fourth in saves-per-game. K.J. and Seamus’ 24 points tie for third-highest in a session this season. Seamus’ 15 goals rank second and Justin’s 12 rank fourth. In session assists this year, K.J’s 15 rank second and Jerod’s 11 rank fifth. Seamus ties Stefan’s season high for shots with 52; K.J.’s 39 rank third. In what is proving to be a goaltending-challenged season thus far, Chris’ .788 ties for the second-best mark all year. Chris’ 130 saves this session easily mark a season high in Burton. Josh’s 88 saves are tied for fourth.

On the all-time front: Seamus needs 17 points for 900. Justin passes Bernie for fourth in points. K.J. is four points behind Joern for eighth in all-time points. Graeme needs one point to become the eleventh player to reach 400 points. Justin becomes the fifth player to pass 400 goals. K.J. is eleven goals behind Stefan for sixth all-time. Seamus passes Lee for third in assists, and is sixteen behind Bernie for second. K.J. needs three assists for 200. Seamus passes 2,000 shots. Justin passes Stefan for fifth in shots. K.J. passes Joern for eighth in shots. Mitch passes 400 shots. Chris passes Laird for first in all-time saves. Justin passes Lorne for fourth in games played, and Seamus is just four games behind Lorne at 400. Karl becomes the 18th player to play 100 games. Seamus passes Joe and ties Lee for most 15-goal sessions with 6. Surprisingly, Jerod records his first ten-assist session. K.J. has back-to-back ten-assisters and four straight 15-pointers. Seamus has three consecutive 15-pointers, and three consecutive 20-pointers; he needs one more 20-pointer to tie Lorne for most ever with 20. Justin and K.J. also both have back-to-back 20-pointers. Chris passes Laird for most career 80-savers with 21, and ties Nathan for most 130-savers with 5. Josh records his first 80-save session. Seamus has played in twenty consecutive sessions, Justin in 16, Chris in 6, and K.J. in 5.

SDF/GDF: Seamus strengthens his newly-won SDF lead as K.J. moves up to fourth and Dallas drops off the list from ninth. Brodie’s inactivity puts Bron on top of the GDF for the second time, while Chris moves to second and Josh to third, simply because they are the only players consistently goaltending. Justin falls all the way from second to tenth as he focuses on the scoring title.

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.