The wild sasquatch of the North Washington region enters rutting season for only a few select days every year. As Stefan felt he had to take advantage of these precious few days to attempt to mate with as many wild sasquatch as possible, he unfortunately was unable to attend this hockey session so I’m doing the write up in his absence. Of particular note, while Stefan was enjoying the sexual delights of the hairy beasts of the wild, Ollywood managed to score an impressive 20 points to overtake Stefan in this season’s point scoring race.

So, with a little organizational luck and as well as a very co-operative mother nature, we managed to get a session going for the 8th consecutive weekend, which is certainly a record for VRH.

After sticks in the middle the initial teams were Lorne, Sam, Ollie, with Bron in net vs. Rob, Bernie, Griff and Steve with Joern in net. After Team Bron took the first game 5-2 the teams seemed a little one sided, but Team Joern stormed back to win the next game 5-2 themselves. However, the Lorne-Ollie connection and stalwart goaltending by Bron was too much for Team Joern in the series final game, losing 5-2.

The next series featured Team Ollie, Steve, Griff and Bron, completely outplaying and absolutely destroying Team Sam, Lorne, Rob, Bernie and Joern in the first game by a score of 5-0. At this point changing up the teams was discussed but some members on Team Joern felt that after being embarrassed by such a lopsided score they wanted another chance to redeem themselves. Suffice it to say this did not happen, as Team Bron won again by a large margin (5-1), though Team Joern were able to maintain a smidgeon of pride by not being shutout a second time.

For the last and final game we kept the same teams but switched the goalies. After going down 3-1 it seemed like Team L-R-B-S was destined for a similar fate as the last couple of games but Bron’s absolutely unreal play in net allowed them to get back in it, eventually tying it at 4-4. At this point everyone on both teams was absolutely exhausted and numerous odd man breaks were the result but Bron and Joern both played brilliantly keeping the score tied for a good 15 minutes (with a horde of soccer players anxiously waiting for a goal). Griff eventually ended it with a top corner shot on a two-on-none break.

Thanks, Bernie; excellent write-up and excellent organising job. The goalies were on fire today; Bron made 104 saves on 119 shots to finish at .874 with a shutout; Joern was also outstanding with 122 saves and a percentage of .824. Scoring-wise, Oliver stepped up in Stefan absence and took the day with 9G-11A for 20 points. Steve grabbed second star with 7-and-7, and Griff netted third star in his 2009 debut with 4G-9A.
Here are the game results:
Lorne Sam Oliver Bron def. Rob Bernie Griff Steve Joern 5-2 2-5 5-2
Oliver Steve Griff Bron def. Sam Lorne Rob Bernie Joern 5-0 5-1
Oliver Steve Griff Joern def. Sam Lorne Rob Bernie Bron 5-4

Season Stats: Stefan missing his first session of the year was all Oliver needed to grab the scoring lead 119-117, becoming the fourth player to lead the race so far this year after K.J., Lee, and Stefan. Lorne passes Rob and Mitch for seventh. Nothing changes much in the goals table except for Oliver narrowing the gap to second-place Kyle. Oliver grabs the assist lead, and Bernie enters the top ten in assists. Oliver jumps to second in shots-on-goal ahead of Kyle but is still far behind Stefan. Lorne’s shooting percentage falls six percent but he still holds onto the lead over Scott. Rob falls from the top five in shooting percentage. Bron passes Justin for fourth in save percentage. Oliver now stands alone as the only player to play in all 52 VRH games in 2009. Bron moves up to fourth in games played while Lorne ties Ryan for fifth. Joern passes Shem for second in games goaltended. Bron ties Joern for first in shutouts. Oliver passes Kyle for second in three-star points and is five points behind Stefan for first. Bron’s .874 ranks second-best for sessions this year. Joern’s 122 saves rank third-highest.

On the all-time front: Joern needs four points for 600. Bernie needs four assists for 500. Lorne becomes the first player to record 3,000 shots on goal. Oliver is thirteen shots behind Lee for second all-time. Bernie passes Justin for sixth in shots. Bron becomes the fifth goalie to make 2,000 saves. Lorne needs three games for 500; he will be the third player to do so. Joern passes Nathan for third in games goaltended with number 201; Bron passes Justin for fifth. Bron ties Justin for fourth in career shutouts. Oliver is ten points behind Stefan for third in three-star points. Bron ties Laird for second in 100-save sessions with nine. Joern records his second career 120-save session. Lorne’s streak of 15-pointers ends at five. Stefan’s massive streak of consecutive sessions played ends at 24, the fourth longest of all-time. The new active leader in that category is Oliver at 18.

SDF/GDF: The final rankings for the weekend will be posted with the conclusion of the BUSH session tomorrow night.

Check out the Records and Honours on the links page before you leave. Burton Hockey returns tomorrow with exciting BUSH action from McCormack Park featuring the return of Lee Orr. See you then!

I must also plug Jason Leung’s hilariously awesome highlight package of last weekend's session, available on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgntmeqxvhM .