A late night session organized (to use the word in the most perverted sense) at the last minute resulted in a two on two slugfest between Justin, Lee, Mitch, and Ben with KJ and Laird in net. KJ has officially sworn off playing goal in two on two sessions, although his averages aren't as bad as he thinks, thanks in large part to the sheer volume of shots from Mitch. Mitch came closer than he knew to making his debut in net, as KJ was not keen on playing and it now Mitch's fourth season with BUSH and over a hundred games without ever gearing up for goal. Will it happen this summer? Stay tuned.

Series 1: Lee-Ben-KJ vs. Justin-Mitch-Laird
Game 1: 5-3
Game 2: 5-3
It was really Justin’s day from the start. With his revamped velocity skates from the early 90's he was a force. Alternately stomping and gliding his way to victory, he recording a statistically astounding 7 goals and 4 assists in the first two games (later amended). He and Mitch quickly closed out the series. While the shots were close (32-34) it was a subpar series for KJ and Lee, leaving Ben to carry the weight.

Series 2: Lee-Justin-KJ vs. Ben-Mitch-Laird
Game 1: 5-3 Team Ben
Game 2: 5-1 Team Justin
Game 3: 5-4 Team Justin
In a battle of the old-vets versus the young guns, veteran savvy would prevail. After another slow start, KJ and Lee picked it up at the end and Justin never lost his groove to take a tight series 2-1. The young guns never touched the puck in game 3 overtime and Lee and Justin circled until Lee buried a wrister from the high slot. Laird again showed he's still got it, and is the most armoured man in the BUSH league today.

Justin was positively dominant in this face-paced impromptu two-on-two session. His first session on skates in over two years a success by any measure of the word, easily taking first star in a session featuring five top-level Burton mainstays and a bona fide future star. His totals for five games are sickening: 23 points including 13 goals and ten assists. Mitch and Lee just edged out Ben to tie for second star; Mitch’s 49-shot volley leading him to 11 goals while Lee had a more even-handed 8-and-8. The battle in net between two of Burton’s all-time greats was close down to the wire, K.J. beating Laird by two saves (67-65) and finishing at .770 to Laird’s .765.

Season Stats: The scoring lead heads back to BUSH. The impromptu session was enough to move Lee back into the lead at 121 points, two ahead of Oliver, four ahead of Stefan and five ahead of Kyle, setting up a major showdown for the weekend with VRH playing Saturday and BUSH planning its first supersession since April of 2006 for Sunday. Mitch is also slowly creeping up into the race at 93 points. After just two sessions, Ben is already just one point out of the top 15. Mitch leaps into second in goals behind Kyle, with Lee passing Oliver for fourth. Lee moves to within two assists of Oliver for the lead. Amazingly, having played half his games in net, K.J. has moved into the top seven in assists, an assist out of fifth. Lee passes Kyle for second in shots; Mitch jumps up to fourth. Lee has played in 36 of the 45 BUSH games this year. Lee ties Stefan for the lead in three-star points; Mitch jumps from eighth to fifth.

On the all-time front: Lee needs eight points for 1,100. Justin becomes the seventh player to score 800 points in Burton. K.J. passes Joern for eighth in points and needs one for 600. Mitch ties Simon for 15th all-time in points. Justin needs 14 assists for 400. Justin passes Bernie for sixth in shots. Lee needs one more game for 400. Lee is ten three-star points behind Lorne for first all-time; Mitch enters the top 20. Justin ties Seamus for fourth in ten-goal sessions (22). This is Justin’s fourth-straight ten goal session darting back to 2007; Lee’s streak ends at five. Lee has six straight 15-pointers, Justin four. Justin has three straight 20-pointers.

SDF/GDF: Not too much change on the SDF, other than Sam losing one of his bad sessions and thus moving up accordingly. It is entirely unprecedented to have this many players with such high ratings at the top of the board at once; in 2006, 86 was a guaranteed top five, now it just gets you into tenth. The big thing to watch in this weekend’s rankings is Lorne; his big September 2008 session comes off the rankings next time. On the GDF, Nathan is now the all-time leader in rankings led at 22. An off Lorne session from last year is removed, leaving just his excellent marks from this year and moving him up to second.

Check out those Records and Honours on the links page before you leave. Two sessions, including a BUSH supersession, coming ahead this weekend!