One of the most intense sessions in recent BUSH history was played today in Burton, featuring three grinding, exhausting 3-on-3 games followed by a freewheeling, fast-paced pair of 2-on-2 games, all featuring amazing passing and, above all, two outstanding goaltenders pulling saves out of their nether regions, sometime literally.

A newly trim Nathan, Kyle, and Troy all made their 2009 debuts here, setting up an epic goaltending duel between Shem and Nate. The first series would pit Lee, Watsy, K.J. and Shem against Kyle, Troy, Mitch and Nathan. The crew knew it was going to be an odd game immediately when Kyle’s routine dump-in off the opening faceoff flew over everyone’s head, bounced over Shem’s left shoulder (keep in mind, this is a zero-bounce ball) and went in the back of the net; in fact, four of that team’s first eight shots beat Shem. Cue the comeback. Watsy was a rock on the point, setting up Lee and K.J. for plentiful tic-tac-toe opportunities as the team clawed their way back to 4-all before Troy put home a rebound from Mitch to avoid the choke. Game 2, and Lee’s shot off the opening faceoff beat Nathan to set the tone for a 5-1 whitewash. Rubber match time. Could Watsy’s ailing back hold up for the whole game? Could Kyle continue after busting three wheels in two games? Yes, they could. Thirty minutes of back-and-forth, down-and-dirty hockey ensued, with insane flopping saves from both goaltenders punctuated by breakout passes setting up epic breakaways. K.J. and Kyle dangled; Nathan pulled out at least three saves by the skin of his taint, literally. Lee and K.J. were stonewalled by Nathan for the longest time while Troy, Kyle and Mitch kept putting wide amazing opportunities to score on open nets. When the smoke cleared, Kyle, Troy, Mitch and Nathan finally won 5-4 to take the opening series as the clouds rolled in and a handful of raindrops fell. Lee became the third player in Burton history to reach the hallowed 1,000-point mark.

Finally, Watsy’s back cried ‘Uncle’, and the session became 2-on-2, pitting K.J., Troy and Nathan against Mitch, Kyle, Lee and Shem. The effort level amazingly remained just as intense, but the dynamic changed; defence went out the window with Watsy’s departure and a ridiculous amount of 2-on-1s and breakaways occurred. A blistering shot from Lee nailed Nathan in the neck and somehow lodged UNDER his mask; amazingly, he was just fine. The very next play saw Troy get robbed by Shem in a Tim Thomas flop, who then stood up, not knowing where the puck was. With his back to the play standing up, he blocked another Troy shot and then turned around and dove to stop a third. This helped his team with 5-2. With daylight burning, K.J., Troy and Nathan only had one chance to even the score. A back-and-forth offensive tilt took place whose highlight was another brilliant Nathan save (leaping from the rink-end corner in almost a baseball slide to snare a shot on an absolutely empty net from Lee) en route to another 5-4 victory. The series ended tied, and not one person complained. Never have so many been so happy to be completely sore and stiff at the end of a long day.

It almost seems like a shame to single out stars in a session like that, but someone has to do it. Lee beat K.J. by a point (10-8-18-56 vs. 8-9-17-54) to take first star. Fittingly, Troy and Kyle posted identical stats (8-4-12) to tie for third, although Kyle far outshot him 43-28. If there was any doubt from last week, there is no more: Shem cemented a place in the ranks of Burton’s elite netminders with his .830 performance in a session where no goalie should have gotten .830; Nathan’s .810 did not do him justice. Both goaltenders stood on their heads.

Season Stats: Even with one less game played, BUSH players hold the top two sports in the season scoring race as K.J. (41) and Lee (38) lead VRH’s Stefan (38) and Oliver (38). K.J. (22) leads Lee (20) and Mitch (19) in goals. Stefan holds onto the lead in assists at 19, one more than Lee and two more than K.J. The shots-on-goal race is very tight with Lee at 110, K.J. 105 and Stefan 101. Mitch falls from second to fifth in shooting percentage and K.J. falls from third to seventh. Shem moves from fourth to first in goaltending at .816 while Nathan debuts in a tie for second with Lorne at .810 (94 for 116). Shem is five saves behind Joern for first; but has played one less game. Oliver, K.J. and Lee are all even for first in three-star points. K.J. and Lee dominate in PPG; K.J. leads GPG over Lee, Scott, Sam and Mitch; APG is a crapshoot with K.J. narrowly ahead of Stefan, Watsy and Lee. Lee is at the magical mark of ten shots per game with K.J. at 9.55; Kyle debuts on the list in third. Nathan has the lead in saves-per-game with ahead of Bron. Lee’s 18 points tie for fourth-best in sessions this year; his ten goals tie for third. K.J.’s nine assists tie for fifth. Lee’s 56 shots rank third; K.J.’s 54 tie for fourth. Shem’s .830 is the best goalie session this year; Nathan’s .810 ties for third. Nathan’s 94 saves tie for second; Shem’s 88 rank fifth.

On the all-time front: As mentioned above, Lee becomes the third player after Oliver and Lorne to reach 1,000 points. K.J. passes Joern for eighth. Kyle passes Mitch for 16th. K.J. is five goals behind Bernie for seventh. Mitch needs one goal for 100; Kyle needs nine. Lee passes Seamus for fourth in assists and is nine behind Lorne for third. Kyle passes Ryan Adshead for 17th in assists and Mitch moves into the top 20. Having now played enough to rank, Shem stands as the third-best Burton goaltender of all-time, bumping Nathan to fourth. Nathan becomes the third goalie to make 3,000 saves. Mitch plays his 100th game; he needs two to tie father Karl. Nathan needs three games in net to reach 200. Lee is twenty points behind Lorne for first in three-star points all-time. Kyle is now sixth in shots-per-game, four one-hundredths of a percent behind Stefan. Nathan moves to within one one-hundredth of Pat for third in saves-per-game. K.J. records his 20th 15-pointer. Nathan’s 20th 80-save session puts him just one behind Laird and Chris for the all-time lead (of course, he has more 90-save sessions than anyone). Today was Shem’s first 80-save session.

SDF/GDF: With this BUSH session added to the VRH session earlier this weekend, the rankings change quite a bit; most notably K.J. jumping to second, and both he and Lee crossing over the 100-point mark and closing in on Lorne. Lorne’s position on top is certainly in danger next week. On the GDF, Bron is also in danger as Shem moves up to second and Nathan reappears right behind him in third.

Check out those Records and Honours on the links page before you leave. Things are heating up; what will next weekend bring?