More rookies joined the BUSH class of 2009 today at McCormack park as Kyle Grenier continued his reign of terror over the Burton nets. Debuting in net was the ever-enthusiastic Joe Leonard; debuting on Justin Gordon’s wreck of a pair of old skates was New Denver’s Nick Reitmeier. The skaters were feeling their oats this afternoon, which spelled trouble for the goaltenders right from the beginning. Shem, Lee and Kyle took on Nick, Troy and Joe in the first series. Right from the start, it was evident that the level of goaltending we’ve been accustomed to in Burton this year would not be approached. Kyle scored five consecutive goals past Joe to end to win the game 5-2. Not so mercifully, Joe’s Burton baptism-by-fire continued, Lee scoring all five goals with Kyle chipping in on all five goals and Shem getting a couple of apples himself. The teams were switched for the second series. Nick was having trouble with Justin’s rickety skates and this let Lee and Troy run roughshod over Joe en route to a 5-2 win, during which Kyle’s 40-point streak of scoring on each of his team’s goals finally ended. Kyle and Nick, tired of losing, began grinding like crazy, skating and battling for a 5-4 win before being brought back to earth with a four-goal performance from Troy (and five points from Lee) in a 5-2 rout. Joe was finally given the opportunity to team with BUSH’s top 1-2 punch as Kyle and Troy came together from the third series and did well by their goalie. Shem barely registered .500 as Game 6 was over in nine minutes. Even more amazing was that Troy, Kyle and Nick had all traded skates, leaving Troy essentially running on Justin’s skates. Lee refused to roll over and die, and Nick, finally able to skate, got into the series properly as they won Game 7 5-4. The highlight, or, rather, lowlight, of the game was Lee getting his stuck caught in the rink fence and jamming it about an inch above his groin, leaving him hunched over for nearly a minute before he got up and ground out a win. Nearly all exhausted (except Kyle), the day ended with Kyle and Troy winning in another blowout 5-2, Shem happy to see the day end.

Kyle becomes the first player to score 30 points in a session since Stefan in September of 2006, and the first BUSH player to do it since Lee in September of 2004, with 18-12-30-65. Lee battled with Kyle for the scoring lead all day before the final 5-2 game left Lee with 27 points (14-13-27-67). Troy had another career session with 17-8-25. Nick was held back by rink rust and poor equipment en route to 14 points. Speaking of equipment, Joe did the unthinkable (and unadvisable) by playing WITHOUT A MASK (pictures to come). Not an experienced goaltender, he progressed throughout the day to wind up at .737 after finishing the first series in the mid-.600s. Shem is always a gamer and battled hard through an abnormal rough period in the late half of the session to finish at .766. Our goalies also achieved notable offensive performances with eight assists for Shem and six for Joe.
Here are the game results:
Shem Lee Kyle def. Nick Troy Joe 5-2 5-1
Lee Troy Shem def. Kyle Nick Joe 2-5 5-4 2-5
Troy Kyle Joe def. Shem Nick Lee 5-1 4-5 5-2

Season Stats: We are now seeing for the first time the true advantage for BUSH over VRH of being able to play weekday sessions. Lee explodes into the season scoring lead at 81; he and Kyle could quite conceivably score 100 points before the end of April (the way Kyle’s playing, we could see it this weekend). Kyle leaps from sixth to second with another career session; he’s now at 71 points. Troy has also put together two excellent sessions to move to third. VRH’s top scorer, Stefan, is now fourth. Lee, Kyle and Troy also rank 1-2-3 in goals, although Lee’s lead is just three. Lee also owns the season assist lead, but again, Kyle is catching him there as well. Shots are no longer a contest, with Lee pulling away. Kyle moves ahead of Stefan as Troy moves up to fifth. The difference in one facet of the game is exceptionally clear as VRH dominates in shooting percentage. Shem has a sizeable lead in saves as the only person to play goal in all of his league’s games. As BUSH passes VRH in games played, Shem and Lee, the only BUSHers to play all 25 BUSH games, take over the games played lead. Shem is nine games ahead of Bron in net. Kyle is five points behind Lee for the lead in three-star points. Kyle passes K.J. for the lead in PPG. Troy moves to fifth in GPG. Lee passes Troy for fourth in APG. Kyle is now one shot off of averaging ten shots-per-game. Lee falls behind K.J. to third in shots-per-game. Shem falls out of the top five in saves-per-game. Kyle’s 30 points this session beat Friday’s 29 as tops this year. Lee’s 27 tie for third, Troy’s 25 rank fifth. Kyle and Troy’s marks of 18 and 17 goals respectively earn them first and second place in sessions this year. Lee’s 13 assists tie for the season lead; Kyle’s 12 rank fifth. Lee’s 67 shots tie for fifth.

On the all-time front: Kyle passes Dallas and becomes the 15th player to reach 200 points. Lee becomes the second player to score 600 goals. Kyle passes Simon for 14th in goals. Lee is one assist behind Lorne for third all-time. Kyle ties Joe Chwachka for 14th in assists and becomes the 15th player to reach 100 assists. Shem falls from fifth to eighth in all-time save percentage, dropping below .800 for the first time ever. Lee needs twelve games for 400; he is 20 points behind Lorne for first in three-star points. Kyle rises to eighth in all-time PPG, fifth in all-time APG (ahead of Lee), and third in shots-per-game (ahead of Lorne). Shem falls to fifth in saves-per-game. Shem records his third-straight 80-save session, while Joe hits 80 saves in his debut. Troy reaches ten and 15 goals for the first time. Lee has hit at least ten goals and 15 points every session this year (four). Kyle records back-to-back 15-goal sessions. Kyle records back-to-back ten-assisters for the second time in his career. Kyle and Troy both have back-to-back 20 pointers. Kyle is just the fifth person to ever record back-to-back 25-pointers. Lee passes Seamus for third in all-time 25-pointers (seven). Kyle becomes the ninth player to record a 30-pointer.

SDF/GDF: Lorne becomes the all-time leader with 33 rankings topped; Kyle jumps again from seventh to fourth and making a run at the lead. Terryn holds onto the top of the GDF by a small margin over Bron.

Check out those Records and Honours on the links page before you leave. Will BUSH get another session in on Friday before VRH does on Sunday? Tune in and find out.