Today began on an ominous note with the news that BUSH mainstay K.J. O’Connor was in a serious car accident in the early hours of the morning which will probably sideline him for over a year. Our thoughts are with him and his family at this time.

Killer mid-30s heat blanketed by a pinkish haze of forest fire smoke welcomed a small but determined group of elite BUSH talent today in what might be described as a power session. It has been four months since McCormack has seen 2-on-2, and there has certainly never been a 2-on-2 like this, with Ben, Kyle, Troy and Lee skating against net detectives Shem and Terryn. Originally slated to begin at 4pm, the start time was changed to 3 at the last minute, and that was probably an hour too early in this heat considering the speed involved in a 2-on-2 session. Sure enough, the session proved to be absolutely exhausting.

You would think, as did we, that any combination of skaters and goalies today would produce balanced teams. We were proven wrong, however, when Troy and Lee, backed by Terryn, teamed up to decimate Kyle, Ben and Shem 5-2, 5-1. Troy, endlessly crashing into end boards, fencing, and pavement, was on fire with nine points in the ten games. Terryn was .917 after the series, while Shem, who actually had a great first game, let in five of seven shots in Game 2 (which still managed to go 15 minutes). He was not a happy camper, to put it mildly, after his .688 first series. He would use that anger as motivational fuel to propel himself through an excellent second series.

Already, the heat was so stifling and play so grinding that three breaks were taken during the two games. Essentially, the conditions of a Christmas 2-on-2 in the Burton Hall (non-stop skating, end-to-end rushes, and plenty of body contact) were being replicated in cloudless 33-degree weather. The new teams (trading Kyle for Troy) clicked immediately, and a fantastic three-game series was had that could not have been any closer. The first game saw an interesting sequence where Troy deked Terryn completely out of the net and went to blast it top corner, only to have Terryn barely reach up with his stick and bat it out of the air, setting up a 2-on-1 for Kyle and Lee. As Shem flopped over with Hašek-like reflexes to stone Kyle, no one noticed Troy lying in a heap behind Terryn’s net. Evidently, he had caught an edge and slammed into the boards, tweaking his knee quite badly and causing a ten-minute delay while he slowly got his feet back under him. When play resumed, Lee scored what he called the flukiest goal of his career; in the corner behind Shem, Lee threw the ball out, hitting Ben, deflecting off Troy’s stick, and banking in off Shem from behind. Troy had to switch into Terryn’s skates in Game 4 after all but three of his wheels had blow during the course of the session. There was nothing to give between the six players on the court this series; every game went to the wire. After Kyle, Lee and Terryn just eked a 5-4 victory to end the series in a final game which saw 89 shots in 25 minutes (40 saves apiece for Shem and Terryn), Troy gave up the ghost to save his knee. Kyle, Lee, Ben and Shem were still eager to go, but four players do not a session make, and the exacting session was called at 6:20. While 3-on-3 is generally preferred, no one can deny how fun this session was despite the heat. It’s too bad it couldn’t go on longer.

Troy, Lee and Terryn winning the first series proved to be the difference on the scoresheet, as the session was dead even otherwise. Lee’s four points in Game 5 were just enough to give him the lead on the day with 9G-10A-19P on 54 shots. Troy was leading all day until the final game; he finished even at 9-and-9. His 47 shots on goal (a ‘paltry’ 9.4 shots-per-game) ranked last today. Kyle was close behind in third with 9G-7A-16P and an insane 69 shots on goal in the five games. Pavel de Wit led the session in goals with 13 but, surprisingly, Burton’s all-time APG leader only notched two apples this afternoon. The goaltending was outstanding, especially in the second series when the shot volume went from high to ridiculous. Terryn finished with 93 saves and .855 while Shem recovered from a horrid Game 2 to throw down amazing saves in the second series and finish at .798 and 94 saves.

Here are the game scores:
Terryn Lee Troy def. Ben Kyle Shem 5-2 5-1
Kyle Lee Terryn def. Troy Ben Shem 4-5 5-4 5-4

Season Stats: Lee needs 18 points to reach the magical 500-point mark; something considered crazy before this season. Ben is 28 points from 400. Kyle ties Oliver for third at 320. Troy passes Lorne for ninth and needs 19 for 200. Terryn ties Bernie for 13th. Shem needs two for 100. Ben needs 15 goals for 200. Troy is two goals behind Lorne for ninth. Ben is ten assists behind Oliver for second; he needs 13 for 200. Troy needs three assists for 100. Ben becomes the second player this year to record 1,000 shots on goal. Kyle is seven shots behind Mitch for third; Troy jumps from eleventh to ninth. Shem ties Mitch for fifth in games played; Kyle jumps to ninth from twelfth. Troy passes Mitch for eighth in three-star points. Terryn jumps into fifth in goalie star points. Lee almost has it back to 3.00 PPG. Troy passes Ben for fifth in PPG. Lee moves to second in APG ahead of Ben and Seamus. Kyle goes back over 8.00 shots-per-game. Shem passes K.J. for fifth in saves-per-game.

On the All-Time Front: Kyle is seven points behind Laird for eleventh all-time. Troy passes Dallas to enter the top 20 and needs one point for 200. Lee needs seven goals for 800 and is just 15 behind Lorne for the all-time lead. Kyle is sixteen goals behind Joern for ninth. Ben is 14 goals behind Robert for 15th. Troy needs two for 100. He also becomes the 18th player with 100 assists and moves ahead of Joe for 17th in that category. Kyle passes Graeme for eleventh in shots. Ben passes laird and becomes the 13th player with 1,000 shots on goal. Troy passes Pat to enter the top 20 in shots. Terryn closes the gap behind K.J. for the all-time goaltending to .835-.831; Shem narrowly falls behind Seamus to third. Terryn passes Shawn for 15th in saves. Lee is within seven games of Joern for fourth in games played. Troy enters the top 30 in games played. Kyle passes Joe for sixth in all-time PPG; Lee passes Lorne for eighth. Kyle jumps from seventh to third in shots-per-game. Shem has five 80-savers in a row; Terryn has four. They each have four 90-savers in a row. Shem’s 100-saver streak ends at three. Ben’s ten-assister streak ends at two. Ben, Kyle and Lee each have streaks of three 15-pointers. Kyle and Lee’s 20-pointer streaks end at two. Lee has played 22 consecutive sessions, Ben 18. Kyle now has the fifth-highest scoring season of all time. Lee sets a new Burton record for goal in a season with 237, breaking the previous record of 233 he set in 2006. Ben is the second player to ever record 1,000 shots on goal in a single season. Kyle has the sixth-highest single season shot total of all-time. Shem is nine saves away from having the second-highest save total in a single season ever. Shem has the fifth-most games goaltended in a single year.

SDF/GDF: Pat holds court for a second straight week (14th overall), but Kyle takes another big leap as he replaces his last elbow-infection session with a solid performance today. Nathan Wiebe, Jordan Barlow and Tony Hajdu are also climbing toward the top. Justin drops a bad session in net and so moves onto the top of the GDF for the first time since April 2007, displacing Taylor. Terryn begins moving back up and K.J. falls down. Dominik, who entered August on top with one of the highest ratings ever, leaves it in twelfth as he nose dives this week.

BUSH is clamouring for a mid-week session. VRH return this weekend. Until then, check out the Records and Honours page in the Links section for more statistical goodies.