The Arrow Lakes sky stood out stark blue in the cold air today. It was quite surreal to have no snow on the ground and a bright sky and yet still have a temperature of -2°C. Yes, BUSH went sub-zero for the first time today. Despite the cold, Seamus just could not pass up the opportunity the weather conditions presented. As long as there’s no snow on the rink, it really doesn’t matter what the temperature is. Five brave souls agreed (joining him: Shem, Tyler, Graeme and the ever-game Nathan), and it was decided to go half-court in spite (or maybe to spite) the absent Lee, who would have his extensive consecutive session streak snapped at 34 this afternoon in Burton.

With no half-court hockey having been played in BUSH since July of 2007, we were actually more intrigued than dismayed since we had no idea how it would work. We never even got the chance to try it out. Graeme and Nathan arrived with a third passenger in tow: Crystal Townsend. ‘Oh, hey’, joked the gang, ‘our second goaltender!’ ‘I’ll play.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yup.’ And all five-foot-barely of Crystal donned the pads, saving us from half-court. Little did we know how the session would play out.

Crystal would back Seamus and Shem in the first series against Tyler, Graeme and Nathan. When Tyler debuted last week, it was obvious he was going to be a good goalie once he started going down (insert ‘going down on Muf’ joke here). Well, he’s got the butterfly going now, and it’s scary. Muffin stopped 34 shots in the first game. He absolutely had Seamus’ number as he went .860 in Game 1. At the other end, the guys took it easy on Crystal- until she started stopping all of their shots. For someone who hadn’t donned pads since Grade 10 phys-ed, she sure took care of business. Ultimately, Tyler was too much and his team took Game 1 in a close-fought 5-4 victory, Graeme pointing out on three-and-two. Game 2 had the same shot ratio, but Tyler’s two-hundred-and-none-of-your-business-pound frame was just too much to handle. Putting his stick to use on pokechecks and stick saves, he owned Seamus even more than he did in Game 2. Meanwhile, Nathan found his scoring touch on the other end as his team won 5-2. Tyler’s series average? .886.

Shem was traded for Nathan for the second series. Game 3 saw the Graeme-Shem tandem end it fairly quickly, as the tandem outplayed and outshot their opponents quite handily, winning 5-1. Crystal was hanging in at .712, but was about to pull off a superlative effort in the final two games. It was in Game 4 that Seamus and the rapidly-improving-on-skates Nathan clicked and found a way to beat down Tyler’s door. Fuelled by revenge and fighting for their goalie, they ground out five goals on Tyler. At the other end, Crystal began pulling out blocker saves and toe stops as she began to get more comfortable in net. The result was historic: Crystal Townsend became the first female goaltender to post a shutout in Burton Hockey history. The rubber match was now on to decide the series. Unlike Games 3 and 4, this was a back-and-forth tilt. Seamus and Nathan came on strong here with 5 and 4 points, respectively, but it was Crystal who saved the day for her team-twice. At 4-3, Shem had the chance to ice the series for Team Tyler on a breakaway, but Crystal stoned him on four straight shots. After Nathan’s tying goal, Graeme and Shem had a 2-on-1, but the result was the same: four quick shots, four quick saves. Team Crystal would score right after, and take the final series on another fun afternoon at John McCormack Park.

Burton roller hockey has never been this cold. When you’re skating, you generate wind which bites at the hands and cheeks of the players you skate by. The goalies get to be a little warmer because of their pads, but the skaters are frozen (especially when five of the six skaters then stop for five minutes after each game for smoke breaks). Still, it’s more than playable, and it may not be weather that finally stops BUSH, but wheel issues. With nowhere in the Arrow Lakes to buy wheels, supplies are running low. Regardless, there’s still a window for more BUSH this month to finish out the year. The cold weather, the great individual performances from the O’Connors, the scary goaltending potential of Tyler beginning to emerge, and the historic achievements of Crystal made today quite a fun session.

Even with the shutout in Game 4, Graeme led in scoring all day en route to 12G-5A-17P on 38 shots. Seamus almost caught Graeme in game 5 to finish with 11G-5A-16P on 69 shots. Nathan was just one point behind Seamus in third with 6G-9A. Shem had the second highest shot total at 46 and finished at 7-and-4. In goal, Tyler was outstanding, getting his session save percentage it up to .900 during Game 3 before finishing at an excellent .840. He is truly a goalie to watch in the future. Crystal smashed all expectations with a shutout, a series win, and a final percentage of .744, smashing through the gender barrier and proving that she can hang with the boys. We’ll be happy to have these two goaltend for us anytime!

Here are the game scores:
Graeme Nathan Tyler def. Crystal Seamus Shem 5-4 5-2
Seamus Nathan Crystal def. Graeme Tyler Shem 1-5 5-0 5-4

Season Stats: Seamus becomes the eleventh player this year to score 200 points; he’s 23 behind Lorne for tenth. Graeme passes Ryno for twelfth and needs 19 for 200. Shem is eleven behind Tony for 15th. Nathan becomes the 20th player to hit triple digits this year; he’s five behind Andrew Smart. Seamus is also the eleventh 100-goal scorer this season. Graeme is in twelfth with 96. Nathan needs six goals for his first 50-goal season. Shem passes Pat for ninth in assists and is two behind Mitch for eighth. Seamus passes the 100-assist mark. Nathan jumps to 18th in assists. Shem is eight games behind Bernie for third in games played. Crystal is the twelfth goalie this year to post a shutout. Seamus falls into a tie with Ben for fourth in APG. Seamus gets his shots-per-game this season over 10.00. Tyler moves to fifth in saves-per-game.

On the All-Time Front: Seamus passes Stefan for fourth in all-time points and becomes the fourth player to score 1,100 points. Graeme becomes the eleventh player to score 600 points. Shem passes Pat Strachan and Tony Hajdu for 23rd. Graeme passes Joern to enter the top ten in goals and needs ten goals for 300. Seamus is 14 assists behind Lorne for fourth. Nathan passes Robert Rogers for 16th in assists and is three behind Troy. Seamus needs five more games for 500. As mentioned above, Crystal picks up a shutout in her debut session. Seamus passes Stefan for third place in three-star points. He needs five more points to become the third player to score 700 total star points. Nathan records his first-ever 15-pointer. Seamus is now one ten-goal session behind Stefan for third (27-26). Tyler records his first .800 session (and thus his first .840 session). He also has his first 80-saver.

SDF/GDF: The top three positions on the SDF stay pat with Troy, Kyle and Lee, but below is chaos as there are now only two VRH sessions left on the ranking. Unless VRH plays before BUSH’s next session, this ranking will have only 21 names on it. Oliver has a terrible session fall off and skyrockets to fourth. Shem also makes a big leap from 18th to seventh. Bernie and Nathan also come way up. Pat, Joe and Brad each fall big with only one session apiece on the chart. After two sessions away, Shem retakes first on the GDF from Justin with Bron and Tyler moving to third and fourth. Lyle plummets to tenth.

The weather over the next two weeks seems to be going in BUSH’s favour. VRH still holds out hope for a weekend session. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours page in the Links section, replete with new links to scoring streak and goaltending streak statistics.