The morning was cold and beautiful and the faithful were stirring. This was a day where the weather was perfect, and the time was ours.

VRH started slow as our hunt for a goalie was a struggle. The Pink Warrior stepped-up and, from start to finish, brought fantastic positioning, and a wicked piece of leather. With his Pink Knob of Justice he wrought devastation. His opponent, the stalwart and steady Duct Tape Terror from the rolling hills of Switzerland, turned the day into one of denial. Goalies on their heads.

The first goings showed great passing and shooting; Marcus and Andrew lighting the light with respective stick handling, and laser beam shots that shredded through the other team. At one point Stef didn’t even get to sub-on. Those two have got to be split up…

The early goings had some frustration, and the scores did not tell the story of how the iron sang. One game saw no fewer than five posts, and it was evident that the only cloud that day was a black one hanging over the unlucky.

J-Bo refused to give-up and tried to rally his team to no avail. Once we mixed things-up however, the tide began to turn, and he found his boomstick. Tony and Stef began to click, and it was clear that a new chapter was nigh.

That was when the Silent, steely-eyed Ollie struck down his defensive vengeance and furious poke check. Unsung in the stats, he did what a well rounded-player does: shift his game to doing the job that needs to be done.

The last three games became a war of attrition. We had new teams, and broken chemistry. Stef and Marcus, on opposing teams, drew defenders and fed their teammates with gifts of glory. Finally, after shots to hamstrings and testicles, after chops and bails, in the setting sun of long shadows and salty eyes the unfaltering precision of Smart rung the familiar ‘chink’ of ball on chain-link net, and the day was done.

Kudos to those who played with Rat-Flu. I’m off to ice my nuts.

Thanks, Rob! Marcus had at least two points in every game except the last, and that carried him to his second first star of the year with 8G-14A. Coming in second was the honourable Rob with 12G-8A on just 34 shots, edging out 2011 scoring leader Andrew (9G-10A) by a point. Honourable mention to Tony with 11G on 50 shots. In goal, the first series skewed everything irrevocably. Sam would have a career day in goal for his first sojourn of 2011 with .821 on 101 saves, aided by his .896 in the first series with just five goals against in four games. Dom recovered from the Marcus-Andrew-Rob-Ollie beating in the first four games (.636) to finish at .718.

Here are the game scores:
Oliver Marcus Rob Andrew Sam def. Stefan Jordan Tony Vincent Bernie Dom 5-1 5-1 5-1
Oliver Marcus Rob Andrew Bernie Sam vs. Stefan Jordan Tony Vincent Dom 5-2 3-5
Andrew Oliver Rob Stefan Sam def. Marcus Jordan Tony Bernie Dom 5-4 2-5 5-3

Season Stats: Marcus narrows the gap between himself and Andrew for the scoring lead to 86-79. Oliver barely stays ahead of Stefan 62-61 while Rob moves ahead of Jordan and Bernie into fifth at 55. Tony jumps into the top ten. Marcus holds the goalscoring lead over Andrew, 46-44, while Tony jumps into a third-place tie with Oliver at 26 (Rob sits fifth at 23). The assist race remains tight, but Andrew holds a 44-39 lead over Stefan for first. Andrew becomes the first player this year with 200 shots on goal. Rob jumps to third in shooting percentage ahead of Bernie with Tony now in fifth. Dom’s save percentage drops back below .800 on the year. Marcus and Andrew are tied for the lead in three-star points at 45 with Rob in third at 20. Dom, Andrew, and Marcus are in a three-way tie for first in total star points with 45. Marcus takes the PPG lead from Andrew, 2.93-2.87; Stefan passes Jordan for fifth. Marcus rockets up to third in APG. Marcus’ 22 points rank fourth-best in session so far this year, as do Rob’s 12 goals (Tony’s 11 rank fifth). Marcus’ 14 assists tie for third-best. Sam’s .821 is the fifth-best mark this season.

On the All-Time Front: Jordan is eleven points behind Nathan for 13th all-time. Tony is 25 points behind Ryno for 19th; Marcus enters the top 25. Oliver is 23 goals behind Lorne for second, with Stefan nine goals behind Oliver. Tony passes Jordan and Ryno for 15th in goals. Bernie needs eight assists for 800. Rob needs two assists for 300 and three assists to catch Pat at 14th. Tony needs two assists for 200. Stefan passes Oliver for second in shots on goal. Stefan passes Seamus for fourth in all-time games played; Jordan ties chris for 16th with rob one behind. Andrew becomes the 40th person to play 100 games. Andrew’s 15-pointer streak does to eleven, the fourth-longest streak ever. Marcus has back-to-back 20-pointers, while Andrew fails to hit 20 for just the second time in his career. Sam pots his first full-value .800-plus session, as well as his first 100-saver. Dom has three-straight 80-savers, but his streaks from 90 to 140 end at two. Oliver ties Nathan for the eighth-longest consecutive session streak at 27. Dom’s streak is at 18; Bernie’s is at six; Jordan’s is at five.

SDF/GDF: There are just 22 players left now on the SDF as Andrew leads for a third straight session, although Marcus took a decent chunk out of the lead today. The Hajdu brothers move up to third (Tony) and fourth (Rob), pushing down Sam and Stefan to fifth and sixth; Barlow drops to eighth. It’s Alex’s tenth career GDF topped. Sam goes over the session minimum for the first time and moves up to third (his other full session goaltended from last October will fall off next time, however).

Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.