A day more perfect for hockey could not possibly be found in the history of this world nor in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. The sun was shining gloriously, yet light wispy clouds were keeping its heat at bay, and the air was mild yet crisp with a calm breeze; yes, this day was meant for playing hockey.

An abundantly healthy turnout, as is commonplace these days, would once again create a situation where multiple lines were needed (for one team at least). However, with a 3-minute shift timer in place, like last session, this did become too big of an issue.

This day would see only one series, but an epic one at that, a series that featured an abundance of comebacks, TSN turning points, and ultimate redemption. The Hornstar would once again grace us with his presence, perhaps the last time in a very long while, and courageously strap on the pads despite having endured a separated shoulder only a few weeks prior. With our other regular netminder also present, Dom would make his long awaited return as a skater.

The first two games both went down to the wire and both saw Team Eric-Marcus-Bernie-Rob-Ryno-Alex(G) make remarkable comebacks to win each game 5-4 and take a 2-0 series lead.

As the games had been extremely close, it was decided to try one more game, and continue on if Team Stefan-Tony-Andrew-Barlow-Ollie-Dom-Joern(G) won, effectively making it a best-of-5 series. With the Hornstar finally shaking the rust and making some big stops, Team Joern would get redemption taking the next game 5-3.

With Team Alex beginning to tire, Team Joern dominated the play for large parts of the final two games. It should be noted that the main reason Team Alex was able to keep it reasonably close was due to the brilliant play of Elischer Jr. between the pipes; 3-on-1s, breakaways, 2-on-0s etc. were routinely thwarted by the masked phenom. In the final game, Team Alex seemed to be mounting a comeback scoring a couple quick ones to take it to 4-3, but ultimately Team Joern would put it away, winning the game, the series and most importantly redemption for themselves.

This was a great day for hockey, and as springtime settles in, hopefully many more such glorious days will cometh forth.

Also of note: Stefan strapped a camera onto Joern’s helmet for a couple of games, so expect to see some goalie helmet-cam action at some point in the near future.

Thanks, Bern; Once again, the play of Alex Elischer was superlative, as he dominated in goal with .854 on 134 saves, becoming the first goalie ever to pot four consecutive 130-save sessions, and also breaking one of Burton’s most hallowed records with his 17th-straight 80-saver, breaking the five-year old record of Chris Jackins. Joern’s final VRH appearance as a regular was also successful, as Jürgen finished the day at .815, his first .800-plus session in three years. The evenly matched-play and great goaltending combined with the large team numbers to make sure the no one ran away with the scoring lead today, but it also meant that no one even got close to the vaunted 15-point barrier. Rob led the way with twelve points, one more than season scoring leader Andrew (who failed to hit 15 points for the first time in his career), and two more than Tony, Marcus and Eric who tied for third at ten points each. Dom missed his first career star points outside the net by a point.

Here are the game scores:
Stefan Tony Andrew Jordan Dom Oliver Joern def. Marcus Rob Bernie Eric Ryan Alex 4-5 4-5 5-3 5-4 5-3

Season Stats: Andrew has a 15-point gap between himself and second-place Stefan, 105-90. The race for second is tight, with Marcus one point behind, Rob five points behind, and Oliver ten behind. Andrew and Marcus are stepping out in the goalscoring race, 57-50. Andrew holds his one-assist lead over Stefan, 58-57, with Rob passing Oliver for third at 50. Tony passes Marcus for third in shots on goal. Marcus narrows the gap between himself and Jordan for first in shooting percentage. Andrew passes Tony fir fifth in shooting percentage. Alex’s season save percentage climbs to .830. Alex only trails Dom by 42 saves, 782-740. There have been so few goalies this year that Joern actually sits fourth in saves just off of this session. Dom and the Koth-Kappi become the first players to hit 50 games on the year. Andrew opens his three-star lead over Marcus 65-50, with Rob moving to 45. Alex takes the goalie star point lead from Dom, 65-60. Andrew and Alex are tied for the total star point lead at 65, five ahead of Dom. Rob jumps into the APG lead ahead of Andrew and Stefan; Eric passes Jordan for fifth. Alex’s .854 is the second-best save percentage in a session this year; his 988 PPS ranks fifth.

On the All-Time Front: Oliver needs 25 points for 2,300. Bernie needs five points for 1,400. Jordan is three points behind Nathan for 13th. Marcus becomes the 25th player with 3090 points; Andrew is one away from doing the same. Oliver and Stefan trail Lorne for second in goals, 900-885-879. Bernie needs five goals for 600. Tony and Ryan need five and six goals for 250, respectively. Marcus becomes the 25th player with 150 goals and 150 assists; the most evenly-skewed player of all-time. Oliver needs ten assists for 1,400; Bernie becomes the third with 800. Andrew’s 15-pointer streak ends at twelve, the fourth-longest streak ever. Alex passes Troy for sixth in all-time save percentage. Alex knocks Chris out of the top five in saves and is 116 behind Bron for fourth. Rob needs three games for 300; Jordan, ten. Joern ends his tenure with 261 games goaltended, fourth all-time. Alex passes Bron for fourth in goalie star points with 345. Andrew gives the all-time APG lead back to Robert and actually falls to third behind Ben. Alex ties Laird for fifth in .800 sessions with 21; he has four in a row. Joern ends his full-time career ninth on the .810 list with ten. Alex ties Bron and Dom for fifth in .820s with 16; he has three of those in a row as well. Alex is three .830s behind Seamus and Justin for the all-time lead with 14; he has three of those in a row as well. Alex is two .850s behind Seamus for the all-time lead with nine. As mentioned above, Alex breaks Chris Jackins’ all-time record for consecutive 80-savers with 17. Alex is one 90-saver and 100-saver behind Dominik for the all-time leads (29-28 and 24-23); he has five in a row of each. He has four 110-savers in a row and is one behind Dom, 19-18. Alex extends his record 120-saver streak to four and trails Dom for the lead 15-14. And, of course, he has four 130-savers in a row. Oliver plays his 29th consecutive session; Dominik his 20th; Bernie his eighth; Andrew his sixth.

SDF/GDF: Andrew leads SDF rating number five in a row, but look who’s in second: with a huge session win today, rob vaults ahead of Marcus to a career-high position. Eric moves up two to fifth, and Dom reaches a career-high 13th. Alex’s GDF lead remains basically the same over Dom; this is Alex’s twelfth career rating led (ninth all-time).

It’s been some fabulous hockey lately, and we hope it continues next weekend. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.