It was right back to work for BUSH as sessions keep flying out of the woodwork. Today, however, would not see sunshine. Despite the gang holding out for the usual Burton sunshine break once they rounded the corner at Arrow Park, it was a downpour all day. This day would be remembered as the wettest session in BUSH history. Just as notable was the return of top goaltending prospect Taylor Reitmeier, whose lone outing in Burton Hockey last season was a revelation. The big question was how the players would fare in these ultra-wet conditions. Unfortunately, your humble statistician would have to do stats from the car to stay dry and thus miss out on pictures of some the best action to start off a session ever (well, unless you wanted 70 photos of a chain-link fence).

It would be the oldtimers (Lee, Nick, Justin and Seamus) against the youth (Kyle, Terryn, Nathan, Taylor) in what would prove to be one of the greatest games ever seen on this particular rink. Call it the Battle of McCormack Lake. Two naval fleets ploughing through the waters of flooded Burton, backed by two goaltenders standing on their heads; a 45-minute slog that was endless in its grind and massive in its scope. It was such a masterpiece that we didn’t even realise Lee had scored his monumental 2,000th point (in fact, it didn’t even occur to us until the ride home). What a day to not be able to take photos. After what seemed like forever battling the conditions, it was the young guns pulling out a 5-3 win. The numbers were staggering in goal; even in defeat, Seamus stopped 52 of 57 shots (.912). The victorious Taylor went 36-for 39 (.923). Kyle alone had 29 shots on goal. It was an epic that couldn’t be followed. So they played four more games, anyway.

Game 2 was completely lopsided, as the oldtimers looked like oldtimers. Seamus could stand on his head all he wanted, but the three-man team of Kyle, Terryn and Nathan was too much. Taylor was brilliant again, posting a 20-save shutout and moving up to an amazing .951 on the day after 59 shots. This prompted an immediate team shuffling with Terryn being traded for Nick. Naturally, when someone is having a goaltending session that insane, someone will tell him he’s far above the session goaltending record, and he’ll come crashing back to earth. Well, in Game 3, Lee and Terryn put home the first two shots on net past Taylor, and just like that, the magic session was gone. Team Seamus would trounce their opponents 5-1. That being said, the goalies both recovered and certainly held up through the session, Seamus in particular. After an epic series like the first, I gather we needed one more surreal moment in Burton history, and we received it in Game 3 when Nathan actually crashed through the cage, in particular the giant gatefold that makes up the east side of the cage. To be able to collide with the cage with such force that you snap two solid steel latches in half is a pretty impressive feat. I guess after eleven years, that was just one crash too many for the cage. (Another amazing moment we couldn’t capture on film; frick!)

For the final series, Lee, Kyle, and Nick would be backed by Seamus against Nathan, Justin and Terryn with Taylor. As Kyle and Terryn were the hot hands for the second-straight day, it was important to keep them separated. Of course, this put Lee and Kyle together, and that’s a hard combo to beat; they fought out a 5-4, 5-3 series win. Both games were hard-fought, quality match-ups (though not utter epics like Game 1) with plenty of epic chances and saves to go around.

Of course, a big reason for the amount of grinding today was the sheer amount of water, resulting in a near-total flooding of the rink by the end of Game 4 (alongside the west wall, there was standing water up past the wheel bars of people’s blades). All through the day, large splashes of water were seen accompanying most shots, and balls were stopping dead in puddles. This actually helped in a perverse way in that it resulted in far more battles for puck possession, and allowed players who had missed passes or lost control of the ball to regain possession more quickly. The players actually kind of got used to it by Game 3, and a great session was had. Drenching but terrific hockey, especially in goal. And they’re going right back at it tomorrow.

The goalies were on fire all day. The epic first game led to some unrealistic expectations for the rest of the session, but both Seamus (.870, 117 saves) and Taylor (.842, 96 saves, 1 shutout) remained solid even after the session returned to something slightly more normal. Taylor once again showed the same level of brilliance he did in his rookie session last year, and should be the all-time goaltending leader sooner or later. Scoring-wise it was the same three stars as Wednesday. Kyle recorded another 20-pointer (10-and-10) on a huge 62 shots; his 24 consecutive 15-pointers and six consecutive ten-assisters are both Burton Hockey records. Terryn wasn’t far behind with ten goals of his own and another six assists on 54 shots. Lee was 7-and-7 to finish third, and became the first player in the history of the game with 2,000 career points.

Here are the game scores:
Youth (Kyle Terryn Nathan Taylor) def. Oldtimers (Lee Nick Justin Seamus) 5-3 5-0
Lee Terryn Justin Seamus def. Kyle Nick Nathan Taylor 5-1
Lee Kyle Nick Seamus def. Nathan Justin Terryn Taylor 5-4 5-3

Faceoff stats:
Nathan Robson 2/2 (100.00%)
Kyle Grenier 8/13 (61.54%)
Terryn Stenseth 13/22 (59.09%)
Lee Orr 4/10 (40.00%)
Nick Sundstrom 1/3 (33.33%)
Justin Gordon 3/12 (25.00%)

Season Stats: Kyle opens his scoring lead to 25 over Lee, 339-314. Seamus scored two points from net to move to within nine of 200. Nathan is 17 behind Pat for fourth. Justin moves over 100 and passes Troy for seventh; he is 13 behind Stefan for sixth. Terryn moves from 22nd to 14th. Kyle needs six goals for 200. Justin records his fourth 50-goal campaign and passes K.J. for seventh. Nathan needs five for 50. Terryn enters the top twelve in goals. Kyle closes Lee’s assist lead down to 163-145. Nathan needs five for 100, and Justin enters the top five. Kyle needs 21 shots on goal for 1,000; Lee passes 700. Justin passes Troy for sixth in shots; Terryn enters the top twelve. Seamus passes Shem for second in saves and is 78 behind Dom for first. Seamus and Kyle become the first player to pass 100 games on the year; Lee needs six and Nathan needs eleven. Justin ties Dom for fifth in games. Seamus takes the outright lead in goalie star points. Kyle is the first player over 200 total star points this year; Seamus closes in on Lee for second. Terryn moves to sixth in shots-per-game. Seamus’ 984 PPS is the fifth-highest mark this year.

On the All-Time Front: Lee achieves immortality by becoming the first player in history with 2,000 points; his lead over second-place Oliver is 280. In the race to become the seventh player to reach 1,000, Justin sits at 964, but Kyle is closing in on him fast, moving today to 951. Nathan passes Robert for 17th; Terryn needs nine for 200. Lee needs 20 goals for 1,100. Justin needs 17 goals for 500; Nathan needs two for 100 and Terryn five. Justin needs 19 assists from 500. Kyle passes Joern for eighth in assists and moves over 400. Terryn needs four assists for 100. Justin is 95 shots behind Bernie for seventh. Seamus’ excellent session today moves him back around K.J. and Terryn into third in all-time save percentage. Lee needs four more games to become the third player to play 700 all-time. Seamus is eight games behind Lorne for fourth. Terryn becomes the 33rd player to play 100 games. Seamus moves past Lorne into ninth in games goaltended and is just one behind Shem for eighth. Taylor records his first career shutout. Seamus enters the top five in all-time goalie star points, passing Shem 250-245. He also ties Lorne for second in total star points at 845. Kyle raises his all-time leading shots-per-game average to 9.00 for the first time. Just one more session and Taylor will finally be eligible for all-time goaltending records; at this pace, he will easily be the leader in both save percentage and saves-per-game. Kyle is 25 total star points behind Oliver for sixth (545-520). Kyle has 24 straight 15-pointers; Lee’s streak ends at eight. Kyle’s 24th 20-pointer puts him one behind Stefan for third; it’s Kyle’s fifth in a row (third-longest streak ever). Lee’s 20-pointer streak ends at four. Kyle passes Stefan for third in ten-goal sessions with 31. Lee’s ten-goal streaks ends at four. Kyle ties Stefan for fourth in ten-assisters at 18 and is one behind Seamus for third. This gives Kyle a record six consecutive ten-assisters, passing a record he set last year that was tied by himself and Lee Wednesday (Lee’s streak ended today, giving Kyle the record). Kyle moves past Stefan into fifth in 15-pointers with 38; next on the list is Seamus at 45. Seamus passes Bron for fourth in .800 sessions with 19. Seamus ties Laird and Justin for second in .820 sessions with 17 and is two behind Nathan for first. Seamus ties Laird for fourth in .830 sessions with eleven. Both of Taylor’s sessions in goal have been .840-plus. Seamus is fifth in .860s with five. Seamus ties Lyle for seventh in 80-savers with 17; he has nine in a row. He is the ninth goalie with ten 90-savers, and has three in a row. Both of Taylor’s sessions are 90-savers. Seamus has three consecutive 100-savers, and back-to-back 110-savers for the first time. Justin and Kyle play consecutive session number seven. Kyle already has the sixth-highest scoring season of all time at 339, and the sixth-highest season goal total at 194. Lee’s 163 assists also rank sixth for seasons. Kyle’s 195 three-star points this year is the fourth-highest mark ever; his 210 total star points rank fifth-highest in a single season.

SDF/GDF: Kyle holds for a second-straight ranking on top of the SDF, but look who just jumped to fourth: Terryn Stenseth. Stefan falls two spots to fifth but this should be temporary. If Pat were to play tomorrow, he’d have a real shot at getting back to first. Troy should also begin dropping soon. As of now, with Shem losing a huge session on the GDF, Kyle holds the top position on both rankings! Seamus stays third but takes a big bite out of the gap between himself and the two leaders.

Both leagues are planning to be in action tomorrow! Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.