So we ended up playing a good 8 games in a 3+ hour session at Ambleside. Our recruitment process seems to be working well as we had a solid 10 players out today which let us play 3 on 3 with 1 sub a team. We were able to fit two best of 5 series into the mix. The first series pitted Joern (goalie), Bernie, Ryno, Sam and Lorne up against Bron (goalie), Stefan, Andrew, Oliver and Griff. Andrew was on the team, but didn't actually play until the 3rd game due to skate malfunctions. This series turned out into a quick 3-0 routing by team Bron.

The second session had Joern, Oliver, Stefan, Ryan and Bernie up against Bron, Lorne, Sam, Andrew and Griff. Team Germany (or Team Old Men) against Team Young Greenhorns. This game came down to the fifth game with the young team getting it all done.

Was great to have another session in, and with the awesome weather hopefully to continue you can probably count on more to come.

Thanks, Stefan! The longest session of Burton Hockey so far this year didn’t produce mind-blowing stats, but it did set the tone quite nicely for what could be an active summer in Metro Vancouver. Once again Stefan led the way, this time garnering 14G-8A on 45 shots for 22 points. Lorne was close behind with 11 goals and nine assists. Griff picks up his first star points with his first 15-pointer in his first full session. The goalie weer are bit off their usual form today with Bron beating Joern .789-.673.
Here are the game results:
Bron, Stefan, Oliver, Griff def. Joern, Bernie, Ryan, Sam, Lorne 5-3 5-2
Bron, Stefan, Griff, Oliver, Andrew def. Joern, Bernie, Ryan, Sam, Lorne 5-2
Bron, Lorne, Sam, Andrew, Griff def. Joern, Oliver, Stefan, Ryan, Bernie 2-5 5-2 5-2 3-5 5-2

Season Stats: Stefan expands his season scoring lead to fourteen points over Lorne. Ryan also crosses the 50-point barrier today in third. Stefan is just five goals ahead of Lorne, 44-39, but is only six goals away from his third 50-goal season. Stefan is also at the head of a tight assists battle, with the top five within nine assists of each other. Stefan needs five shots for 200 on the year; Ryan is three shots ahead of Lorne for second. Lorne moves to third in shooting percentage and Sam to sixth. Stefan, Bernie, Ryan, Lorne and Joern have played every VRH game, and Stefan and Bernie also have played every BUSH game this season. Bron and Joern are first and second in games goaltended this year. Five sessions into the season and no shutouts have been recorded. This session killed 2008 per-game stats for both skaters and goaltenders as everyone who played fell. The length of the session, however, does mean that Stefan had the highest-scoring session of the year at 22 points; Lorne’s session ranks third at 20. Stefan’s 14 goals tie for the second-highest total of the year so far; Lorne’s 11 rank fifth. Lorne’s nine assists tie for third-highest, and Stefan and Oliver’s eight apiece tie for fifth. Stefan’s 45 shots tie for fifth highest. Bron’s .789 in net ranks fourth this year; his 86 saves today rank third.

On the all-time front: Oliver becomes the first player to score 1,200 points in Burton Hockey. Andrew passes Tony for 22nd on the all-time scoring list. Oliver ties Seamus for third in goals. Stefan passes Justin for fifth in goals. Lorne passes Lee for fourth in assists. Stefan passes Seamus for fourth in shots. Joern needs 24 saves for 2,000. Lorne is two games behind brother Laird for third in all-time games played. Joern is five games behind Seamus for sixth. Stefan needs five three-star points to tie Oliver for fourth. This is Lorne’s third-straight ten-goal/15-point session. Griff reaches 15-points for the first time in his second session. Bernie plays his 18th consecutive session, Stefan his 14th, Joern his ninth, and Oliver his seventh.

SDF/GDF: With only three BUSH sessions left on the books, and only one of them from this season, we start to see names falling off. Lorne moves into first on the ranking as Seamus plummets. Kyle will fall next week. Almost every VRH players moves up in the ranking. Those remaining BUSH sessions are enough to keep K.J. on top of the GDF for a ninth straight ranking.

The new influx of talent this year is really changing the face of the sessions. For the first time this season, there is real excitement around the league with regards to organising sessions and playing regularly. Summer must be here! Check out those Records and Honours before you leave, and hopefully we’ll have another session to write up for you next week.