It was a decidedly impromptu session today, with some of the same old faces but in a most irregular arrangement. To be sandwiched in between Tuesday’s 4-on-4 histrionics and this weekend’s planned 10-man session would be a hastily-arranged 2-on-2 set with the big news that Kyle Grenier was returning to goal (wearing, of all things, Warren McCutcheon’s actual jersey from the second season of Making The Cut; between that and Jordan Barlow’s goalie pads from Road Hockey Rumble, it’s been an interesting season for television-program-based hockey equipment in Burton). Also notable was the absence of Lee Orr, who wasn’t particularly impressed with the rest of the gang playing on such short notice and him occupied with work. Troy Waldron and Seamus O’Connor would lead the skating brigade, joined by the tuxedo T-shirt of Nathan Robson and the returning Graeme Orr. Oh, and the other goalie just came off of a 149-save .914 session. Could Shem Hanna duplicate the feat in 2-on-2 conditions? Probably not, because the purpose of today’s session was to debut and test the Grenier-designed black PVC nets. Slightly larger than the Ambleside nets and slightly smaller than Laird Bilinski’s nets used on the weekend, the days of the pitiful, dilapidated Burton nets are over. As a final gesture, Kyle stripped them of their twine to help supplement stock for the new nets. Much like Dominik Voser’s homemade net, they are adjustable (though not completely collapsible/portable like Dom’s). They are light, though, and easy to pick up and move.

Grenier, O’Connor and Robson would all pass the 50-game mark for the year today on the eleventh of February. Ripe conditions today for stat-padding, assuming wheels and stamina held up. As is usual, it was a brisk 2°C in Burton. On top of it, it began to rain slowly but steadily throughout the session. Seamus was off to work at four, so it would be a short one with a playing window of 90 minutes. There was little dallying again (well, once we got there, anyway). There were no expectations for this session. No sticks in the middle today; Seamus and Graeme were backed by Kyle against Troy and Nathan. O’Connor-Orr dominated the shot count, but Shem stood on his head. Meanwhile, Kyle was trying to shake off a year’s worth of rust while wearing a mask that he hated, and it all was too much for him. Troy’s blazing speed led him to four goals and an assist with able help from Nathan (and his new pink wheels that came as part of the massive Grenier order from California-they held up quite well but were very slippery on the wet court) who also pointed out; Kyle only stopped three of eight shots, Ouch. He’d bring it up a bit in Game 2, but Shem was even better in Game 2, going .868 for the series. This was just as hard fought, and the O’s certainly had their chances, but Troy was not to be denied, scoring all five goals en route to a 5-4 win.

At .615, Kyle had reached his breaking point and discarded the mask he had been complaining about all session, and that turned everything around. Now backing Troy and Nathan, it was a whirlwind of activity. Up 4-0 (all four goals from Troy), Nathan had Shem beat but the ball hit the post and came back to Shem, who promptly sent it up to Seamus on a breakaway to end the shutout bid. Troy promptly gained control after one of those newfangled faceoffs and iced the victory. Shem took the loss but stopped so many shots from Seamus and Graeme that he still resided at .848. Kyle came all the way back to .761 off of this game alone. Game 4 would be much closer. Seamus and Graeme were desperate for a win, and they knew this would be the last game of the afternoon. They got up to a 3-1 lead, but just didn’t have the chemistry today that Troy and Nathan had with each other. Troy ended the game in ten short minutes. He killed Shem who had been flying in the .840-.870 range all day; he was so effective in this game that Shem came down to .795. Shem was understandably not happy to end on that note after what had been, to that point, another amazing session. Kyle showed that he was far better without a mask; after going .615 in the first two games, he was .894 in the last two. One would imagine both goalies would have been back in the .800s after another session, but coulda-shoulda-woulda. One hilarious note: it was announced out loud at the faceoff at 4-3 that Troy just needed one more point to point out the entire session. Seamus said it wasn’t going to happen; Troy took the puck from Nathan at the faceoff and scored immediately to end the game.

Short but sweet today. And, yes, Troy pointed out all four games; a ghastly 18G-2A on 49 shots. His partner in crime was Nathan, grabbing the other two goals for their team and chipping on 12 of Troy’s. Graeme and Seamus were left behind at 10 and 8 points, respectively, although both of them were also over 40 shots on goal. The danger of short sessions was evident today; just one game can kill an otherwise great performance. Shem finished at .795, and Kyle’s .785 was miraculous considering he was .615 halfway though. It should be interesting to see what he gets next time he goes in goal now that he knows wearing a mask doesn’t work for him. He also got five assists, of course.

Here are the game scores:
Troy Nathan Shem def. Seamus Graeme Kyle 5-3 5-4
Troy Nathan Kyle def. Seamus Graeme Shem 5-1 5-3

Faceoff stats:
Graeme Orr 7/9 (77.78%)
Seamus O’Connor 11/21 (52.38%)
Nathan Robson 5/9 (55.56%)
Troy Waldron 8/21 (38.10%)

Season Stats: Kyle’s five assists from goal pad his lead over Lee to 31. Seamus passes the 100-point mark for a record sixth time and passes Pat for third this season. You read it here, folks: Nathan Robson is in the top five. Oliver, Stefan, Barlow and Troy are bunched up close behind him. Seamus passes Stefan for fourth in goals with Troy now right behind in sixth. Graeme and Nathan are tied for eighth. Kyle actually gained in assists on Seamus and now both are tied for second at 66, seven behind Lee. Nathan jumps to fourth ahead of Barlow and Oliver with his second consecutive 50-assist season. Seamus is the third player this year with 300 shots on goal; Troy moves to sixth in shots. Nathan falls to third in shooting percentage behind Barlow; Troy moves up to fourth. Shem is nine saves behind Dom for the season lead. Kyle and Seamus have played all 53 BUSH games; Nathan, 52. Troy ties Oliver for fifth in three-star points. Shem is five points behind Dom for the goalie star lead. Troy moves from seventh to fourth in PPG ahead of Seamus, K.J. and Lorne. He also rockets to third in GPG. He does, however, fall to sixth in APG behind Lorne and Pat. Graeme and Troy pass Sam for fifth and sixth in shots-per-game. Troy’s 18 goals today tie for fourth-best this year (not to mention being the most ever in a four-game session). Nathan’s 12 assists tie for fifth-best this year.

On the All-Time Front: Troy is ten points behind Ben for 15th. Seamus is 29 goals behind Stefan for fourth. Seamus is four assists behind Bernie for third. Graeme is 16 assists behind K.J. for tenth; Kyle is five behind Graeme. Shem and Troy are now tied exactly for the all-time goaltending lead. Seamus is nine games played behind Joern for fifth. Nathan passes K.J. to enter the top ten, with Graeme three games behind K.J. Kyle is seven games behind Chris for 13th. Troy is eight games from the top twenty. Shem passes Lorne for eighth in games goaltended. Troy passes Pat in career 15-pointers; he is tied with Mitchell Detta for tenth at 15. He is tied with Joe Chwachka for eleventh in 20-pointers with seven. Troy posts his second career 15-goal session. Nathan has his second career ten-assister. Nathan plays his 22nd consecutive session, Seamus his 18th, Kyle his ninth. Lee’s streak ends at seven.

SDF/GDF: With this session, the last 2009 session drops off the ranking; only sessions from the last month are on here now thanks to the huge number of sessions being played recently. Not much changes, though. Pat tie Robert for most rankings spent at #1 with 32, six behind Lorne. Graeme falls from the top ten. Shem holds the GDF for a second straight session; Nathan falls from third to seventh, bringing Alex into the top five for the first time.

Potential BUSH action tomorrow; definite VRH and BUSH action this weekend. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.