It snowed another inch again. In fact, there were still a few odd flurries. And it was still minus-10. But that wasn’t going to stop BUSH. After the sour taste of the previous session, the gang was looking for one last winter epic. Every session could be the final one of 2009, and so we have to make them count. It would be myself, Nathan, Lee and Justin who arrived an hour before game time to sweep the rink. The Burton May Days billboard was sacrificed to the god of roller hockey as we broke it in half to make two giant snow-sweepers; it was quite efficient. One of the interesting things about the powdery snow was that it clung to all of the dirt that had accumulated on the rink over the years. When you removed the snow (first getting rid of the big stuff with the May Days sign and then sweeping away what was left), you actually removed a lot of the dirt with it. The entire rink was swept with the broken halves of the sign, and the middle of the rink was swept with a pushbroom to further move leftover snow and dirt. And there were piles and piles of dirt. Who’d have guess that the snow, clinging to all of the dirt, would actually aid us in getting the rink (the middle part where the bulk of skating’s done, anyway) the cleanest it’s been in years?

Noel, Shem and Seamus came just as we finished, just in time to shovel away the last couple of piles. It would be interesting today as only Lee had a healthy eight wheels. Shem had five, Noel and Seamus only had four each! Yes, Seamus wiped a couple times and Noel once. Noel hadn’t been on skates in a decade, so we were blow away when Noel scored on the first shot of the game. He and Noel valiantly fought, and Justin stood on his head as Lee and Shem had fifty percent more shots. Ultimately, Lee’s skating advantage led his crew to a 5-3, 5-2 series win. Lee would have pointed out were it not for a beauty goal by Shem in Game 2 stealing the puck from Noel and burying it top corner past Justin. Surprisingly, both games went quickly and both goalies were only in the high .700s. Not for long.

Switching the goalies put the pressure on Nathan. And he responded. Game 3 went 3-1 to Team Justin quickly, and then a defensive, grinding stalemate suddenly erupted. For the next 15 minutes, no one scored (unless you count goalposts as goals, in which case Lee scored about a dozen times). Finally, Seamus sent one past a sprawling Justin to get the game back and running again. Lee and Shem iced it to win 5-3, both teammates pointing out.

Deciding to switch players rather than goalies for Game 4 made for the longest game of the afternoon. Knowing it was likely the last outdoor game of the year, they made it good. Noel proved to be a budding sniper today, sinking a pair of great one-timers. The highlight goal was on a play where Seamus fell into the snowbank with Noel. He cleared the ball from his knees to Shem, who skated in on Nathan and fired it past him only for the ball to stop dead at the post. Before Nathan could reach over to grab it, Seamus had already got to his feet and skated across the rink in the nick of time to ice the puck home. The almost-highlight goal came from Justin, of all people, firing the puck from his end and ringing it off the post; Shem sunk it in. Lee and Noel with Nathan would sink two quick goals at the end to win 5-3.

Breaks were short today. It’s fun to be sweaty in the cold when you’re moving. Not so much once you stop. For not having skated in ten years and having just spent three days snowboarding, Noel looked good out there. Nathan’s erstwhile dog Dex managed to take a bite out of his sub sandwich he had sitting on the roof of his car. It was a fun day and a great way to (probably) end the outdoor season. Of course, Nathan and Shem were already pushing for another session!

Were it not for Shem’s great steal in Game 2, Lee would have pointed out today. He finished at 14G-5A on 68 shots, an amazing 4.75 PPG performance! Shem’s excellent run continues as he picks up a 15-pointer with 5G-10A. In his first ever session on skates, Noel picks up third star with 6G-5A. Seamus had skate trouble all day and finished 5G-4A on 56 shots. In goal, two of BUSH’s all-time greats put on a show, and one was rewarded with a record. Nathan picked up .863 today, and his 82 saves put him past Laird as Burton Hockey’s new all-time saves leader. Justin was quite handy today as well with .838.

Here are the game scores:
Lee Shem Nathan def. Justin Noel Seamus 5-3 5-2
Lee Shem Justin def. Seamus Noel Nathan 5-2
Lee Noel Nathan def. Seamus Shem Justin 5-3

Season Stats: Lee’s scoring lead is now 270 points over Kyle. Seamus is four points behind Lorne for tenth. Shem passes Bernie for 13th. Lee’s goal lead is 104 over Kyle. Seamus passes Graeme for eleventh. Shem needs two goals for 50. Lee’s assist lead in 122 over Oliver. Nathan passes Terryn and Shem for fifth in save percentage. Justin ties Lyle for fifth in games goaltended. Nathan ties Lyle for fourth in goalie star points. Justin moves to sixth in total star points.

On the All-Time Front: Lee sits just one point from 1,700. Seamus pulls ten ahead of Stefan for fourth. Seamus needs 19 goals for 600, and is six assists behind Lorne for fourth. Nathan ties Troy for 15th in assists. Shem passes Ryno and Robert to move to 18th in assists. Nathan is Burton’s new all-time save leader, passing Laird with 3,723; Justin is now about one session away from tying Joern for fifth. Lee becomes the third player to play 600 games; Seamus becomes the sixth to play 500; Justin needs nine to do the same thing. Nathan is two games goaltended behind Joern for third. Justin passes Bron for second in all-time goalie star points. Lee has seven 15-pointers in a row. Lee has three ten-goal sessions in a row. Shem has his second career ten-assister/15-pointer. Justin’s record streak of .800 sessions is up to ten. Nathan has three in a row. Justin is one away from the consecutive .810, .820 and .830 records with five. Justin and Nathan remained tied for the lead in .820s with 17. Justin’s .840 streak ends at four. Nathan has back-to-back .860s and ties Justin for the most with eight. Nathan ties Laird for the lead in 80-savers with 24. Justin has four 90-savers in a row and ties Laird for third with 15. Nathan plays his 13th session in a row, Seamus his ninth. Graeme’s streak ends at six. Justin’s 1,173 saves this year rank fourth all-time for a single season.

SDF/GDF: Very few players are actually getting multiple sessions in lately; this is why former SDF leader Troy only falls five spots to sixth despite being below the minimum. The new leader is one who is long overdue; amazingly, this is the first time Kyle Grenier has topped the charts. Lee is right behind in second, and one more session win next time should put him over the top. The rest of the top spots are all occupied by the BUSH core. A record-low six players have played at least two of the last ten sessions, all of them from BUSH. Seamus holds steady for a second week on the GDF; Nathan moves up and Justin falls leaving Shem in second ahead Nathan and Justin in a close-fought second-place battle.

We’re hoping for a Burton Hall session to end the year; if not, what a ride! Don’t forget to check BurtonHockey.com every day this month as we continue to unveil the Burton 40. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.