Sun! We couldn’t believe our eyes. It was already gearing up to be a good session, and the golden disc in the sky made it that much better. The best surprise of all would already be waiting for us at the rink, however, as BUSH realised a longstanding goal by acquiring the playing services of old friend Jesse Gimbel, Glenbank native-turned-Okotoks resident. As well, the near-mythical Golden Joe Leonard returned to the pipes for the first time since his legendary 241-save performance at last August’s BUSH SuperSession. It would be a rematch of that legendary day as Shem Hanna was in the other cage. We were lined up again for great 4-on-4 action, and it delivered in spades.

The largest cheering section in BUSH history would be on hand to watch, as the full Gimbel and Ballard families were on hand along with the always wonderful Alice Watson. Sticks in the middle produced two very even teams with Kyle, Jesse, Nathan and Andrew backed by Shem against Joe with Seamus, Lee, Noel and Mitch. Very quickly, Kyle and Jesse developed a rapport, hooking up for three goals. Andrew, meanwhile, drove the net from the rearguard, constantly battling and stripping pucks, and once again showed why he is now one of BUSH’s best (it didn’t help him shoot better though, as his sniping streak ended quite abruptly today). Their opponents were game, but a couple of early goals on Joe were the difference; he settled down too late while Shem was brilliant en route to a 5-2 win. Kyle, as seems to be de rigueur lately, pointed out. Distressingly, Noel actually had his shoulder pop out of place quite painfully during this game (see the picture below of him favouring his right shoulder); it slipped back in and after a quick rest, Game 2 was on.

Empowered by cheers of ‘Go, Dad!’ from daughter Mya (about 15 relentless minutes of cheering, actually), Noel stepped right back in for Game 2, a 45-minute marathon that wore the group into the ground with its relentless pace. Kyle and Jesse were still quite the duo, and Lee and Seamus began clicking here as they got up early on Shem 4-1, but the stars undoubtedly were the goalies. Shem and Joe reignited their SuperSession heroics and shut the doors time and time again on their hapless opponents. The skaters battled hard for every puck; with so many bodies on the court, physical contact was inevitable, and Kyle and Noel slammed hard into the end board at one point with Noel getting the worst of it. And, to top it off, Noel scored the first own goal of the Burton season by accidentally potting the rebound off a Grenier shot. Noel would recover with a goal of his own and thwarted a potential blow lead as Team Joe held on for a exhausting 5-4 victory.

With two wives and four young kids, it was time for Noel and Jesse to say goodbye. Noel battled hard this day, taking his fair share of abuse but accounting quite well for himself. Jesse, meanwhile, finished with six points in two games and left everyone wanting more. He promised to return to Burton on his next trip to the valley. The rest of the crew was left to finish the series 3-on-3, but that didn’t last long, as Watson’s back gave out about five minutes in, leaving us with a 2-on-2 session. To go from 4-on-4 to 2-on-2 just like that demoralised the crew rather quickly, and it became a battle just to end the game so everyone could go home. Joe and Shem continued their excellent play, Nathan and Mitch got into the offence with goals of their own, and Kyle pointed out yet again in a close 5-4 game that went to Team Shem. Having taken two hours to finish three games, the gang was beat and called it a day at 3:20.

Even with all of the firepower out there today, the goalies stepped up and came out shining. Shem was scintillating once again, going .884 for the day. Joe, meanwhile, had a career-best .841 and only got better as the day went on. Offensively, Kyle Grenier nearly pointed out the day with 8G-6A on 42 shots in just three games. Lee slowly seems to be moving toward the assist column more and more these days, finishing with 2G-7A on 34 shots. Seamus took third with seven points and 33 shots of his own. Jesse would assuredly have placed in the stars with his 3.00 session had he been able to have played the final game.

Here are the game scores:
Kyle Jesse Nathan Andrew Shem def. Seamus Lee Noel Mitch Joe 5-2 4-5 5-4 (last game without Jesse and Noel)

Faceoff stats:
Nathan Robson 1/1 (100.00%)
Lee Orr 4/5 (80.00%)
Kyle Grenier 13/19 (68.42%)
Seamus O’Connor 4/12 (33.33%)
Noel Ballard 1/6 (16.67%)
Jesse Gimbel 0/1 (0.00%)
Andrew Watson 0/2 (0.00%)

Season Stats: Kyle moves to within eight points of 200; he will be the first player ever with back-to-back 200-point campaigns. Nathan ties Barlow for eighth in goals. Kyle passes Seamus for second in assists but remains behind Lee 82-72. Kyle passes 600 shots; the next closest is Lee down at 362. Nathan enters the top ten. Andrew debuts third on the shooting percentage list behind Pat and Mitch. Shem passes Dom for the lead in saves. Kyle passes 100 star points on the year. Shem takes the lead in goalie star points 55-45 over Dom. Lee passes Seamus for second in total star points; Shem passes Dom for fifth. Kyle cuts Pat’s PPG lead in half. Lee takes the APG lead from Seamus. Shem’s .884 today is the third-best session of the year; Shem has all three marks. Joe’s .841 ranks sixth. Shem’s 968 PPS ranks sixth.

On the All-Time Front: Kyle becomes the ninth player to score 800 points. Nathan is ten points behind Ryno for 19th. Kyle needs 28 goals for 500 and to tie K.J. for sixth. Seamus is one assist behind Bernie for third all-time. Kyle passes Graeme for tenth in assists. Nathan is three assists behind Ben for 13th. Lee becomes the first player to take 5,000 shots on goal. Shem reclaims the all-time goaltending lead. Joe moves into 13th in all-time saves. Seamus is ix games played behind Joern for fifth. Kyle is six games behind Chris for 13th. Mitch is three games behind Bron for 15th. Kyle becomes the sixth player with 400 star points. Kyle moves over 9.00 shots-per-game all-time. Joe has back-to-back .800s (.830s, in fact) for the first time. Shem ties Bron for fifth in .820s with 14. He lies one behind Nathan for third in .830s with 13. Shem becomes the third goalie to record ten .840s; Joe has his first. Shem ties Justin for the all-time lead in .850s with ten; he’s one away from Justin and Nathan’s .860s lead with seven, Justin’s .870s lead with five, and K.J./Justin/Nathan’s .880s lead with three (tied there with Bron). Shem passes Lyle for fifth in 80-savers with 18. With only three games today, streaks do not apply for offensive statistics. Nathan plays his 23rd consecutive session (the eighth-longest streak ever), Seamus his 19th, Kyle his tenth.

SDF/GDF: On the SDF, Pat records the third-highest rating ever seen. Lee falls behind Troy to fifth; Andrew falls from the top ten. Shem holds pat on top of the GDF as Bron falls under the minimum and drops.

VRH tomorrow? Maybe even BUSH? That would make it seven sessions in eight days. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.