From the rust-brown hulk of a ’78 Thunderbird stepped two returning young stars to the pavement of Burton, insurgent firebrands ready to reclaim hard-earned spots as Burton regulars. At a combined age of 34, Mitch Detta and Terryn Stenseth made their season debuts in BUSH today as the gang played back-to-back for the second time in a week. Also of note was Alan Orr looking to rebound from the slow start of yesterday’s turn in goal and make a claim to being one of Burton’s bright goaltending prospects. He would do battle against the red-hot Seamus O’Connor. K.J. O’Connor was lined up to return, and so was the defensive truck known as Andrew Watson. Throw in Nathan Robson and the twin offensive powerhouses of Kyle Grenier and Lee Orr, and today’s line-up was solid. So, naturally, it had to unwork itself out somehow. Watsy’s back gave out on him; he would come to the rink but not suit up. Worst of all, Kyle and Nathan were turned away from the door when they went to grab K.J., leaving us with an awkward five-skater scenario.

It was decided to forego subs and just team Lee and Kyle together with Alan against Nate, Terryn and Mitch backed by Seamus; 3-on-2 action, the two unrelated Orrs in full bearded glory. Despite being down a man, Lee and Kyle made a deadly tandem, outshooting their young opponents 68-34. Seamus stood on his head while Grenier volleyed 41 shots at him in the two-game series, going .856 for the set. His excellent netminding allowed his teammates to stay in the game and keep things close; Mitch notched a hat trick in the first game. In the end, the Kyle-Lee tandem was too much. Kyle pointed out and Lee almost did en route to a 5-3, 5-4 win.

Wanting to ensure that Lee and Kyle would be split up, it was decided to put Lee with Terryn and Seamus against Kyle, Alan and the rotation of Mitch and Nathan. It didn’t work. We had a feeling it would be difficult when the first shots on Seamus and Alan both went in. Kyle began running away with the session here, scoring on four breakaways and a tip-in to win 5-1. Seamus lost his stride here and would not be the same all session.

Meanwhile, Alan was smooth and steady all day. A return to the line-ups of the first series in an attempt to recapture the balance failed, as Alan was outplaying Seamus and Kyle was overpowering, resulting in another 5-1 game. Terryn was traded for Lee, and he and Kyle teamed up for another dominating win. It was the energy of Mitch, coverage of Nathan, and grinding of Lee that finally reversed the tide. Lee and Nathan teamed up to cover Kyle while Mitch was set free on multiple breakaways. With Kyle smothered and frustration mounting, Seamus finally tasted victory with wins of 5-2 and 5-3 before everyone called it quits in hopes that Saturday will bring out Andrew, Justin and Graeme and some balance.

A execution of dominance today from Kyle, pointing out the first five games en route to 20G-10A-30P-88 shots. It really wasn’t close as Kyle often won games single-handedly. Lee was no slug, however, scoring 8 goals and 14 assists for second. Mitch returned with 14 goals and 17 points overall for third. In goal, Seamus began strong but faded while Alan remained solid all day and finished with .815 to Seamus’ .773, ending a two-month long epic run for the Irishman in goal. Alan cemented himself today as a bonafide goaltender in Burton Hockey.

Here are the game scores:
Lee Kyle Alan def. Nathan Seamus Terryn Mitch 5-3 5-4
Kyle Mitch Nathan Alan def. Lee Seamus Terryn 5-1
Lee Kyle Alan def. Nathan Seamus Terryn Mitch 5-1
Lee Nathan Mitch Seamus def. Alan Kyle Terryn 1-5 5-2 5-3

Season Stats: It just took two sessions in two days to blow away the existing season leaderboard. Kyle has scored 94 points in the past eight days to emerge as the scoring leader by 23 points over Lee, pushing Pat and Oliver to third. Nathan jumps up to seventh. Kyle is untouchable in goals; his 68 nearly double that of second-place Lee. Lee leads Kyle and Oliver in assists 36-26-26 with Nathan entering the top five. Mitch ties Sam for the lead in saves. Shem has a commanding lead in goaltending over Seamus and Dom with Alan moving up to fifth. Seamus is three saves behind Dom for first. Alan moves to fourth in saves ahead of Shem. Kyle, Seamus and Nathan have played all 24 BUSH games this season. Seamus is two games behind Dom in games goaltended with Bron and Alan tied for third. Kyle leads in three star points ahead of Lee and Pat. Seamus and Dom are tied for the lead in goalie star points at 30 ahead of Bron, Shem and Alan. Kyle, Lee and Seamus are tops in total star points. Kyle has almost caught Pat for first in PPG, 4.00-3.91. Lee is close in third at 3.74. Seamus moves up to second in APG but falls to third in saves-per-game behind Shem and Bron. Kyle’s 30 points today rank second-best this season, as do his 20 goals. Lee’s 14 assists are the highest session tally this year. With 95 shots yesterday and 88 today, Kyle now has three of the four-highest shot totals this season. Shem’s .897 yesterday is tops so far this season, as is his 1045 PPS. His 148 saves rank third.

On the All-Time Front: Lee is now 30 points away from 1,800 points. Seamus closes to within seven points of Stefan for fourth. Kyle passes Joern and becomes the ninth player with 700 points. Nathan is eight points behind Simon for 20th. Terryn moves to 26th. Lee is 36 goals from 1,000. Seamus is 14 goals away from 600. Kyle becomes the ninth player to score 400 goals; he is 13 behind Justin for eighth and 23 behind Bernie for seventh. Lee becomes the second player to score 800 assists. Seamus passes Lorne for fourth in assists. Kyle passes Laird for 12th and needs 14 for 300. Nathan passes Pat for 15th. Kyle leaps past Justin and K.J. to become the seventh player with 2,000 shots on goal. As mentioned yesterday, Seamus has fallen to second in all-time goaltender behind Shem. Shem needs 34 saves for 2,000; Seamus passes Lorne for ninth in saves. Kyle is one game played behind Bron for 14th. Lee becomes the first player with 1,000 three-star and total star points. Seamus passes Oliver for fourth in three-star points. Shem ties Seamus for fifth in goalie star points. Kyle ties Laird for ninth in total star points. Kyle takes the all-time shots-per-game record to 9.00. Kyle passes Justin for sixth in ten-goal sessions with 24. He has five in a row and has them in ten of his last eleven. Lee’s streak ends at three. Kyle ties Lee for second in 15-goal sessions with ten (still 14 behind Lorne). Kyle joins Pat Elischer and Joe Chwachka as the only players with three 20-goal sessions. He also passes Justin for sixth in ten-assisters with eleven. Kyle passes Justin for seventh in 15-pointers with 28. Mitch records his 15th. Kyle has 14 15-pointers in a row, just two away from K.J.’s streak (which is still active). Lee has a streak of ten going. Lee records his thirtieth 20-pointer. Kyle records his tenth 25-pointer (third all-time). He also joins an elite group of player with three 30-pointers (Pat, Lee, Lorne, Robert Rogers). Shem extends his .800 streak to six sessions; Seamus’ ends at four. Alan records his first .810 session, and Shem ties the record for most consecutive .810, .820 and .830 sessions with six. He also ties the records for consecutive .840 sessions with four. His four straight .850 sessions is a new record (he sits third all-time with eight). He has back-to-back .860 sessions and goes over .880 for the first time. Seamus has five 80-savers in a row; Shem has three. Shem ties Chris and Lyle for fifth in 90-savers with 12. Shem has three 90-savers and 100-savers in a row; Seamus two. Shem passes Laird for third in 100-savers with 11. Shem becomes the third player after Nathan and Bron with back-to-back 120-savers and second after Nathan with back-to-back 140-savers (Nathan had consecutive 160-savers in the spring of 2004). Nathan has the longest active consecutive session streak in BUSH at 17. Seamus is at 13; Shem’s is over at seven. Shem’s 1045 yesterday is the fifth-highest PPS ever.

SDF/GDF: Pat stays on top of the SDF for a fourth straight session and 27th all-time. Kyle goes back around Lee for second. Big changes on the GDF, however, as after six rankings on top, Seamus’ poor finish tonight drops him below Justin, who takes over the top spot for a record-tying 26th time. Alan moves up one spot to seventh.

It’s a big weekend coming up with both leagues scheduled for action. Tune in then! Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.