What an amazing day today was. First real summer-feeling day of the year, with the temperature pushing easily close to 18 degrees. With a cool breeze coming off the ocean it was pretty much ideal hockey weather. We all arrived at Ambleside at 11am but, like most days, things didn't get going until closer to noon. We had pretty big numbers today, but decided to stick with Ambleside as people would be coming and going throughout the day. First couple games were played 3-on-3 with a sub per team. Near the end of the second game, Joern joined in. In the 3rd game, Lorne showed up to give 2 subs a team, and by game 4 we had Tom in the mix as well. Lots of line changes meant lots of off-and-on play for people. In the hotter weather it wasn't bad to be subbing, however with full on line changes it often killed momentum of the games. Regardless it was still fun to have a good bunch of guys out today, so I won't complain. Games today were a little hit and miss. Some really good games, followed by blowouts. Stats keeping was a little suspect today as well, as more than a few times a game would play a good 10-15 minutes without anyone keeping record. Likely the reason for some massively low shot totals on some of the games.

Some notes on today: Jordan Barlow had a fantastic start to the day but slowly faded as the session went on. He was fighting a cold which could have been the reason for the slow decline. Alex continues to put up shutouts each session, and really wants to set a record this year. Downey had a great start to the session and perhaps could have been a star if he hadn't had to leave early. Lorne put up solid numbers despite not playing all the games, was good to have him back for a session. Crystal took a bunch of photos today, as well as last week for the previous session. Perhaps the Statsman could apply some pressure to have her send in the photos.

If the weather keeps on cooperating I don't see the hockey train in Vancouver slowing down anytime soon.

Thanks, Stefan. He is right about these stats; they do seem a little off, most notably Game 7 which is inexplicably marked down as a 4-3 final. Dom was marked down for .797, while Alex had two shutouts and yet somehow posted just .779. Tsk, tsk, tsk, people; we've only been at this in VRH for five years. Stefan barely escaped with first star with an even 10-and-10; despite missing the first two games, Lorne finished just one point behind in second with 19 (including 15 goals; he scored all five goals in Game 8!). Despite just one point in the last five games, Barlow still recorded a 15-pointer for third star. Marcus missed out by just a point (4G-10A). It would have been interesting to see where Tony (7G-7A in 8 games), Rob (5G-6A in 8 games), Tom (6G-4A in 7 games), and Downey (3G-3A in 4 games) would have finished had they played the entire session.

Here are the game scores:
Stefan Barlow Downey Oliver Dom def. Marcus Rob Bernie Tony Alex 5-1
Marcus Rob Bernie Tony Joern Alex def. Stefan Barlow Downey Oliver Dom 5-3
Stefan Barlow Downey Oliver Lorne Dom def. Marcus Rob Bernie Tony Joern Alex 5-2
Barlow Bernie Rob Tony Oliver Alex def. Stefan Lorne Marcus Tom Joern Downey Dom 5-0
Stefan Lorne Marcus Tom Joern Dom def. Barlow Bernie Rob Tony Oliver Alex 5-1 5-3
Lorne Rob Tony Marcus Stefan Alex vs. Tom Oliver Joern Bernie Barlow Alex 3-4 5-0
Stefan Barlow Bernie Marcus Dom vs. Oliver Joern Tom Lorne Alex 5-1 1-5

We’re waiting on today’s BUSH stats (in another hilarious miscommunication, I wasn’t able to be there; evidently the eastern gang played five gruelling hours today), so we’ll have the Season Stats, All-Time summary, and updated rankings for you tomorrow once the BUSH stats get here.