Today marked what was one of the most fun, balanced sessions I have played in to date. Bernie and Oliver ventured one of the best sessions ever. Everyone arrived at Ambleside to much hoopla with a fair being in town, making parking somewhat difficult. Once that was figured out though, we played hockey for a good 4 hours in the glorious sunshine.

Bron showed up with new pads, Oliver with a new set of plastic wheels (which left him losing ball races to Bernie), and everyone with a desire to play hockey. The players today were Andrew, Bernie, Jordan, Oliver, Rob, Ryan, Sam, Shaylin, and Stefan out with Bron and Lorne in net. One notable playing missing from today was Joern. Unfortunately he had a prior engagement of flowered dress shopping. We all hope he was able to find a couple colourful ones.

OK, on to the action. Our first set of games was a best of 5 pitting Stefan, Jordan, Shay, Bernie, Rob and Bron against Oliver, Ryan, Sam, Andrew and Lorne. The first game was a bit of a blowout 5-1 as Bron was adjusting to his new pads and his team was trying to find some chemistry. Rob showed up to join the team down 4-1 and just in time to break Lorne's shutout bid.

Rob seemed to be the key for Bron's team, as after the first game they threw things back at Lorne's team beating them down 5-3. The third game was another 5-3 win for team Bron which put them on the cusp of winning the best of 5 series. In game 4 we saw Lorne's team playing desperate, and pushing to even up the series. They went up to an early lead, however team Bron fought back. Eventually the two teams found themselves locked in a epic 4-4 battle. The game went on in this 4-4 tie for at least a good 20-30 minutes with both goaltenders standing on their respective heads. In addition everyone playing was fully back checking, playing extremely tight defense and battling hard in the corners. The last goal was eventually scored by Rob on a huge effort. First he picks Sam's pocket as Sam was heading up rink, takes an initial shot, picked up his own rebound, and finally deposited the ball in the back of the net with a backhand. Luckily enough I got a video of the goal, so look for it once all the media is uploaded.

Next up was a quick best of 3 series as we were beginning to be harassed by some soccer players. This time however, they were punk kids with their shirts off with some rap music pumping out of their little mp3 player. West Van Wiggers, I would say. Anyway, the final series of the day had Ryan, Oliver, Stefan, Andrew and Lorne up against Bernie, Jordan, Shay, Rob and Bron. The game was a bit of shellacking with team Lorne winning 5-2. Andrew scored a goal in this game that was self proclaimed the best goal of Burton Hockey. He basically flipped the ball over top of the net and Bron. Shay tried to glove it and move it forward; however, he ended up having it bounce off his glove into the net. Unfortunate for Shay and Bron. Andrew was all smiles.

The 6th and final game of the day was also won by team Lorne, in a much closer 5-3 final. Another game that took a long time to finish, largely due to general tiredness of everyone, and some fantastic goaltending. To note, every skating player on team Lorne scored a goal in this game.

So that was it, fantastic session. really tight long games, with a good mix of players. A show of how tightly played the games were, you simply have to look at least weeks session versus this week. Last week in a similar amount of time we were able to rip through 10 games easily. This week we could only manage 6.

Thanks, Stef! It was a goaltending battle for the ages at Ambleside, with Lorne having a career session in net (.869, 139 saves) and Bron his usual outstanding self (.830, 117 saves). This was easily the best-goaltended session in either league so far this year. Of course, with great goaltending, scoring stats take a hit, and did they ever today. Ryan (10G-4A) and Stefan (7G-7A) share first star honours with 14 points each, with Sam right behind at 13. With Rob at 12, who knows what would have happened had he been around for all of Game 1?
Here are the game results:
Stefan Jordan Shay Bernie Rob Bron def. Oliver Ryan Sam Andrew Lorne 1-5 5-3 5-3 5-4
Ryan Oliver Stefan Andrew Lorne def. Bernie Jordan Shay Rob Bron 5-2 5-3

Season Stats: Stefan passes Troy for third in points (two points behind Kyle for second), Ryan moves up to sixth, and Lorne ties Scott for ninth. Stefan moves narrowly into third in goals with 35 ahead of Mitch and Troy. Stefan moves into second in assists ahead of Kyle; Oliver passes Troy for fourth. Stefan passes Kyle for second in shots and is thirteen behind Lee; Ryan passes Mitch for fourth in shots. Lorne vaults into the goaltending lead ahead of Terryn .844-.834 with Bron in third at .829. Bron is just two saves behind Shem for first, with Lorne jumping into third. Ryan, Jordan, Stefan and the Koth-Kappii have played all 28 VRH games. Stefan ties Lee for first in three-star points with 40; Ryan ties Oliver and K.J. for third. Lorne passes Nathan for second in saves-per-game. Lorne’s .869 usurps Bron’s mark of .851 last Saturday for the year’s best session in goal; Bron’s session today of .829 ranks fifth. Lorne’s 139 saves are alos tops this year; Bron’s 117 rank fourth.

On the all-time front: Lorne needs six points for 1,200. Stefan is 17 points behind Seamus for fourth all-time, and needs 18 points for 900. Ryan moves into the top 20 in all-time points, six behind Ryan Adshead; he also passes Andrew for sixth in all-time VRH points. Stefan needs five goals for 500. Ryan passes Dylan for 18th in goals. Oliver needs ten assists for 800. Lorne is four assists ahead of Lee for third all-time. Stefan needs 13 assists for 400 and eleven shots for 2,500. Lorne passes Carlos for eleventh in save percentage. Bon passes Justin for fifth in saves; Lorne passes Seamus and Lyle for seventh. Bernie needs four games for 700. Lorne passes Lyle for seventh in games goaltended. Stefan passes Seamus for third in three-star points. Bron records his fifth straight 80-save session (tied for the third-longest streak ever) and fourth-straight 90- and 100-save sessions (tied for second in both). Bron becomes just the second goalie ever to record back-to-back 110-save sessions (Nathan has done it three times). Lorne also has back-to-back 90-save sessions, and records his first 130-save session. Stefan plays in his 21st consecutive session, Oliver his 14th, Ryan his sixth, and Bernie his fifth. Joern’s streak ends at 15.

SDF/GDF: Today’s VRH session is added to this week’s BUSH session to produce the final ranking. It only slightly amends the original results from Tuesday; Rob jumps into the top ten, and Sam knocks Ryan out of the top ten. The only change on the GDF sees Lorne now ranked fifth rather than seventh.

Check out those Records and Honours on the links page before you leave. With the man who is the heart of BUSH gone for at least a month, will VRH now take the ball and run? Stay tuned.