If the first day of a Burton Championship Weekend is about league pride, the second day is about pure, unadulterated fun hanging out with friends old and new. The torrential downpour of Saturday had left the Lower Mainland that morning, giving way to bright sunshine and warm temperatures for Day 2 at Ambleside Park, as the gang reconfigured for the Burton Open mix-and-match. As in April, there were a few line-up changes: Jordan, Tony, Ben, Marcus, Ryan and Colby had family Thanksgiving obligations. Added today were Vincent (in his second-ever session), Bron as the third goalie, and a late-arriving Justin, who pulled into Vancouver from Toronto just before midnight.

The Burton Open would be a three-team event this time around. The three goalies (Dom, Alex, Bron) would pick their teams via snake draft, producing the following three-on-three lineups:
Team Dom: Dom, Pat, K.J., Eric
Team Alex: Alex, Lee, Oliver, Graeme
Team Bron: Bron, Seamus, Justin, Vincent, Bernie

Alex and Bron’s team began the tournament. And did they ever. As Team Dom patiently sat on the bench waiting for their turn, Game 1 devolved into a 47-minute slugfest with two hot goalies refusing to waver. Slowly, Graeme emerged as the dominant player on the rink, unleashing shot after shot after shot, and using his size to power through traffic. Unfortunately, an inadvertent crash with Vincent sent Vince to the ground, popping out his shoulder, and ending his session just ten minutes in. Vince took it surprisingly well, and even hung around for most of the session to watch. The shot count was even at first but slowly turned in Team Alex’s favour, as we stood with jaws agape as the shot count hit 30. Then 40. Then 50. Bron was nothing short of a beast, refusing to give up on any shot. Crowd of kids started gathering around the rink to watch this crazy Czech fellow in a Hasek helmet pull out incredible feats of reflex and agility. And let’s not forget that other fellow at the other end of the rink: Alex wasn’t exact short of crazy saves and shot totals, either, matching Bron for precision all game long. As Graeme kept beckoning a tired Oliver at the top of his lungs to ‘Shoot the puuuuuck!’, and Team Dom openly contemplated going uptown for lunch to kill time before Game 2 started, the game ploughed into its 47th minute before Graeme finally sunk the winner to point out the game. It had taken 28 of his shots, 26 of Lee’s, and 16 of Oliver’s, but they had finally won the game 5-3. The boxscore was obscene in its volume; no full-court game in Burton history had ever seen these types of totals. Bron was forced to make 65 saves on 70 shots in that game; the only time you will ever see someone notch .929 and lose. On the other end, Alex gradually faced fewer shots as the second half of the game dragged on, but was nearly as amazing as Bron, stopping 36 of 39 shots for .923.

A standing ovation for the two exemplary goalies would be in order, but people were far too tired after that first game to clap (just as an example of the exhaustion level of the players who played the first game, during Game 4 Lee was so fatigued/disoriented he skated at ¾ speed, unaided and alone, head-on into the corner fence, knocking the wind out of him for the rest of the game). To add insult to injury for Team Bron, who had not only had lost one of their players for the rest of the tournament but had just battled through 70 shots over 47 minutes, the immediately had to face a Pat-K.J.-Eric line in Game 2 that was totally rested and fresh, and had Dominik backing them in net. They gave it a yeoman’s effort, but it was a 12-minute dismantling that took Team Dom just eight shots on goal to win (poor Bron!). Team Bron also put eight shots on Dom, but he stopped seven to Bron’s three.

At this point, we realized a second round of round robin games, as was the original plan, would be silly, so the Burton Open would end with Game 3 as Team Dom met a still tired Team Alex. Team Alex, however, did respond quite nicely to the pace set by the speedy Pat-K.J.-Eric line. Each team went blow-for-blow as the 20 minutes in this game flew by. Pat and Graeme would tie for the tournament scoring lead with nine points each, and everyone pulled their weight. It was superior stickhandling from Pat and K.J. that won the game, however. Putting those two players together on a stickhandler’s rink like Ambleside was a tough task for anyone to handle yesterday. Put Eric with them to steal balls and shore up defence, and it was enough to overpower the still-on-fire Alex. Team Dom edged out a hard-fought 5-4 victory to take the second Burton Open tournament.

For the final three games of the day, it was the tried-and-true method of sticks-in-the-middle that would determine the teams. Going back to two teams allowed Dom to take off the pads and make a return to skating. It would be Bernie, K.J., Pat, Dom, and Alex (with Justin in Game 4) against Eric, Lee, Seamus, Graeme, Oliver, and Bron. Once again, Bron would do battle with the dreaded Pat-K.J. combo. This time, he was much more prepared, and another high-volume shot total was posted as a result. Bron stopped 27 shots, but his opponents were just too much for a team comprised almost entirely of players who had suffered through Game 1 (Oliver even left the game to take a ten-minute nap under the tree). Alex was a best in the other net, stopping 19 of 21 shots as his team won 5-2. The second game of the series was much more balanced (Justin’s skate issues would take him out of the session before Game 5, depriving Team Alex of a second substitute). Seamus was coming into his own, Lee was finally recovering from his strange self-inflicted crash, and things got a little closer, but a 5-3 victory for Team Alex sent us back to sticks.

For the final game, the Elischers and Orrs were put together with Dom against the O’Connors and Koth-Kappi with Eric and Bron. It was a fun game, especially if your name was Pat or Lee. Having only had the opportunity to play with each other in two games in their entire careers, the two superstars came together with four points each in this game. Dom also figured into the pay quite a bit in Game 6 with a goal and an assist. On the other squad, K.J. was still sniping, and Seamus seemed to suddenly find another level of speed. With Eric playing defensive forward quite nicely, they kept it close for most of the game before the Pat-Lee-Dom-Graeme combo shut it down to win 5-3. A fun day with outstanding netminding to end the second Burton Championship Weekend. As the gang dispersed, shout of ‘May Long!’ were heard in the distance…

With five sessions’ worth of interleague play now in the books, the common denominator seems to be that goalies take their games to new levels when the two leagues get together. No matter the rink or the team arrangement, they impress and amaze us with the things they do. This weekend was no exception. Alex never faltered all weekend, and played the best session of his young-but-already-brilliant career with .864 today on 102 saves. Bron was the workhorse of the session today; the absurd 65-save Game 1 carried him to .838 on 129 saves today despite not winning a single game and facing Pat in four of them. Dom played the two Burton Open games in goal, and his team was so good that he only faced 25 shots between the two of them; he stopped 20 for .800. Unsurprisingly, putting Pat and K.J. together for four games today sent them to the top of the charts. Pat went 15-and-6 for 21 points and first star; K.J. notched second with 10G-6A. Graeme played a brilliant Burton Open, and Lee was finally unleashed in Game 6; they tied for third at 13.

Here are the game scores:
Team Alex def. Team Bron 5-3
Team Dom def. Team Bron 5-1
Team Dom def. Team Alex 5-4
Bernie K.J. Pat Dom Alex def. Eric Lee Seamus Graeme Oliver Bron 5-2 5-3
Alex Pat Lee Dom Graeme def. Bron Seamus Bernie Oliver Eric K.J. 5-3

Here are the faceoff stats:
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1/1 (100.00%)
Lee Orr 4/6 (66.67%)
K.J. O’Connor 2/3 (66.67%)
Dominik Voser 1/2 (50.00%)
Graeme Orr 0/1 (0.00%)
Seamus O’Connor 0/3 (0.00%)

This weekend produced some epic hockey, and everyone should be proud of themselves for putting on such a fantastic show all weekend. Congratulations to VRH for winning their first Fuller Cup, and to Team Dom for winning the Burton Open. Our hastily-convened post-session committee named the weekend awards as follows:

Weekend All-Star Team
Ben de Wit, BUSH
Alexander Elischer (G), VRH
Pat Elischer, VRH
Marcus Keighron, VRH
Graeme Orr, BUSH

Most Sportsmanlike Player Rob Hajdu, BUSH
Most Outstanding Player Pat Elischer, VRH
Most Valuable Player Dominik Voser, VRH

Season Stats: Lee uses the weekend to pass Kyle for the first time in months and take the season scoring lead 751-738; it is unlikely that he will relinquish it as he heads toward becoming the first player to scored 800 points in a year. Pat is in third at 511 with Oliver just behind at 474. Seamus is four behind Nathan for sixth at 369. Bernie needs 13 for 300; Sam 26. Graeme passes 250; Tony and Marcus are just under 200. Ryan becomes the 22nd player with 100 points this year. Lee needs nine goals for 400. Graeme ties Nathan for seventh in goals at 145; K.J. passes Seamus for tenth. Rob becomes the 14th player in triple-digit goals this year; Tony needs three and Marcus needs 13. Oliver passes Kyle for second in assists and needs three for 300. Jordan needs seven assists for 200; K.J. and Marcus both pass 100; Tony needs two to do the same. Pat is 66 shots on goal behind Stefan for third; Tony passes 500. Jordan passes Ryan for second in shooting percentage; K.J. falls behind troy and Kyle to seventh. Alex passes Nathan for fifth in save percentage; Bron passes Dom for eleventh. Dom needs one save for 3,200; Alex passes 2,500; Seamus needs 68 for 2,000; Bron passes Joe for fifth. Lee becomes the first player in history to play 250 in one year, followed by Bernie, Oliver and Dom at 242, 241, and 232. Seamus passes Stefan for sixth and is two behind Kyle for fifth at 213. Alex ties Jordan for ninth at 166; Tony passes 100; K.J. and Marcus are three and ten games away from 100. Bron passes Lyle and Justin for sixth in games goaltended with 35. Marcus re-enters the top ten in three star points. The goalie star point title chase remains close (Dom 245, Alex 225, Seamus 215). Bron ties Taylor for fifth at 55. Pat passes Dom for fourth in total star points, 250-245. Graeme falls behind Troy and Mitch to sixth in shots-per-game. Bron takes the lead in saves-per-game from Taylor on the back of that crazy first game on Day Two.

On the All-Time Front: Lee is just 50 points away from an unfathomable 2,500. Oliver passes 2,100. Seamus is just seven points behind Lorne for fourth. Bernie needs three for 1,300; Justin needs five for 1,100. Pat becomes the eleventh player with 800 points. Ben and Rob both pass the 400-point mark while Sam is just one away. Eric passes 200 while Marcus needs ten. Seamus becomes the sixth player with 700 goals; Pat the tenth with 500. Seamus needs 15 assists for 800. Justin passes Kyle for seventh in assists; Pat passes 300; Ben passes 200. K.J. passes Justin for eighth in shots. Dom passes 4,000 saves and is just ten behind Nathan for second and 67 behind Laird for the all-time lead. Bron needs 102 saves for 4,000; Alex passes 2,500. Bernie needs six games for 1,100. Dom becomes the 15th player with 300 games; Bron the 17th with 250. Bron passes Nathan for fourth in games goaltended; Alex is three behind Shem for tenth. Pat passes K.J. for eighth in three-star points; Ben becomes the eleventh player with 200. Seamus takes the all-time lead in goalie star points from Nathan with 390; Dom passes Laird for fifth with 310 and is just five behind Justin for fourth; Alex passes Chris for eighth. Pat ties Laird for fourth in total star points with 395. Pat’s all-time PPG lead is now just marginally over second-place Robert Rogers. Ben jumps to second in all-time APG but falls to fifth in shots-per-game behind Robert. Pat has six ten-goal sessions in a row, but his 15-goal streak was snapped at four. Pat also records his 25th career 15-pointer; he has eight in a row. Oliver’s streak ends at five; Rob and Eric’s at four; Seamus’ at three. Pat ties Seamus for sixth in 20-pointers with 23; his six in a row is the third-longest streak ever. Pat’s 25-pointer streak does end at four. Bernie now has the second-longest consecutive session streak of all time at 34, still 13 away from his brother’s record streak from 2007 to 2010 of 47. Lee’s streak is at 29; oliver 16; Eric and Dom eight; K.J. five. Stefan’s streak ends at seven and Jordan’s at five. Seamus is just a .800 session behind Nathan for first all-time with 31; he has six in a row. Bron hits 20; Dom 19 (four in a row). Alex becomes the eighth goalie with ten .810 sessions; Seamus’ streak ends at five. Alex ties Dom and K.J, for seventh in .830s with eight. Dom has back-to-back .840s; Alex has back-to-back .850s. Alex posts his first .860 session. Bron ties Laird and Dom for the lead in 80-savers with 26; Alex becomes the eighth goalie with 20. Dom’s streak of 80-savers ends at nine; Alex’s goes to eight; Seamus’s to two. The race for the 90-saver lead tightens up (Dom 22, Bron 21, Alex 20); Alex has the second-longest streak ever at eight; Seamus has two. Bron ties Nathan and Dom for the lead in 100-savers with 18; Alex has 15. Alex did have his 100-saver streak snapped at six on Saturday, ensuring Seamus’ record of seven in a row remains intact. Bron ties Dom for the lead in 110-savers with 14; Seamus pots his tenth. Seamus has his third-ever 130-saver. Lee becomes the first player to score 750 points in one year; Pat and Oliver have the fourth-and-fifth highest-scoring seasons ever. Lee also sets a new single-season assist record with 360, breaking his 2009 mark of 355; Oliver is third at 297. Dom becomes the first goalie to make 3,000 saves in a season; Alex becomes the second goalie to make 2,500 saves in a season; Seamus has the third-highest year ever at 1,932. Lee becomes the first player to play 250 games in one year with Bernie, Oliver and Dominik not far behind at all. Dom, Alex and Seamus all cover the top three goalie star points seasons ever from their campaigns this year of 245-225-215.

SDF/GDF: More new heights for Pat, as his rating climbs to another new record of 152.4000. Seamus falls back down to fourth, bringing Kyle and Marcus to second and third. K.J. moves back into the top ten as Graeme falls out. Dom holds court on the GDF; Bron re-debuts on the list in sixth.

Check back in a few hours for lots of pictures and video from both days of action. Everything goes back to normal next week. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.