With the threat of rain looming early in the morning, it looked like this could be a short session. Instead the rain held off, creating ideal weather conditions (cool and cloudy) allowing for one of the longest (time wise at least: 5+ hours) VRH sessions in quite some time. If not for the closeness of teams resulting in some long drawn out games, and a brief injury intermission, we could have gotten much more than a mere typical 8 games in.

We began with sticks-in-the middle which all but proved that this method for selecting teams is not feasible when Pat is in the lineup. Pat's team won in a 5-1 rout, outshooting the opposition 19-6.

Manufacturing teams to try to stack them against Pat as much as humanly possible finally resulted in a close 5-game series that went right down to the wire. Team Pat-Bernie-Jordo-Ryno-Lorne lost the first game but rallied back to win the next two against Team Melvin-Joern-Ollie-Bron. All games were fairly even in terms of play and goal margins. Of note, Pat had 5 points in the 2nd game and all 5 goals in the 3rd game. As these were the most even teams we've had in the last 2 sessions, it was decided to extend it to a 5 game series. Team Bron looked to be making a comeback with a solid 5-3 win in the next game, but ultimately lost the series by a 5-3 score in the final game. Since these teams were so even, we made only a minor change trading Ryno for Joern at the conclusion of the series.

The next series started off with a bang, literally, as Jordo and Pat accidentally collided, leaving both players writhing on the ground holding their heads. Jordo ended up getting the worst of it, resulting in one of the fattest lips I've ever seen (picture to follow). This resulted in him garnering the nickname “Bubba” for the rest of the day. After a long break and discussion of whether he should go to the clinic to have it looked at, and Jordo applying some paramedic techniques to himself, Jordo not only decided to stick around, but actually kept on playing. This incredible display of ballsmanship inspired Jordo's team to a voracious 5-2 victory. Some brilliant goaltending saw the next game lasting for what seemed like forever, with Team Bron eventually winning in sudden death overtime. As we'd been at the rink for nearly 5 hours by this time and everyone was completely exhausted, it was decided to end the series with a shootout, which was won by Team Bron.

Thanks, Bern! Another thoroughly dominant, 4.00 PPG performance from Pat, as he rolls to yet another 30-point session, scoring 21 goals and adding eleven assists on a mammoth 70 shots to take the day. It wasn’t quite as lopsided as the last VRH session, but it was still a distant ten points to Melvin in second again with a career high 12G-10A-22P-51 shot session. Oliver grabbed third star with just four goals but a huge fourteen assists; another day at the office for the all-time assist leader. Lorne was tops in net today, just missing .800 in goal and notching 107 saves. Bron, being fed to Pat all session, was off a bit at .779 but did notch 116 saves.

Here are the game scores:
Pat Ryan Melvin Lorne def. Oliver Joern Bernie Jordan Bron 5-1
Pat Bernie Jordan Ryan Joern def. Melvin Joern Oliver Bron 2-5 5-2 5-3 2-5 5-3
Oliver Ryan Melvin Bron def. Pat Joern Jordan Bernie Lorne 2-5 5-4 plus a shootout win

Season Stats: Oliver passes Mitch for third in points and needs 25 for 300. Pat is eight points away from becoming the eighth player to reach 200 this season. Ryan passes Lorne for eleventh in points and is four points behind Rob for tenth. Bernie becomes the thirteenth player to score 100 points this season. Pat passes Stefan for sixth in goals and is one behind K.J. for fifth. Oliver becomes the eighth player to score 100 goals this year. Pat passes Shem for ninth in assists. Oliver ties Kyle for fifth in shots and is six away from 600. Lorne jumps from fifth to third in saves ahead of Lyle and Joern; he is 81 saves behind Shem for second. Bernie becomes the fourth player to play 100 games this season. Lorne passes Kyle and K.J. for eighth. Lorne moves into a tie with Shem for third in games goaltended. Pat passes K.J. for fifth in three-star points. Lorne passes Lyle for third in goalie star points, and moves into a tie with Bron for fifth in total star points, five behind Stefan for fourth. Pat passes Kyle for third in shots-per-game. Pat’s 32 points rank third-highest in a session this year, as do his 21 goals. His career-high 70 shots on goal rank fifth overall for sessions this year.

On the All-Time Front: Ryan becomes the 18th player to score 200 points in Burton (passing Dallas for 18th in points in the process) and the sixth player to score 200 points in VRH. Pat passes Troy to enter the top twenty; he needs eight for 200. Oliver needs three goals to reach 600. Pat passes Simon and Dallas for 17th in goals. Lorne needs twelve assist for 500. Ryan needs ten assist for 100. Oliver passes Lorne for second in shots on goal. Bernie needs 22 shots to become the sixth player to reach 2,000. Bron becomes the fifth goalie to make 2,500 saves. Bron passes Simon for 15th in games played. Ryan becomes the 23rd player to play 100 games and moves into the top 20 all-time. Lorne is three games goaltended behind Lyle for seventh all-time. Oliver needs 15 star points for 500. Lorne is 15 total star points behind Lee for first all-time. Melvin records his first ten-goal session, while Pat has five in a row. Pat also has five 15-goal sessions in a row, a new Burton record. He also sets records for 20-goal sessions (four) and consecutive 20-goal sessions (three). Melvin records his first ten-assister, 15-pointer and 20-pointer. Joern notches his tenth 15-pointer. Pat has seven 15-pointers in a row. Pat has five 20-pointers in a row, tying a record shared by Dallas Sinclair and Kyle Grenier. He has three 25-pointers in a row, and becomes the third player with three 30 pointers alongside Lorne and Robert. Lorne has seven straight 80-save sessions, the third-longest streak ever. Bron passes Chris Jackins for the third-most 90-savers ever at 13, and Laird for second in 100-savers with eleven (Nathan has 16). He ties Laird for second in 110-savers with eight, and has back-to-back 110-save sessions. Oliver plays his 32nd consecutive session, passing Bernie’s streak from 2003-04 and now lies two sessions away from tying his own all-time record. Bernie’s consecutive session streak is at twelve; Rob Hajdu’s ends at five. Bron’s 1,116 saves this year are the second-highest mark ever recorded in a season; he is 79 saves behind Nathan Robson’s record from 2006. Oliver’s 145 games played this year rank fourth-most in a season. Bron’s 77 games goaltended tie Nathan’s 2006 mark for the most goaltended in a season.

SDF/GDF: Pat BARELY takes first back from Ben, but Ben could just as easily take it back Monday as they continue to trade first place back-and-forth. Both of the O’Connor brothers climb closer to the top. Andrew smart should take a big fall Monday. This will be Dom’s last week on top after ten rankings (a number no one seems to be able to pass as four streaks have stopped there); he falls off completely on Monday after the expected BUSH session. Bron falls from second to sixth, bringing K.J. back to second. Taylor debuts third after a stunning rookie session on Thursday.

Don’t forget check out those Records and Honours on the Links page before you leave. BUSH is playing a Monday tune-up for the upcoming SuperSession; check back then!