One ball, rookie goalie, bunch of broken wheels and depleted numbers led to this mid week session. Brothers O'Connor, brothers Orr and brothers from another mother Olsens would compete today as Burton attempts to tune up for the Thanksgiving bloodfest scheduled next week.

The first series would feature Graeme and Lee with Nathan in net against Seamus and Colby with K.J. in the pipes. Seamus would lead the way in game one with 4 goals and an assist against the rookie Nathan and K.J would secure a shutout. Game 2 would have Graeme take over with 4 goals and assist himself and Nathan getting a shutout on 4 shots. Finally in the rubber match we would have a game where both teams scored and entering overtime all players would have 2 goals apiece. Locked at 4-4 Graeme and Lee threw down a double team on Seamus, but the Irishman would chip a ball through two Orrs to the streaking Olsen left alone to beat his namesake and Colby would make no mistake wrapping up the game and his hat-trick to take the series.

We traded Lee for Seamus and managed two more games before Graeme had to go. Seamus and Graeme would lead Nathan to his second goaltending victory in game one with a quick 5-1 thrashing. Game two would see Lee show his stuff and the shot started to go here as he would finish 4 and 1 to lead his team to a tie in the series. A fairly casual experience in Burton, but in these dire times we'll take what we can get.

Thanks, Seamus! It was nasty, brutish and short, but it was hockey, damn it. And it was a good day again for Seamus as he took first star leading in all offensive categories (11-7-18-46). The Orr brothers tied for second at 14 (Lee’s favourite number), and Colby returned to BUSh at nine (he had played in the DecaSession, but this was his first purely BUSH session since May 2009). Both goalie had ups and down, including back-to-back opposing shutouts. K.J. took it over Nathan .754-.724. Most importantly, it was the first-ever session in which every player’s surname began with the same letter.

Here are the game scores:
Colby Seamus K.J. def. Graeme Lee Nathan 5-0 0-5 5-4
Graeme Seamus Nathan vs. Colby Lee K.J. 5-1 3-5

Season Stats: Lee has almost clawed back to Kyle’s record 735 points at 727. Seamus is 20 behind Nathan Robson for sixth; Graeme passes Justin for twelfth. Seamus rockets into the top ten in goals. Seamus sits on 199 games played this year; Graeme passes 100; K.J. needs nine for 100. Seamus passes Nathan for sixth in three-star points and reaches 300 total on the year (Lee needs 15 total for 400). Seamus passes K.J. for fifth in PPG.

On the All-Time Front: Seamus is 23 points behind Lorne for fourth and 42 behind Stefan for third. Lee becomes the first player to score 1,300 goals; Seamus needs two goals to be the seventh player with 700. Graeme is three assists behind Joern from entering the top ten there. Seamus needs 35 shots on goal for 3,500. Seamus passes 700 games played; Graeme passes Laird to enter the top ten at 453 (K.J. is at 447). Today was K.J.’s fourth-ever shutout and Nathan’s first. Seamus becomes the second player in history with 1,000 total star points. K.J. falls to third in saves-per-game behind Terryn. Seamus’ 30th career ten-goal session puts him one behind K.J. for fifth all-time. He is also sitting on 49 15-pointers, fifth all-time, including three in a row. Lee has the sixth–longest consecutive session streak ever at 27. Lee is eight points away from Kyle’s all-time single-season scoring record of 735; his 378 goals rank second-most ever, and he is six away from tying his single-year assist record of 355. Lee sets a new record for games played in a season with 240. Seamus’ 300 total star points this year ranks fourth-highest in a year ever.

SDF/GDF: Just a little bit of modification to the rankings as we add this to Saturday’s VRH session. Most notably, Seamus moved from fifth to third on the SDF ahead of Rob and Stefan. Graeme drops two spots to ten. K.J. crosses back over the session minimum on the GDf and rises to fourth.

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