Organising today’s session, it became rather evident quite quickly that Ambleside could not contain it. With twelve players signing up within a day of the first notice, it was decided to move to session. The destination would be brand-new, as the gang intended to make good on its longtime ambition to play Kirkstone Park in Lynn Valley. Sure enough, it was in use, so the back-up plan was William Griffin Park – who was wound up being full AND covered in mud. Thus, it was back to Ambleside Park for a crowded session that would see two teams employ two set lines all day. This being the biggest session of the still-infant year, there were a few players making their 2011 debut today: Eric Coutinho, Jordan Downey, Vincent Garcia and Joern Hornhardt. For Joern, this gained him admission into the ultra-exclusive 12-season club. There was also a funny gift for your humble statistician on his return to VRH: a ‘Stats Sheriff’ in the form of Lester ’Shogun’ Chua, hired to keep stats on the statsman. Lester even made sure to wear glasses, jeans, and hiking boots, and ape my every movement behind my back (for the first four games, anyway, until the joke wore off and Lester got bored). Hopefully we’ll get Lester’s entertaining stats on here at some point.

A solid 4.5 hours was had at Ambleside this day. Series 1 was a wipeout in favour of Team Alex. Game 1 saw Alex nearly pick up a one-shot shutout on the back of a dominant Andrew-Tony-Rob line before Ryan and Eric closed it up to 4-2 right at the end. Showing their versatility, Team Alex used Stefan, Sam and Bernie to dominate Game 2. The highlight/lowlight of the first series was Rob taking a puck in the face from Tony, putting a serious gash below Rob’s right eye.

The carnage would continue in Series 2, as Downey nailed Ryan in the stomach with a slapshot that left a bruise which looked strangely like Bron Mach’s profile picture. This series would be where Andrew and Ryan hooked up to dominate the middle of the session, carrying the play for most of their time on the rink and pulling well ahead in scoring, although Stefan-Sam-Eric kept pace quite decently, especially in Game 4. Game 4 saw Tony leave just as Joern arrived to play with wife Crystal and baby boy Felix on hand. Team Alex would prevail 2-1, but Dom returned to form here after a slow star and continue to improve throughout the day.

Slowly creeping up the scoresheet beginning in Series 3 was Jordan Downey, who would finish with a career-high 10 assists and 14 points. Again, Andrew continued to pull away from the pack with Ryan on his tail, but the rest of the gang was coming along nicely. Oliver, largely invisible in the first two series, returned to form with some nice goals and strong defensive play. Stefan and Sam continued to click, and Rob would lead the net drives for Team Dom as they took the series 2-0; Alex’s only major slip of the day.

Vincent would leave for the final series, marred by another vicious Downey shot (watch out, folks; he’s discovered where the power lies) that nailed his fellow Jordan on the right ring finger; Barlow would take one more shift and then pack it in. The two games were the longest of the day. Game 8 would see Joern and Downey team up for four points, including two Joern snipes as he got into rhythm. Andrew was responsible for the bulk of Team Alex’s output. Sam and Ollie played their best hockey of the day here. After the games were split with a win going to each squad, the goalies packed it in after having stopped 140 shots each. With the players fresher today due to line changes, the goalies were tested frequently and mostly lived up to the challenge in a session that slowly kept improving in terms of quality throughout the day; each of the players had shining moments. A fun time was had with our monster 15-man crew, our Stats Sheriff Lester, and the Asian tourist family that decided to film us for 25 minutes for reasons unexplained.

Andrew today made a strong case as the new preeminent offensive force in VRH, with an even-handed 13-and-13 in the nine games, taking first star easily. Second place goes to Ryan who, despite missing the last game, did more than enough to solidify second with 8G-10A. In third was Stefan, who outpointed Sam by one. Stefan put home a lot of assists, 12 in all, to finish with 16 points. In goal, Alex had an excellent first series, and that momentum pushed him to.819 versus Dom’s .791. Dom fought back gradually over the session, and both goalies with end up with 140 saves.

Here are the game scores:
Stefan Andrew Rob Tony Sam Bernie Alex def. Dominik Barlow Downey Oliver Vincent Ryan Eric 5-2 5-1
Andrew Oliver Rob Downey Ryan Vincent Alex def. Stefan Bernie Sam *Tony (Games 3 & 4 only) Eric Barlow Dom *Joern (*Game 5 only) 5-4 4-5 5-2
Andrew Stefan Downey Oliver Sam Rob Dominik def. Bernie Ryan Vincent Eric Barlow Alex Joern 5-4 5-1
Stefan Andrew Barlow Joern Downey Alex Bernie vs. Eric Ryan* (Game 8 only) Rob Sam Oliver Dominik 5-2 3-5

Season Stats: We have our first scoring lead change of the young season, as Andy Smart’s dominant performance today puts him ahead of Marcus and Oliver, 44-36-36. Rob passes Barlow for fourth, 35-33; things are quite tight on top. Andrew also takes the goal lead from Marcus, 24-22, with Sam and Ryan both entering the top five. The assist race is tight, led by Jordan Barlow at 25, followed by Rob at 24, Oliver 22, Andrew 20, and Stefan 19. Andrew leads Marcus 95-91 in shots on goal with Sam also at 91 now. Perennial shooting percentage leader Barlow takes the lead over Andrew and Oliver. Alex passes Dom for second in save percentage, going over .800 on the year. Barlow, the Koth-Kappi and Dom have played all 21 games. Andrew is the only player to score three star points in multiple sessions. Dom leads total star points 30-25 over Andrew. Andrew’s 26 points is the top scoring mark for sessions this year. Andrew’s 13 goals rank second; Sam’s ten rank third. Andrew’s 13 goals rank second; Stefan’s twelve rank fourth. Andrew’s 57 shots on goal are tops; Sam’s 52 rank third; Eric’s 43 rank fifth. Alex’s .819 is the third-best session of the year; Dom’s .791 is fourth. Their 140 saves tie for first this year. Alex’s 959 PPS is the best so far; Dom’s 931 is third.

On the All-Time Front: Stefan needs 14 points to become the third player with 1,600 points. Sam needs one point to pass Mitch Detta and 14 to become the 16th player to score 500 points. Eric needs 16 points to enter the top 25. Bernie needs 17 goals for 600. Sam needs five goals to become the 13th player with 300 goals. Rob is six goals behind Joe Chwachka for 18th. Bernie is five assists behind Seamus for third. Rob needs eleven assists for 300 and another to tie Pat for 14th. Tony and Sam need seven and nine for 200. Sam becomes the 14th player with 1,500 shots on goal. Dom needs 161 saves to become the first goalie to reach 5,000; Alex is eleven behind Justin for seventh. Oliver becomes the first player to play 1,200 games; Stefan becomes the fifth to play 700. Downey needs three games for 200. Alex passes Justin for seventh in games goaltended. Stefan is five three-star points behind Oliver for fourth with 700. Dom is five goalie star points behind Nathan for second with 370. Stefan becomes the fourth player with 50 15-pointers. Andrew now has nine 15-pointers in a row to start his career, eight of which are 20-pointers. Sam passes Oliver for ninth in ten-goal sessions with 13. Stefan ties Seamus for third in ten-assisters with 24. Downey pots his first ever ten-assister. Alex ties Shem for seventh in .800s with 18, and ties Laird and Bron for second in 80-savers with 26 (including 14 in a row, tied with Seamus for the second-longest streak ever and two away from tying Chris Jackins’ record). Dom and Alex sit 27-25 in 90-savers; Alex has two in a row. Oliver plays his 25th straight session, the eighth-longest streak ever; Dom his 16th

SDF/GDF: Well, it’s all over. With Pat Elischer away in France, the session have slipped away, and today the other shoe finally dropped, sending him down to 12th and ending his streak of 26 SDFs led. The new king of the ranking is the new scoring leader, Andrew Smart, topping the list for the first time with a healthy lead over new second-place Marcus. Marcus leads a tight pack featuring Barlow, Sam, and Tony. There are no longer any BUSH players over the session minimum; Lee is the highest-ranked BUSH player in tenth. This is also true on the GDF, as Seamus relinquishes first place back to Alex. With only five goalies on the rank, Seamus only drops to third behind Dom.

It's going to be a fun, wide-open year, and today's session was a perfect example. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.