Six months. That’s how long it’s taken Burton United Socialist Hockey, or Burton Hockey period, to make it back to its home at John McCormack Memorial Park. A 2010 season that at one point was frightening in its volume was suddenly stopped dead last September. No Grenier, no Robson, no K.J, no Detta, no Stenseth, no Watson. When it came time to venture to Vancouver in October to defend the Fuller Cup, only six players answered the call. BUSH even had to be lent a player for the tournament. After five years, VRH had finally taken over as the focal point of Burton Hockey. What had happened to the mammoth powerhouse we had seen in April? Many, including this statistician, wondered if BUSH would even put up a fight in 2011.

As the snow finally began to thaw in March, however, the pangs of yore returned. Suddenly, potentials numbers began rising. Players seemingly out of the fold were back, and long-hoped-for new blood was being recruited. And the realists took a step back and said, ‘Hasn’t BUSH usually had to wait until April to start, anyway?’, which is very true; last year’s winter was a warm-weather fluke. All was well with BUSH after all. Finally, it was back.

In true BUSH style, only one goalie (the returning Laird Bilinski) was lined-up for Sunday afternoon, along with, as Lee Orr put it, ‘some serious question marks’. On a wing and a prayer, the gang headed to McCormack Park anyway, hoping that those question marks would reveal themselves.

The first line-up for 2011 was an interesting mixture of players that can be broken up into two groups, regulars and returnees; the foundation for a new-look league with lots of experience that should provide for some very good hockey this season.

The Regulars:
Lee Orr (Career: 2,459 points; 2010: 760) – The all-time Burton scoring champion was incredibly eager to get back out on the rink as usual. From a physical standpoint, Leeroy is done with any other type of organized sport. His full commitments now are to protect his ACL-less knee and stick to Burton Hockey. His last appearance was at the 2010 Christmas session, where he led all scorers. Despite his amazing pedigree, there were no expectations today for Lee, just a firm desire to get back in the game and play. To reclaim the title of BUSH’s top scorer, however, he must do battle with…
Kyle Grenier (Career: 1,347 points; 2010: 735) - … the man who nearly pulled it off last year until relocating to Kelowna in July. The reigning BUSH MVP, MOP, and Organiser of the Year is now back in Nakusp and has been talking hockey for weeks; Grenier would play Burton Hockey every day if he could. His furious enthusiasm combined with his talent (only Pat Elischer, Robert Rogers, and Dallas Sinclair have higher career PPG) seem to indicate another amazing year of statistical domination.
K.J. O’Connor (Career: 1,055 points; 2010: 243) – One of the top all-time dual threats is back for another year. Last’s Comeback Player of the Year never lost a step in his return from a shattered femur, and the same caliber of play we’ve come to expect from the 2007 MVP should be there again this year.

The Returnees:
Laird Bilinski (Career: .801; 2010: .832) - ’Lairn’ would make his first appearance in exactly one year this afternoon. His last Burton action was the 2010 DecaSession, where he was a huge part of the BUSH Fuller Cup victory (.868 with 165 saves) before leaving the Open session the following day with a pulled groin. After a year-long layoff, how much rust would show in the burly Burtonian’s play? Going by previous years, rust tended not to be a factor for Laird, but this is no ordinary year, and he’s never had a full year layoff like this. Anticipation to see how the former all-time save leader, who in this session would join Stefan, Oliver, Bernie, Joern and now Lee in the ranks of those who have played in every Burton Hockey season, was high.
Lyle Detta (Career: .788; 2010. 743) – Our favourite erstwhile goalie and top supplier of Budweiser emerged again from the ether today, answering the call of duty. It’s always a treat to see Lyle no matter the condition. His flashes of brilliance are legendary in Burton circles.
Mitch Detta (Career: 487 points; 2009: 293) – After taking most of 2010 off (like Laird, his last session was also the second day of the DecaSession, the speedy teenager is back. His goalscoring ability has improved considerably over the years, and he’s always been one of the fastest on the court.
Brad Gibson (Career: 98 points) – The defensive dynamo is back (once again meaning that someone in BUSH will actually be wearing shin guards), and looking for playing time. His lone 2010 appearance showed that he can put it the net when called upon, too. If Brad plays the whole year, he should easily be considered BUSH’s top d-man by the end of it. Having played both commercial and oldtimers’ hockey all winter, he looked to be the most game-ready of everyone today.
Dane Olsen (Career: 22 points) – The younger brother of Colby would be back for his first action since 2009 and fourth session overall. Two years older, two years wiser. Would the drummer for 23 North make the leap today?

The first two games of the day were not kind to Laird Bilinski at all, or to anyone looking for an assist. Both games were lopsided washouts; a 5-1 Game 1 in favour of Lee-Mitch-Kyle-Lyle, followed by trading Brad for Mitch only to result in the same score in Game 2. While Lyle faced little action during the first two games, Laird was a miserable 9-for-19. Only one player assist was recorded in the first twelve goals, and we were wondering what the hell kind of session we’d gotten ourselves into.

We finally found an arrangement that worked when Laird teamed up with Brad, Lee and K.J. to face Lyle’s squad of Kyle, Mitch and Dane. Well, it started working in Game 4, anyway. Game 3 was another washout for Laird (5-2), and he was now 17-for-32 after three games and rightfully getting angry. Down 2-0 in Game 4, barely half-an-hour into the session, things finally started clicking for everyone. The goalies picked up their game and slowly rounded into form over the rest of the day as the rust came off. The two skating sides starting jelling quite nicely, especially the Kyle-Mitch-Dane combo, who rattled off five straight goals to tie the series, including four tic-tac-toe goals.

After a second 5-2 score in Game 5 to end the series, the best part of the session commenced with a fantastic five-game series featuring two very balanced sides that were equally brilliant. Dane, Lee, and Brad would be backed by Laird against Kyle, Mitch, K.J. and Lyle. The low-scoring session to date was replaced by a high-speed contest which featured the stifling defence and heretofore unknown howitzer of Brad Gibson, the steady two-way play of Lee Orr, and the youthful enthusiasm on five-and-a-half-wheels of Dane Olsen against the irresistible force of Kyle Grenier, the net-driving skills of K.J. O’Connor, and the top-shelf sniping of Mitch Detta. And the goalies were finally back up to snuff here, too. Laird pulled three different sure goals off the goal line during this set, as well as posting a shutout in Game 10 to make up in part for the first three games. His side would take the series 3-2. Dane (wheels) and K.J. (shins) would pull out for Game 11, leaving Kyle and Mitch to blast their way to a 5-2 win in the final game.

So good to be back today! Everyone left in good spirits today; some of the guys would have played all night if you let them. 15-pointers all around, and career-best sessions from Brad, Mitch and Dane. If this is the core of the group this year, then BUSH is in good hands.

View photos from this session on Flickr

A new season, but the same results: Kyle edging Lee to take another session. Kyle blows away the 2011 session scoring high with 16-18-34P on just 46 shots, pointing out three of the last seven games; he has an astounding 39 straight 15-pointers. Lee led through the middle of the session, usually by a point or two, before Kyle passed him in the final four. His 16-15-31P is certainly satisfying. Not far behind them (and catching them as the session went on) in third was Brad, with a career-high 12-16-28P. This was the best session Brad has played, and as mentioned above, if he can make it out full-time this year, his defensive prowess should make him one of the most feared players on the rink in time. Honourable mention to Mitch, who worked very well with Kyle all day en route to a career-high 24 points. Dane took a quantum leap over his previous performances, and should one to watch as he gets his legs under him (and new wheels!). Every skater notched a 15-pointer today, a very rare feat in 3-on-3. In net, Lyle was steady all day. If it weren’t for Games 4 and 10, he’d be over .800, and he certainly played like it was an .800 session. As it stands, he finished at .776 with 121 saves to Laird’s .696 with 94 saves. Laird was .755 without the first three games.

Here are the game scores:
Lee Mitch Kyle Lyle def. Brad Dane K.J. Laird 5-1
Lee Brad Kyle Lyle def. Mitch Dane K.J. Laird 5-1
Laird Brad Lee K.J. def. Lyle Dane Kyle Mitch 2-5 5-1 5-2
Kyle K.J.* Mitch Lyle def. Dane* Lee Brad Laird 5-2 3-5 5-4 5-3 0-5 5-2 (*no Game 11)

Faceoff Statistics:
Lee Orr 26/44 (59.09%)
K.J. O’Connor 23/42 (54.76%)
Mitchell Detta 6/12 (50.00%)
Kyle Grenier 10/23 (43.48%)
Brad Gibson 1/4 (25.00%)
Dane Olsen 3/13 (23.08%)

There was a VRH session today as well, so you'll find the combined stats analysis for both the BUSH and VRH sessions under the VRH boxscore when it gets posted! A great start to the BUSH year.