After a ten-day break for Nakusp Music Fest and the subsequent recovery from Nakusp Music Fest, it was once again time to pack up the lunch pails and head back to work at McCormack Park. As we departed Nakusp, the weather station reported 32 degrees Celsius in the air and a 38 on the humidex (a new record for Burton Hockey humidex-wise). It was late enough, however, that it would mostly be gone by the first game. It was a pretty interesting line-up. With Chris still in Canada for five more days, it was his first-ever opportunity to play against Noel Ballard and DecaSession scoring hero Joe Leonard, now recovered from his broken thumb suffered in the final game of the Burton Open back in April. As well, Troy Waldron was back from Red Deer to rejoin to the gang; it had been March since he had stepped foot on Burton soil (and 2005 since he played against Chris in net). It seemed as though Shem would be forced into the net to battle the semi-Aussie, but just as he got the gear on Seamus arrived to spell him off. The day would thus be played 3-on-3 with Shem substituting.

The goalie drafted the teams for the first series. Chris had first pick and shockingly took Lee over Kyle (Chris figured he was getting used to Kyle’s shooting style and thus could read him better). Eventually, he wound up with Lee, Troy, Noel and Shem against Seamus’ non-sub team of Kyle, Graeme and Joe. Bad move. Mind you, Kyle was held to two points; it was Graeme and Joe who did the legwork. Graeme scored on two of the first four shots and Joe was equally diligent later in the game; Kyle stayed back and held the defensive line while Seamus stood on his head for .882 to start the day. Not that Troy didn’t have his moments; he potted a hat trick in a losing cause in the only game all day that had any balance. Chris recovered well after the initial Graeme barrage and came back for .792. Game 2 was not nearly as close. Joe and Kyle put up four points each, and Seamus remained on fire for a 5-2 victory.

The rest of the day was a futile attempt to balance teams. Kyle seemed off most of the day as he was stymied by Seamus, and it got to him (yes, stick blades were definitely sacrificed in frustration). Sticks in the middle brought together Lee, Joe and Graeme with Seamus; it was assumed the chemistry of Kyle and Troy would overcome taking a sub. It didn’t work that way, and after a 5-2 Seamus win, Noel was traded to his team. Rather than disrupt chemistry, it just added to their already sparkling defence. Graeme was the best player today, and he took off again in Game 4. Lee was beginning to pick it up as well with four points here, and Seamus was still in the .880s. Lowlight of the match saw Seamus accidentally butt-end his own defenceman Joe right in the left gonad and taking him o0ut for most of the game. Kyle and Troy couldn’t hook up for whatever reason, and teams were engineered for what we thought we be the best possible balance for Game 5. With just eleven points at this juncture, Kyle’s epic 15-pointer streak was in jeopardy, as was Seamus 80-saver streak. Another kick at the can just resulted in more frustration for Kyle and Chris, although Kyle’s shot did start to make its way past Seamus finally. With daylight fading, an effort was made at Game 6 in order to keep the streaks alive (Kyle sat on 13; Seamus on 70). Graeme looked to have first star locked up heading into the final game. Lee and Kyle were finally put together with Noel and Chris, and it was quickly learned why Kyle and Lee never usually are allowed on the same team. Graeme took the first shift and then subbed off at 1-0. By the end of the next shift, the game was over, and Graeme never even got to see the rink. In just five minutes, Team Chris scored four goals and the outburst had not only brought Kyle over the hallowed 15-point mark, but all the way back to tie Graeme for first. Chris, the record holder for all-time consecutive 80-savers with 18, took his only victory of the day, and it was a shutout over the man who looked to take away his record two sessions from now. Instead, Seamus was stopped at 75, sacrificed the 80-saver streak so that Kyle could have his and Chris could go back to Australia with his own all-time record still intact. Chris gave Seamus an ice cold brew after the game as a reward. No real balance, but plenty of fun today when it was over. We’re back at it again Tuesday for Chris’s final session.

After riding high all day in the .880s, the last 1 ½ games brought Seamus all the way down to .824. A great session by most standard, but crushing after the day he had. Chris was brought down from his .792 peak to .745 by the end of the day; contrarily enough, both goalie had their best and most spectacular blocks of saves in the last two games. Chris ended the day with a solid shutout, however. Scoring-wise, Graeme (10G-7A) and Kyle 6G-11A) split first star, while Lee’s outburst in Game 6 helped him tie Joe for third at 14 points; Joe had 13 points in the first four game and was tied with or just behind Graeme most of the day.

Here are the game scores:
Seamus Kyle Graeme Joe def. Chris Lee Troy Noel Shem 5-3 5-2
Lee Joe Graeme Seamus def. Shem Kyle Troy Noel Chris 5-2
Lee Joe Graeme Noel Seamus def. Kyle Troy Shem Chris 5-2
Seamus Lee Troy Shem Graeme def. Chris Kyle Joe Noel 5-2
Lee Kyle Noel Chris def. Graeme Shem Troy Joe Seamus 5-0

Here are the faceoff stats:
Kyle Grenier 12/16 (75.00%)
Noel Ballard 5/8 (62.75%)
Lee Orr 9/17 (52.94%)
Joe Leonard 6/12 (50.00%)
Troy Waldron 5/14 (35.71%)
Graeme Orr 2/6 (33.33%)
Shem Hanna 1/7 (14.29%)

Well, don’t stop here! There’s a record-setting boxscore to be read from VRH in the next entry. You’ll find the standard analysis section there.