Back again with the quickness, Burton fires off back -to-back sessions to counter VRH! Fired up and ready to roll, reigning MVP and recently named captain of BUSH Lee Orr returned to the rink today just one day late from his off season and what a return. Seamus O'Connor would return between the pipes to face another of Burton's best as Nathan Robson would strap on the pads as well. K.J would debut on skates here with Shem, Kyle and Golden Joe Leonard rounding out the list.

Sticks in the middle would produce Kyle and Lee with Seamus against Shem, Joe and K.J. with Nathan. Shem was very vocal about his unhappiness with the teams but would be over ruled by his K.J and Joe as they didn't seem to mind. Tic-tac-toe would ensue as Team Lee would win easily 5-1 with both players pointing out here. It was agreed for Game Two that the sub be taken out and a 3-on-2 game would lead to similar results with the two highest scoring players in the entire league last year gliding to a 5-2 victory.

It was obvious something had to be done. After another stick toss, it was Lee and K.J. with Seamus vs. Joe, Shem and Kyle with Nathan. These teams would give the most even game play shots wise as the two game totals were 38-38 but Lee and K.J. proved to be too much as they ground out a 5-3 win followed by a 5-1 thrashing with some of the nicest plays of the year. Lee would factor in on all 10 here at 6-and-4 and would carry 19 points through 4 games.

The final series of the day would pit Kyle, K.J. and Shem with Nathan against Joe and Lee with Seamus. Joe was a little drunk at the start of the day and in this series he was non-existent. Lee would try his best with Seamus standing on his head here facing 42 shots but it would not be enough as Kyle, K.J. and Shem finally got Nathan a win 5-4. Game 2 Joe would drop out and pass out in the car so Shem switched over to play with Lee. Shem would turn things around here going for two goals and two assists in his most productive game of the day by far and Team Lee would force a rubber match almost no-one wanted to play. The final game would be a shooting gallery to match the other two as Kyle and K.J churned out 31 shots here and a 3 game total of 103 on Seamus on their way to a 5-2 victory and series win.

It was a seven game classic with some gaudy numbers for sure, and the talk about the Deca Session dominated the day. Kyle Grenier has asked that his name be changed to Kyle OchoOcho on the site and he will take #88.

Thanks again, Seamus! Two sessions in two days always seems to produce big numbers on the second day. Today was no exception as we already have our third 30-pointer of the year courtesy of Lee Orr, picking up where he left off in 2009 with 30 huge points to take the day. Kyle OchoOcho (Good lord! OchoOcho?) equalled him in goals and finished second with 25 points on a ridiculous 102 shots. Another day at the office for the all-time highest-volume shooter in history. K.J. was impressive in his first session back on skates with 21 points for third. In goal, Seamus was lights out as usual with .881 on 140 saves; enough to give him the all-time goaltending crown he just missed out on yesterday. Nathan was victimised by Lee all day and will probably be disappointed with .767.

A note here on the name change: I want to see it used for a little while by everyone before I officially go ahead and do something that drastic. If I see it on a sweater and it’s being used everyday as his nom de plume, then I’ll do it. But I’m going to take the NFL route on this-for now (hey, Ochocinco had to wait).

Here are the game scores:
Kyle Lee Seamus def. Shem Joe K.J. Nathan 5-1 5-2
Lee K.J. Seamus def. Joe Shem Kyle Nathan 5-3 5-1
Kyle K.J. Shem Nathan def. Joe Lee Seamus 5-4
Kyle K.J. Nathan def. Shem Lee Seamus 4-5 5-2

Season Stats: The last two BUSH sessions have rewritten the season scoring race early on. Pat holds onto the lead but is just two points ahead of Kyle (48-46), with Lee third despite just the lone session. Kyle takes the lead in goals 36-34 over Pat, with Lee again in third. BUSH haven’t caught up in assists, however, as they only manage fourth, fifth and sixth with K.J. tops at McCormack with 14. Pat, Barlow and Oliver hold on. Kyle obliterates Pat’s shot total lead with 225 in 12 games. Pat ranks second, but BUSH players occupy the next three spots. Naturally, BUSH doesn’t factor in shooting percentage. Seamus takes a big lead in the goaltending categories; the only other BUSH goalie in the top five is Nathan. Both leagues have played 12 games; Pat, Kyle, the O’Connors, Shem , Oliver, Lee, Barlow, Dominik and Nathan have played them all. Kyle trails pat by five points in three-star points with Lee in third. Seamus takes the goalie star point lead from Dom. Seamus and Kyle are tied for second in total star points behind Pat. Lee takes the lead in PPG, Kyle in GPG. Kyle’s shots-per-game average is an unholy 18.75. Seamus narrowly takes the saves-per-game lead over Bron. Lee, Kyle and K.J. hold the second, third, and fourth-highest scoring sessions of the year, with Kyle’s session yesterday also tying for fourth. Kyle’s session yesterday and Lee’s today tie for second-best in session goalscoring this season with 17 each; K.J.’s 10 rank fifth. Lee’s 13 assists are tops so far this year; K.J.’s 11 rank fourth. Kyle’s 102 shots on goal today easily take the session lead this year. Lee’s 77 rank third, Kyle’s 73 yesterday rank fourth, and K.J.’s 67 today rank fifth. Seamus’ .881 in goal easily ranks tops this year; his .827 yesterday ranks third. Nathan’s .767 ranks fifth. Seamus’ 140 saves today rank first; Nathan’s 102 rank third; Seamus’ 86 yesterday rank fourth. Seamus’ 1021 PPS today obliterates the previous season mark and ranks in the top eight all-time. His 913 yesterday ranks second; Nathan’s 869 today ties for fifth.

On the All-Time Front: Looking at the past two sessions, remember. Lee begins re-opening up his all-time scoring lead on Oliver, becoming the first player to score 1,700 points in Burton Hockey history. Seamus’ five assists in goal this week get him back around Stefan for fourth in all-time scoring. K.J. is 19 points behind Justin for seventh. Kyle is eleven points behind Joern for ninth. Nathan becomes the 21st player to score 200 points; Shem needs eight. The countdown to 1,000 goals is now on for Lee; he needs 54. K.J. needs five for 500. Lee needs 17 assists for 800. Seamus is one assist behind Lorne for fourth. Kyle is one assist behind Laird for 12th. Nathan is two assists behind Pat for 15th. K.J. needs 37 shots on goal for 3,000. Kyle is 22 shots behind Justin for eighth. One session after K.J. lost the all-time goaltending title, his brother has now grabbed as Seamus’ career average moves to .834. He also becomes the tenth goalie to make 2,000 saves. Kyle passes Mitchell for 15th in games played. Nathan passes Joern for third in games goaltended. Lee needs 20 three-star points to become the first to 1,000. Graeme ties Ben for ninth. Seamus leaps pass Shem and Chris into fifth in goalie star points. Nathan passes Laird for eighth in total star points. Kyle moves into a tie with Dustin Marchischuk for fourth in PPG at 3.00 even. K.J. falls to second in saves-per-game behind Terryn. K.J. becomes the sixth player to score 30 15-pointers; he extends his record 15-pointer streak to 16. Kyle has the second-longest streak ever at twelve (tied with pat’s streak which is also active). Lee’s streak extends to eight. Kyle passes Oliver for sixth in 20-pointers with 16; he has four in a row. K.J. has two in a row five months apart. Lee break another record, this time for career 25-pointers with 14, passing Lorne. Kyle lies third with nine. Lee is tied for second in 30-pointers with three, which is three less than Pat. Kyle ties Justin for sixth in ten-goal sessions with 22. K.J. has seven of them in a row (the fourth-longest streak ever); Lee has four. Lee becomes the second player with 10 15-goal sessions; Kyle and K.J. have nine each. Kyle has two of them on back-to-back days. Kyle ties K.J. and Robert for third in 15-goal sessions with eight. Seamus is now sixth all-time with 16 .800 sessions and four in a row. K.J.’s .800 streak ends at four; Nathan’s at three. Seamus is now tied for third in .810 sessions with 16 including four in a row. He is fourth in .820’s with 15 including four in a row. His .890 streak ends at two, as does Nathan’s .860 streak. Seamus is the fifth goalie with three .880 sessions. Nathan passes Laird for most 80-savers with 26. He has four in a row; Nathan has three. Nathan becomes the first goalie with 20 90-savers. Amazingly, this is Seamus’ first 120-save-plus session. Nathan plays his 15th consecutive session; Seamus his eleventh; Shem his sixth. Kyle’s 102 shots on goal this session ties for the fourth-highest mark ever. Lee adds his name to the list of those who have played in all eleven season of Burton Hockey (we’re still waiting on Joern and the Bilinskis to round it out).

SDF/GDF: This ranking will probably change as VRH is expected to play Saturday, but nothing much will change other than VRH players continuing to climb the ranking. Pat, Kyle and Lee hold the top three. Interestingly, Nathan has a bad session drop off and moves up to sixth as he’s been thriving in 2-on-2 recently. Seamus maintains a stranglehold on the GDF as Nathan falls behind Justin to third.

Both leagues are now off to excellent starts. Let’s hope the momentum continues. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.