Three weeks in the grand scheme is nothing. Three weeks in the modern era of BUSH is a lifetime. Chalk it up to fatigue, DecaSession hangover, real life getting in the way, mismatched schedules, whatever – it all resulted in the longest break since Christmas for the eastern circuit. Today did not promise to be a pretty session, but it was very necessary that it happened to those diehards jonesing for sorely-needed hockey action at McCormack. A small session to ensure that that what may be the biggest season ever stays on track. Hockey is back at Burton!

Six brave souls answered the call of McCormack this afternoon. The weather was schizophrenic, alternating between bright sun and light drizzle all day.. With just four skaters today, it was decided to do a best-of-seven to start in the spirit of the playoffs. Nathan couldn’t even wait for the game to bang into things; he wiped out on a huge wind-up in the warm-up and tore a big patch of skin off his knee. Can’t have a Burton session without the requisite amount of blood from Norton. He’d team up with Graeme and goaltending powerhouse Seamus against Lee, Noel and Nick. At first, Seamus looked shaky, and Lee and Noel were clicking, taking a quick 5-2 victory. Lee pointed out (even using Graeme’s trademark spin move against him en route to a goal) and Nick was up on Seamus .818-.667. Game 2 saw two more quick goals for Lee and Noel, and then the wheels fell off. Nick began battling the rebounds, and Graeme and Nathan took the game over, scoring the next ten goals as they won Games 2 and 3 5-2, 5-0. Seamus’s goaltending skill returned, and just as notably, his puckhandling became perhaps the main theme of the session. Nearly every chance he could, Seamus would move up to centre with the ball and either attempt to shoot (he’s really looking to score a goal from goal) or set up Graeme and Nathan for a break. Twice, it cost him today, as he would turn over the ball over and could not run back to the net in time, but for the most part it either succeeded or did no harm. By the end of Game 3, Seamus had six points and was tied with Lee for third in points. Graeme and Nathan were on fire.

Games 4 and 5 saw Lee and Noel battle back. Game 4 was ultra-quick, a back-and-forth series of turnovers and breakaways that went to the limit, but resulted in another Graeme/Nathan win. Lee and Noel certainly had their chances to put it away, but couldn’t do it. Through four games, Seamus had just 43 saves; Nick just 30. Seamus wasn’t worried about saves so much as he was points, as the goalie session scoring record was now in his sights after just four games. Game 5 was far different than the rest of the session; the only game to go longer than 20 minutes. Seamus was on fire and Nick recovered nicely from a sad stretch. Once again, it would go down to the wire, but it probably shouldn’t have. Lee and Noel were up 2-0 and 4-2 in this game, but let it slip away as Graeme and Nathan took the series handily 4-1. Seamus stopped 39 shots in this game; Nick 21. Highlight goal saw Noel bank one in off Seamus’s face. As well, Seamus was sitting on eleven points from goal.

One final game was played with Graeme, Noel and Seamus against Nathan, Lee and Nick. Nate and Lee scored two quick goal and looked good at first, but Graeme and Noel began clicking, and Seamus got back into the play as he wanted sole possession of the goalie session scoring record. Graeme, who had been leading the entire day in scoring since Game 2, would prove to be too much to deal with here. Lee and Nathan were valiant, but couldn’t get past the Irishman: posts, pucks rolling through the crease, crazy saves, you name it. Team Seamus won the final game 5-3, and Seamus notched two more points to finish at a goalie record of 13. A light, fun session that got us all in the mood for more hockey.

Graeme and Nathan showed few weaknesses today. Graeme narrowly led Nate in scoring most of the day; they were never apart by more than two points. At one point early in Game 6, Nathan had caught Graeme, but one last charge clinched it for Graeme today; 15G-10A to Nathan’s 14G-8A. Regardless, it’s a new career high in goals for both Graeme and Nathan. This left Lee and Noel to battle for third; Lee edged Noel by just a point, 17-16. Lee had 65 shots in the six games today. In goal, it was Seamus with another great performance, going .836 on 92 saves, not to mention 13 points from goal! Nick battled rebounds all day and finished with .690.

Here are the game scores:
Graeme Nathan Seamus def. Lee Noel Nick 2-5 5-2 5-0 5-4 5-4
Graeme Noel Seamus def. Lee Nathan Nick 5-3

Faceoff stats:
Noel Ballard: 17/22 (77.28%)
Graeme Orr: 5/10 (50.00%)
Lee Orr: 10/21 (47.62%)
Nathan Robson: 6/23 (26.09%)

Season Stats: Lee takes a chunk out of Kyle’s points lead, but Nathan makes a huge move, passing Oliver and Justin and now lying just three points behind Stefan for fifth, 195-192. Graeme passes the 100-point plateau and moves from 15th to 12th. Noel rises to 16th and needs twelve for 100. Lee passes 200 goals on the year. Nathan moves to ninth in goals; Graeme to tenth. Lee becomes the second player this year with 1,000 shots on goal. Seamus moves 13 saves ahead of Dom for first at 1,373. Lee passes Kyle for second in games played. Seamus passes Shem for second in shutouts with four (Alex has six). Seamus passes Lee for second in total star points, 210-205 (Kyle is at 290). Seamus falls behind Bron to fourth in saves-per-game.

On the All-Time Front: Nathan passes Troy for 16th in points. Noel becomes the 40th player in Burton history with 100 points. Nathan moves to 23rd in goals. Lee needs nine assists for 1,000. Seamus becomes the third player with 700 assists. Graeme is 17 assists behind K.J. for tenth. Nathan is 14 assists behind Laird for 12th. Graeme needs 13 shots on goal for 2,000. Seamus narrowly passes Shem for second in all-time save percentage, and needs 144 saves for 3,000. Seamus picks up his ninth career shutout. Seamus becomes the all-time leading point-scorer from goal, and becomes the first goalie to score 100 points. Seamus passes Justin and ties Bron for second in goalie star points. Lee has four straight 15-pointers. Graeme and Nathan record 20-pointers for the first time (how is that Graeme’s first?). Nathan records his first ten-goal session; Graeme has his first 15-goal session and his first 25-pointer. Seamus has consecutive ten-assisters. Noel has his second career ten-assister and 15-pointer. Seamus nets his 23rd .800 session, one behind Justin for second all-time and his fourth in a row. He ties Nathan and Justin for the lead in .810s with 23, including four in a row. Seamus takes the all-time lead in .820s from Nathan with 20, including two in a row. Seamus ties Shem and Nathan for second in .830s with 14 (he has two in a row). Seamus is just two sessions away from Chris' record 80-save streak of 16, and sets a new record for consecutive 90-savers with eight. Hird record 100-savers streak ends at seven and his record 110-savers streak at six. Kyle’s consecutive session streak ends at 13; Lee and Seamus’ streaks go to eleven; Graeme’s streak goes to five. Seamus wipes out the record for all-time scoring in a session by a goaltender (the previous record was ten, shared by himself, Kyle and Nathan). Seamus passing Dom in saves means that he has the third-highest season save total ever at 1,373. He also has the fourth-highest games goaltended mark ever at 77. Seamus’ 145 goalie star points ties Bron’s 2009 mark for the second-highest mark ever.

SDF/GDF: Little change on the SDF (although tomorrow’s VRH session should do some erasing) with Kyle on top again. Graeme does move up a spot to twelfth. A record 43 skaters are currently ranked. Taylor remains on top of the GDF again (third straight, ninth overall) but Seamus passes Laird to move to second.

VRH is back tomorrow. If BUSH actually gets one together this coming week, we could see a shocking return for one infamously talented defenceman. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.