After being killed by heat the past couple of days, an attempt was made today on a cloudy, muggy Arrow Lakes spring day. All the moisture of the West Kootenay and all the heat of the Okanagan. Thank goodness for those clouds. It would periodically sprinkle rain throughout what would become the most statistically formidable session in Burton history. With Shem Hanna deciding not to give up his house in Nakusp for 2010, that means he remains part of the weekend fold. He would face Lyle Detta in a battle of nine-lettered veteran goaltenders. Four formidable skaters took the asphalt today; Lee, Kyle, K.J. and Nathan. Pretty much a perfect storm for ultra-balanced teams. Any combination of player and goalies works evenly, and today proved that in spades.

From Game 1 on, the themes of the day were established. Endless end-to-end rushing. Strings of amazing goalie saves quickly brought to an end by two or three quick goals in a couple of minutes. Contentious faceoffs that immediately set up scoring chances. Series 1 pitted Kyle and Nathan with Lyle against K.J., Lee and Shem. Tandem en vogue Kyle and Nate got up to a 3-1 lead before Lee and K.J. clawed back to tie it up. Kyle was a hurricane in the first series, however, and his squad won 5-3. Game 2 was much quicker, as four straight goals were scored from faceoffs (two on each side). Like so many games today, it went down to the wire before Kyle-Nathan-Lyle pulled it out in the end.

Switching goaltenders for Series 2 changed nothing. Both games again came down to golden goals; both games were won by Kyle and Nathan 5-4. Nathan did cost Kyle a point-out in Game 4 with a sick unassisted snipe.

Having too much fun to quit, we switched up the skaters for Series 3, with Kyle and K.J. with Shem taking on Nathan and Lee with Lyle. Game 5 went 5-4 again as Lee finally got a win on the day. Team Shem came back with a vengeance in Game 6, as the speedy Kyle-K.J. duo got up quickly 4-0. Shem looked poised for a shutout before Nathan deked him out with a nifty spin-o-rama and beat the sprawled-out Hanna to end the donut bid. This breathed new life into himself and Lee, who almost brought it back before losing 5-3. It could have easily been 5-4, as Lee was given a penalty shot after K.J. stopped a sure goal with his skate. Nathan contended K.J.’s skate was over the line, the opposition disputed that statement, and Lee was given a penalty shot. Going top right, he saw a huge hole, but Shem snatched it out of the air with one of the better glove saves you’ll ever see. A rubber match was needed, and after the stellar goaltending of Game 6, the goalies were hung out to dry. Taking just eleven minutes, Kyle and K.J. would take the game 5-3 and thus the series.

Switching the goalie for the final series again changed nothing. In fact, Game 8 was one minute shorter as Lee and Nathan with Shem battled out a 5-4 win. Kyle and K.J. would take Game 9 5-3, but that would be it for them. Lee and Nathan seemed like they were just getting started, and the Game 10 rubber match was the only lopsided game of the day, 5-1; Kyle hurling his stick against the cage in frustration. It just goes to show, even with all the stats in the world, you play to win the game.

A fantastic session all around; an offensive smorgasbord that left everyone happy at the end of the day. The first time in history all skaters on the rink scored 34 points (or 19 goals, or 13 assists, or took 72 shots). It was so even that after nine games, everyone was still within six points of one another. Close games equalled lots of points on both teams. A huge day again for Kyle, as he became the first player to have back-to-back 40-pointers, and another career session for Nathan, who is easily the most improved player in BUSH for 2010. The most fun we’ve had since the DecaSession, and a frighteningly massive amount of points to boot with everyone at 3.4 PPG or higher after nine games and four series.

Kyle was once again preeminent, moving into uncharted waters with back-to-back 40-pointers. He was much more even-handed today, as he let Nathan do most of the shooting in the first two series. Regardless, he still led the day in all offensive categories (22G-18A-91 shots) in another devastating performance, including points on the first 19 goals. Nathan just continued to show he belongs with the big boys when it comes to skating; if he played more net he’d be battling Seamus for the dual threat of the year. Nate obliterated his career highs in all categories (except assists, where he merely tied it) with 21G-16A-37P-88 shots. Yes, this means that Nathan’s career-high session is higher than that of Lee, Stefan, Oliver, Lorne, Dallas, Seamus, Ben, both Dustins, just to name a few- all of those great players bow to Nathan today (only Pat, Andrew Smart, Kyle, Robert Rogers and K.J. have scored more in a session). Pretty good for a guy who was a life-long goaltender until a year ago. K.J. (19G-15A-34P-72 shots) tied Lee (21G-13A-34P-83 shots) for third. Not that Lee’s complaining; believe it or not, it’s the first-ever 20-goal session for Burton Hockey’s all-time scoring champion. The goalies were not allowed to shine today (although they still managed to pull out some sick saves, especially in the final game), but they were killed by Games 7 and 8. Shem led the day with .773 on 133 saves and ten assists to Lyle’s .728 on 118 saves and eight assists.

Here are the game scores:
Kyle Nathan Lyle def. Lee K.J. Shem 5-3 5-4
Kyle Nathan Shem def. Lee K.J. Lyle 5-4 5-4
Kyle Shem K.J. def. Lyle Nathan Lee 4-5 5-3 5-3
Shem Nathan Lee def. K.J. Kyle Lyle 5-4 3-5 5-1

Season Stats: With 80 points in nine days, Kyle sits at 573 points. Lee passes 500 at 509, and Nathan moves to with 15 of 300. K.J. flies back into the top dozen. Nathan passes Justin for fifth in goals and becomes the fifth player over 100 goals this season, 17 behind Stefan for fourth. Nathan also passes Seamus for third in assists. Shem becomes the 17th player with 50 assists. Kyle passes the 1,500-shot mark. Nathan jumps from eighth to fifth in shots; K.J. enters the top twelve. K.J. passes Troy and Jordan Barlow for third in shooting percentage. Shem needs 94 saves for 1,000. Nathan passes Bernie for fourth in games played and is six behind Seamus for third. Nathan passes Seamus for fifth in three-star points and is five behind Stefan for fourth. Kyle’s PPG is now over 3.50 on the year. K.J. passes Seamus for fifth in PPG. Lee moves over 1.50 GPG. K.J. jumps to sixth in GPG. Kyle moves to fourth in APG ahead of Pat and Troy. Kyle’s 40 points today tie his session last week for the third-highest total in a session this year; his 22 goals are tied for fifth-best; his 18 assists are tied for third-best, and his 91 shots on goal are fifth-best (he has four of the top five totals in that category).

On the All-Time Front: Lee passes the 2,200-point barrier and is 350 points up on second-place Oliver. Kyle passes Bernie for sixth in all-time scoring and needs 15 for 1,200. K.J. is 46 points away from becoming the ninth player to score 1,000. Nathan is ten points behind Laird for 14th. Kyle passes Seamus for fifth in goals and is 32 behind Oliver for fourth. Nathan passes Sam to enter the top twenty in goals. Kyle needs seven assists for 500. K.J. passes Graeme to enter the top ten in assists; he needs five for 400 and ten to catch Joern. Nathan becomes the twelfth player with 300 assists. Kyle is 51 shots on goal behind Seamus for fifth. Shem falls behind K.J. to sixth in career save percentage. He does, however, pass Dom for eighth in saves. Shem is six games played behind Chris for 14th. Lyle passes Seamus for eighth in games goaltended. Shem leapfrogs Lorne and Nathan to move to fourth in points scored by a goaltender; Lyle jumps from tenth to eighth. Kyle passes Stefan for third in three-star points; Nathan enters the top 20. Shem passes 300 total star points and enters the top twelve. Shem marginally falls behind Kyle to fifth in saves-per-game. Kyle passes Seamus for fourth in 15-pointers with 47; K.J. passes Justin for seventh with 33. Kyle’s record 15-pointer streak goes to 33 sessions. Lee has seven in a row; Nathan four. Nathan also has four 20-pointers in a row. K.J. ties Justin for eighth in 20-pointers with 18. Kyle has three 20-pointers in a row; Lee two. Kyle and Nathan each have three-straight 25-pointers; Lee two. Kyle ties Pat’s record of three straight 30-pointers; he has eight altogether (Lee five, K.J. two, Nathan his first). Lee becomes the first player with 60 ten-goal sessions. K.J. ties Seamus for fifth with 28. Lee and Nathan each have four ten-goal sessions in a row; Kyle has three. Lee is one 15-goal session behind Pat for third with twelve. Kyle has three 20-goal sessions in a row, tying Pat’s record from last year, and is one behind him in all-time 20-goal sessions with seven. This is the first ever 20-goal session for both Lee and Nathan. Lee becomes the second player with 40 ten-assisters (Oliver has 46); Kyle becomes the fourth with 20 (one behind Seamus); K.J. becomes the ninth with ten; Lee and Nathan each have three in a row. Shem becomes the sixth goalie with 20 80-savers; Lyle is tied with Dom at 19. Shem ties Dom for fifth in 90-savers with 16, one behind Justin and Laird. Lyle and Shem both have back-to-back 90-savers; Shem has back-to-back 100-savers. Shem is tied for third in 130-savers with five (two behind the leader, Dom and one behind Bron). Lee plays his fourteenth consecutive session; Nathan his sixth, Shem his fifth. Graeme’s streak ends at seven. For the second-straight session, Kyle ties the fourth-highest session scoring mark ever of 40 points, and does it in nine games as well. Shem's ten points from goal ties for fourth-most ever in a session. Lee becomes the first player in history with two 500-point seasons (his 509 points is the third-highest mark ever). Kyle is 33 goals away from tying Lee’s record of 373 from 2009. Lee’s 245 goals this year ranks fourth all-time. Kyle’s 233 assists tie for the third-highest mark ever along with Oliver’s 2009 campaign.

SDF/GDF: The ranking for the week is now finalised. Biggest change sees K.J. come back over the session minimum and slots in sixth. Nathan passes Graeme and Stefan to remain eleventh. On the GDF, Lyle returns to full value and lands in sixth; Shem passes Noel to stay seventh.

We actually have potential for a VRH weekday session on Wednesday. And Shem’s here to stay! Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.