There was a very valuable lesson learned in VRH today, namely that our players are willing to play in very dismal conditions, and even when conditions are horrid, they come out in spades.

Today was a colossal session at VRH; maybe not stats-wise (albeit I am sure Pat did very well), but more so in commitment, dedication, and number of players. With a total of 15 players making it out today we were able to play 5-on-5 with subs. A few short years ago, who really would have guessed that?

When I woke in the morning the weather didn't look overly promising for hockey. The only positive was that it was not raining, at least in Vancouver. A quick call/email around and everyone was still interested in playing so long as the rain help off. So we trooped forth. On my way to pickup Jordan the rain began to fall. Not strong, but it was raining, and I feared it might be cause for several people to cancel. Nobody did.

We got to QE a little before 11am, and within the next 30 minutes most of everyone had arrived (Tony showed up later in the day). The rink was very damp and covered in puddles, and the rain wasn't helping matters. However, after putting on our blades we quickly realized that there was still a lot of traction, so we decided to troop on.

The players for the day: Barlow, Downie, Shaylin, Monika, Sabrina Nymeyer, Pat, Alexander Elischer, Rob, Tony, Melvin, Dom, Lorne, Bernie, Oliver, and Stefan. Two new rookies with the addition of Monika's sister Sabrina (former ringette star), and Pat's brother Alex. Do take note, there was a good 4 sibling match-ups at the session today. Lastly, I don't feel like typing out all the players on the each team for each series, so just look at the stats so you know what team I am talking about when I mention them in the text following.

We started things off with a 3-game series that had Pat point out in each game. The bigger rink not only gave Pat more room to dangle around us, he also came up even more huge defensively as his rover style of play had him showing us all what it means to be two-way players.

During this time we had the arrival of some foot hockey players who wanted us to give them the rink. This was the same group that we confronted the last time we played at QE. Once again, they threatened to come on the rink and screw with our game if we didn't give up the rink to them. We told them off, and continued to play. Eventually they left after realising we wouldn't budge this time. It turned into a fun pastime after they left to spot the players they had forgotten to notify that they had moved their session. They would arrive walk half way up to the rink, realize we were on skates, then leave. Good times.

Back to the session. For our next bunch of games we decided to do the sibling rivalries game. Heck, we even separated the two Jordans and put the two down-the-lakers on different teams. What transpired after this setup of teams was nothing short of a monster: 4 games of some of the most even hockey we have seen in a while, not to mention some ridiculous comebacks by Team Dom. First 2 games saw Team Alex go up by a lot of goals early. First game, they sat on a 4-1 lead with Rob playing his heart out. However, it was Team Dom, led by Pat with 5 goals, who ended up winning the game.

Once again, in the second game, Team Alex shot off to an early 4-2 lead off strong play from Rob and a couple of nice goals from Melvin. But, once again led by Pat, Team Dom completed the comeback and took down Team Alex. In the third game Alex was finally able to take revenge on his brother Pat by posting a shutout off the backs of strong offensive play by his team.

This lead to the final game of the series. Team Alex got off to the early start again, and soon the score was 4-3. Unfortunately for Team Alex, Lorne and Shay started clicking which led once again to another blown lead for Team Alex and another 5-4 Dom victory.

Lorne took off after this game, which left one final game. The sky began to open up at this point, and we were even treated to some sunshine. The eighth game of the day caught up with a lot of players. The big rink, and 4 hours of hockey meant half the players could barely skate, while the other more well-conditioned players got to own the rink. The game ended 5-2 to finalise a fantastic day of hockey.

Some notes from the day:
- Once again Pat showed his dominance and put up huge numbers despite the big rink, or the many subs.
- Pat's little brother had a solid showing in net, and there was definitely a good rivalry going on between the two. When Pat scored his first goal on Alex, Alex proclaimed, "That is the first goal you have scored on me in seven years!" Needless to say, they hadn't played hockey together in seven years!
- Sabrina had a very solid showing for her rookie debut. While it took her time to get used to a hockey stick, her positioning and skating abilities gave her have a solid defensive showing. As she became more confident with her stick, she even broke out with some rushes.
- Lorne, Shay, and Pat made for a pretty killer combination in the siblings series, while Rob was a one man wrecking crew for his team.
- Oliver took the last series to show us that when he isn't saving our asses on defense, he has some pretty sweet moves offensively.
If VRH can pull in 15 players on a rainy dismal day, what will happen once the sun starts shining in Vancouver? Saturday/Sunday games on weekends might not just be reality, it will likely be a necessity. Here is looking forward to a great year in Vancouver.

Thanks, Stef. That’s three straight 30-point full-length sessions from Pat Elischer. No one else has more than three, period. Ever. With 22 goals on just 57 shots for 31 points in a 5-on-5 session with subs in a large rink, he has once again shown he is just head-and-shoulders above anyone playing in Burton Hockey right now. You nearly have to go down by half to find the second star, Oliver Koth-Kappus, at 17 points. Ollie broke out in the last series with nine points in three games. Lorne pointed out in Game 7 to finish at sixteen points; had he not missed the final game, he may have been second. Or maybe it would have been Rob, who also missed the final game and was just a point behind Lorne. A special acknowledgment is in order here for Shaylin, who has taken a quantum leap in the past two sessions and is really beginning to find a scoring touch. In goal, Alexander had a great debut at .794 and 108 saves with a shutout. Considering how difficult it is to get good goaltending stats on either Queen Elizabeth rink, that’s quite the debut. He will be another solid goalie for VRH. Dom, on the other hand, would probably rather forget his .697, which isn’t a good statistic anywhere. Of course with Dom, he won’t be down for long; this probably sets up an .840 next session!

Here are the game scores:
Monika Sabrina Pat Oliver Melvin Stefan Alexander def. Barlow Downey Bernie Shaylin Lorne Rob Dominik 5-3 5-4
Monika Sabrina Pat Oliver Melvin Stefan Alexander def. Barlow Downey Bernie Shaylin Lorne Rob Dominik Tony 5-4
Pat Tony Lorne Bernie Downey Sabrina Shaylin Dominik def. Stefan Barlow Rob Monika Oliver Melvin Alexander 5-4 5-4 0-5 5-4
Pat Tony Oliver Bernie Melvin Alexander def. Stefan Shaylin Downey Barlow Monika Dominik 5-2

Season Stats: Pat passes Lee to move into second in scoring, 94-79 behind Kyle. Oliver and Barlow close in a bit on Lee as well. Bernie passes Nathan for seventh and Shaylin moves to eighth. Pat also passes Lee for second in goals. Oliver takes the assist lead by one over Lee, 37-36, with Barlow at 35. Pat nudges ahead of Lee for second in shots but has a long way to catch Kyle. Pat moves to third in shooting percentage and is just behind Mitch and Sam. Dom falls behind Bron to fourth in save percentage and drops below .800 at .795, just .001 ahead of Alex and Alan. Oliver and Dom have played all 29 VRH; Barlow has missed one and Bernie three. Alex becomes the fourth goalie to post a shutout this year. Pat passes Lee for second in three-star and total star points; Oliver passes Stefan for fourth in three-star points. Pat’s lead in PPG falls to 3.95-3.91 over Kyle; Stefan falls from the top five in PPG and GPG. Rob falls from first to third in APG behind Seamus and Lee. Pat falls behind K.J. in shots-per-game; Rob and Stefan fall from the top five. Dominik falls out of the top five in saves-per-game. Pat’s 31 points today rank second for sessions this year, as do his 22 goals. Oliver’s 11 assists tie for fifth-best. Alexander’s 108 saves rank fifth.

On the All-Time Front: Oliver becomes the second player in history to score 1,700 points; Lorne becomes the third to score 1,400. Pat is seven points behind Ben for 14th. Downey becomes the 39th player to score 100 points. Pat passes Joe for 13th in points. Bernie needs three assists for 600. Lorne is two assists behind Seamus for fourth; Pat is one behind Nathan for 15th. Barlow falls below 30% in shooting but still holds the all-time lead; Pat passes Joe for third. Lorne becomes the fourth player to play 600 games. Stefan becomes the seventh to play 500; Pat and Tony becomes the 28th and 29th to play 100 with Dom two away. Oliver passes Seamus for fourth in three-star points and is just five points behind Stefan for third. Pat passes Ben and Graeme for ninth. Pat is just 0.01 PPG behind Robert for the all-time lead. Pat records his 13th-straight 15-pointer, the third-longest all-time and third-longest active streak behind K.J. at 16 and Kyle at 14. Barlow’s streak ends at four. Oliver has three in a row. Pat’s record 20-pointer streak goes to eleven; Lorne’s ends at two. And as mentioned above, Pat has three consecutive 30-pointers and seven all-time. Pat records his eleventh-straight ten-goal session; one short of Robert Rogers’ record of twelve. Pat ties Robert all-time with twelve. Pat has three 15-goal sessions in a row and eight all-time (tied with Robert for fourth). Lorne’s 15-goal streak ends at two. Pat has back-to-back 20-goal sessions for the second time; he’s the only person ever to do it even once. His ten-assister streak ends at two; Oliver’s goes up to three. Dominik records his third 80-saver in a row. Alexander hits 100+ saves in his first session. Oliver plays his record 45th consecutive session; Dominik plays his 12th; Barlow his sixth. Lorne joins the ranks of those who have played in all eleven Burton seasons.

SDF/GDF: Adding this session to Thursday’s BUSH session doesn’t affect the top of the ranking, of course, other than to give Pat an even larger lead. Stefan, though, falls from fourth to sixth, Oliver moves up to seventh, and Rob closes in on the top ten despite not even being at the minimum two full sessions. We’re also back up to 30 players on the ranking. Nothing much changes on the GDF other than Alex being added and Dom falling behind Alan to seventh.

An amazing January to begin our eleventh season of action. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.