VRH’s longest absence in many a month was finally broken on this day; not without a few hurdles though. As has been too common of an occurrence lately, the weather forecast a couple days beforehand was absolutely wrong, calling for showers on what turned out to be clear sunny day. Knowing the folly of listening to meteorological “experts”, we organized a session regardless. With the people count looking rather slim and only one goalie confirmed, the session was in series jeopardy on this front as well. Last minute confirmations from Marcus and Eric + friend, and Joern volunteering to play goal, however, ultimately saved the session. We also expected to see Shaylin come out of semi-retirement for this session, but alas he was too busy with yard work (AKA picking flowers from his garden for his lovely new summer dress).

The first teams of the day saw Eric, Gordan, Ollie and Dom versus Rob, Stefan, Bernie and Joern. This was a close, intense series with team EGOD squeaking out a 5-4 victory.

At this point Marcus arrived, which ended up being perfect timing as Gordan was just on his way out. Sticks produced teams of Eric-Rob-Bernie (Dom in net) vs Stefan-Ollie-Marcus (Joern in net) which ended up being surprisingly even. After barely losing the first game (5-4), Rob and Eric's up-tempo high energy game became quite effective at neutralizing the finesse style of SOM, allowing team ERBD to take the next two games 5-0 and 5-4. Of course SOMJ wanted redemption and redemption they would have, wining the next game 5-4. Dom was absolutely spectacular in this series stopping a plethora of odd man rushes and making show stopping saves too numerous to count. Joern, though he let a few weird ones slip by him (specifically in the 5-0 game), made his share of spectacular saves as well, and was solid despite not having manned the pipes in many a month.

As this was one of the more intense, gruelling and drawn-out series in a long time (with the hot sun bearing down all the while) everyone was pretty much spent after the 5th game and the session was called.

Thanks, Bernie. Scoring was generally tight today, but it was the Game 3 shutout that would give Rob the three points he needed to take first star with 9-7-16-41. Finishing two points behind tied for second star were Stefan and Oliver, each at 6G-8A. Marcus probably would have been there had he not missed the first game. In goal, Dom had his best session in months, picking up a shutout en route to an even .820. Joern started out solid at .808 after the first two games, but was never the same after Game 3; he finished with .736.

Here are the game scores:
Eric Gordon Oliver Dom def. Rob Stefan Bernie Joern 5-4
Marcus Stefan Oliver Joern vs. Eric Bernie Oliver Dom 5-4 0-5 4-5 5-4

Season Stats: Oliver ties Nathan for fourth in points at 359. Rob passes Sam for tenth and is just one behind Bernie, 226-225. Oliver passes Nathan for third in assists; Rob passes Pat for eighth and is just behind Jordan Barlow. Dom passes Nathan for sixth in games played and is one behind Seamus for fifth with 179.

On the All-Time Front: Oliver needs four points to become the second player with 2,000; Stefan is 42 points behind Lorne for third; Rob passes Barlow and Ryno for 18th; Eric becomes the 43rd player in triple-digits. Oliver passes Lorne for third in all-time VRH scoring. Stefan passes Kyle for third in goals with Oliver right behind, 791-785-776. Rob enters the top 15 in assists (displacing Barlow) and passes 200 for his career. Stefan passes Oliver for second in all-time shots and needs 31 for 4,000. Dom passes both Justin and seamus in saves and enters the top five for the first time with 3,299. Oliver needs six games for 1,100; Stefan is eight games behind Lorne for fifth all-time. Joern and Dom are rapidly catching Bron and Nathan for fourth in games goaltended. Dom notches his sixth career shutout. Rob records his tenth career 15-pointer and third in a row. He and Stefan both have their 20-pointer streaks snapped at two. Bernie plays his 27th consecutive session, tying Nathan’s Robson 2009-10 streak for the fifth-longest ever. OIiver plays his ninth in a row; Rob his fifth. Oliver’s 224 assists this season rank fourth-most in a single year ever.

SDF/GDF: Pat’s been leading the SDF for the past ten sessions now. The main movements come via the Hajdus; Rob jumps up from seventh to fourth while inactive Tony falls down to sixteenth from third and pushes a lot of people up as a result. Nothing really changes on the GDF; Seamus passes Nathan for the second-most ranking led with 27, two away from Justin’s record of 29.

No idea when the next session is. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.