Barely an hour before this session was set to start, it was teetering dangerously on the edge of collapse. With a nice break in the weather and enough players for a full session, only one element was missing: a second goalie. A couple people did volunteer to play a few games in net, so the main hurdle now was tracking down a second set of goalie gear. Frantic calls Saturday morning all resulted in failure. J-Bo's “road hockey rumble” friend was out of town, and Joern and Lorne were both away from their places, and Sam (though he wasn't playing) even offered to try to contact Nick with no success. At about 10 minutes to 11am it looked like the session would have to be cancelled. Just as I was beginning to type out the cancellation e-mail however, Stefan received a call from Joern saying he'd be home for a brief period soon. A quick call to Eric, who lives at the base of Burnaby Mountain, and finally some goalie equipment had been secured! Though VRH sessions can often be relatively easy to organize (unlike BUSH), today was certainly a demonstration that this is not always the case.

The session today would see Dom in one goal and two very inexperienced goalies in the opposite net. Gordon offered to play net first. His standup style made it a little difficult for him to save low shots; on top of that it certainly wasn't his day in goal, as he was getting some terribly unlikely bounces. After the first two games Gord would come out and Stefan would finally make his long-awaited return to the pipes. He struggled initially but seemed to find his groove after a few games, playing a hyper aggressive Hextall-like game, which made him a little susceptible to dekes, but made it difficult to score on straight up shots.

After the 3rd game Gord had to leave which left us with only 7 skaters. It was decided to try a 3-on-2 format. Surprisingly, the 2 team, backed by Dom's ever-solid goaltending, managed to win the first 4 games. The biggest factor though was J-Bo, who was an absolute monster out there, using his long reach to intercept passes and steal the ball, while also being an offensive machine. For the final game, the same teams were kept but the goalies switched, and finally the 3-man team was able to find their offensive groove and win a game.

Thanks, Bern! A session that seemed dead in the water turned into an offensive bonanza for the three skating stars of the session. Leading the way was an even-handed Oliver with 13G-13A in the eight games; one of his best performances of the season. Outscoring Barlow 11 points to four in the first three games was the difference-maker. Tying for second were Eric (who is playing the best hockey of his Burton career right now, he sets new career highs today with 15G and 23P) and Jordan (shooting 12-for-29 and notching 23 points as well). Bernie and Tony also passed the 15-point plateau. Dom was solid in goal as usual with .808 and a shutout, winning every game he played. Stefan’s fourth career session in goal produced a .625 save percentage; Gordon went 8-for-18 in the opening series for a final result of .444 (it ain’t .333, right, Ollie?). Poor Tony and Stefan; not once did they get to enjoy a victory in eight games.

Here are the game scores:
Eric Oliver Bernie Dom def. Stefan Jordan Tony Gordon 5-3 5-3 5-4
Jordan Eric Dom def. Oliver Tony Bernie Stefan 5-4 5-2
Oliver Jordan Dom def. Tony Eric Bernie Stefan 5-2 5-0
Oliver Eric Bernie Dom def. Jordan Tony Stefan 5-2

Season Stats: Jordan opens up a 23-point lead over Sam and Bernie for eighth; Rob falls from the top ten. Eric becomes the record-tying 21st 100-point scorer of the season. Oliver passes Sam for fifth in goals and Jordan moves into the top ten. Stefan needs three assists for 200; Bernie passes Pat for ninth. Oliver passes Sam for fifth in shots. Jordan jumps back into fourth in shooting percentage. Dom needs 126 saves for a stultifying 3,000 on the year. Bernie and Oliver pass Kyle for second and third in games played; Dom isn’t far behind. Dom also goaltends his 200th game of the season and nets his tenth shutout of 2010. Oliver ties Stefan for fifth in three-star points.

On the All-Time Front: With this session, Stefan has now goaltended enough over the span of his career to be eligible for goaltending percentage records; he now merits the dubious honour of being ranked as the worst eligible goaltender of all time at .657. The race to be the next scorer to reach 400 points is coming down to the wire: Barlow moves to 16th all-time at 398, with Rob Hajdu at 397, Ben de Wit at 393, Troy at 392, and Sam at 391. Eric needs 18 for 200. Oliver retakes fourth in goals from Kyle at 808, eleven behind Stefan for third. Bernie is eight goals behind Justin for eighth. Stefan needs six assists for 700. Jordan is microscopically behind Dylan for fifth in shooting percentage. Dom is now 21 saves from being the all-time save leader in VRH and has passed Bron for third overall at 3,810, 302 saves away from the all-time lead. He also passes Chris for second in games goaltended at 274, eight away from Laird. Dom is the seventh goalie with ten shutouts. Pretty good for two seasons! Oliver is 15 three-star points behind Stefan for fourth. Oliver is one 15-pointer behind Lorne for second all-time at 57. Oliver has five straight 15-pointers. Eric has three-straight 15-pointers and pots his first 15-goal session. Oliver ties Seamus for fifth in 20-pointers with 25. Eric has back-to-back 20-pointers for the first time. Dom records his 25th 80-saver (eighth in a row), just one off of Laird’s all-time lead. Dom’s 90-saver streak ends at three. Bernie has the fourth-longest consecutive sessions streak ever at 31; Oliver is at 13; Stefan six; Eric five. Bernie and Oliver’s season rank fourth and fifth all-time in games played with 219 and 218, respectively. Dom becomes the first goalie to goaltend 200 games in a year.

SDF/GDF: This Excel spreadsheet in front of me can tell you what the SDF and GDF look like so far pending a BUSH session this week, and there aren’t too many on either of them other than Oliver and Jordan moving ahead of Nathan on the SDF. Pat is on top of the SDF for a 60th time (including the third-longest consecutive rankings-topped streak ever of 15). Seamus is on top for a 32nd time, including a record-tying ten in a row.

Check back next weekend for more action. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.