Considering the massive sessions we’ve had the last few times, it was quite a surprise to have only one goalie and 3 skaters confirmed just over a day away from the scheduled Sunday session. However, with a few maybes showing up and a few late confirmations, we would end up with perfect numbers (3-on-3 with one sub on each team). A few staunch regulars including Elder Hajdu & J. Barlow were absent today, but the most notable absence was certainly the Kloppster who, due to a savagely broken leg suffered in a league game, will be out of action for quite some time (all of our hopes are for him to have a fast and full recovery).

Much like last week, Vancouver was shrouded by ominous looking clouds, and just as we were about to play rain drops began to fall; we all assumed that was the start of a rainy Sunday and the session would be cut brutally short. But miraculously, as if the hockey gods themselves interceded, mere minutes later the precipitation came to a halt and it would remain dry for the rest of the afternoon.

Today would see Sam Lam return to goal and Dom once again return to skating. Sam would make some miraculous saves throughout the day but struggled a little to find his groove overall. Dom would prove a force out there with his tenacious fore-checking and solid defensive play; in fact, a new statistical category was even created purely on his account: the PS (Power Slide). Marcus and Andy were their usually skilled selves and Tony had a very impressive session today as well. Al also was his usual heroic self, often times keeping his badly outmatched team in it, with brilliant saves on all measure of odd man rushes. It took Ryno a while to find his groove but in the final series he was an absolute offensive force, scoring most of his team’s goals.

Three solid series were played today, all of which went to a full 3 games. This would result in 9 games and close to 5 hours of hockey being played, leaving everyone (except for Andy) drained.

Also, of note: Jordo once again strapped on the helmet-cam so look for some footage at some point in the near future.

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Thanks, gents! On the scoresheet, it was a whitewash for Andrew S-M-R-T as he ran away with 32 points (15-17-58). You must go down to 23 points to find second-place Tony (10-13-52). A very big day on skates for Dominik, as he picks up his first career three-star point besting Ryan by a point, 19 to 18. In goal, another triumph for Alex as he picked up a shutout and 132 saves en route to an .835. Sam faced much more volume than Alex (181 shots against) and took the day in saves with 135 but was behind in save percentage with .746. 339 shots were fired on the two goaltenders today.

Here are the game scores:
Andrew Dom Tony Bernie Alex def. Jordan Oliver Ryan Sam Marcus* 5-0 5-3 5-1 (*no Game 1)
Dom Jordan Oliver Marcus Alex def. Tony Andrew Ryan Bernie Sam 5-3 4-5 5-2
”A-Hole” “D-Bag” “R. Kelly” “Balls” “The Blueberry” def. “T-Bag” “M-Train” “Oll the Right Stuff” “J-Bag” “Sam-A-Lam-A-Ding-Dong” 5-2
Oliver Ryan Dom Bernie Alex def. Tony Andrew Jordan Sam 2-5 5-1 5-4

This summarises both the VRH and BUSH sessions played today:

Season Stats: With Stefan out indefinitely and Rob away today, Andrew’s scoring lead over second-playing Stefan is huge, 170-109. The race for second tightens up and Oliver (107) and Tony (105) pass Rob (103) with Marcus (102) falling from the top five. With BUSH back in the fold, Kyle debuts on the 2011 list in 13th just ahead of Lee and Dom. Andrew’s goal lead is 82-59 over newly-second Tony, followed by Marcus, Oliver, and Stefan. Oliver passes Rob for third in assists, 63-62; Tony jumps into the top five ahead of Marcus at 46. Tony passes Stefan for second in shots on goal while Marcus passes Rob for fourth. The shooting percentage and per-game stats are where BUSH players make their impact felt immediately. Kyle and Mitch are far ahead in shooting percentage, knocking Jordan Barlow to third with Brad right behind him in fourth. Sam and Lyle now both qualify for the season goaltending chart; Sam narrowly edges Lyle for third, .7763-.7756. Alex is barely behind Dom for the lead in saves, 892-872, with Sam far behind in third. Andrew passes Stefan for fourth in games played. Four goalies (Barlow, Laird, Alex, Dom) have shutouts this year. Tony moves to fifth in three-star points with 20. Alex takes the lead in goalie star points from Dom, 80-65. Andrew (95) leads in total star points from Alex (80) and Dom (70). Kyle and Lee take over the PPG lead, and Kyle and Brad move into first and second in APG. Marcus moves into second in shots-per-game between Tony and Andrew. Sam moves to third in saves-per-game. Lots of session scoring highs today. The top four session point totals (Kyle 34, Andrew 32, Lee 31, Brad 28) were made today. Lee and Kyle’s 16 goals tie the season high, with Andrew’s 15 slotting in fourth. Kyle’s 18 assists rank first; Andrew’s 17 assists rank second; Brad’s 16 assists rank third; Lee’s 15 assists tie for fourth. Lee’s 66 shots are second this year in sessions; Andrew’s 58 place fourth. Alex’s .835 is the fifth-best session so far this year.

On the All-Time Front: Lee just needs ten points to become the first player to score 2,500 career points. Kyle closes to within 32 points of Bernie for sixth; K.J. is 20 behind Justin for eighth. Sam becomes the 17th player to score 500 point; Tony is just two away and Laird is eight away. Oliver passes the injured Stefan for third in goals and trails Lorne for second, 900-895. Bernie becomes the eighth to score 600; Ryno passes 250. Laird needs nine assists for 300. Oliver is 31 shots-on-goal behind Stefan for second. Bernie needs 30 shots for 3,000. Alex passes Bron for fourth in all-time saves and needs 86 for 4,000; he is 141 behind Nathan for third. Bernie needs nine games for 1,200. Laird becomes the tenth player to play 500 games; Dom needs seven for 400; Lyle needs eleven for 200. Laird needs seven games to become the second to goaltend 300. Alex is just one shutout behind Bron for the all-time lead with Laird right behind them, 16-15-14. Laird passes Justin for second in points scored from goal, 107-101. Kyle ties Stefan for third in three-star points with 760. Alex is 15 goalie star points behind Nathan for third, 360-345. Kyle passes Justin for fourth in total star points, 760-755. Andrew takes back to all-time APG lead from Robert Rogers. With his improbable 39th consecutive 15-pointer, Kyle ties Stefan for fourth overall with 53. Dom and Dane each pot their first 15-pointers. Brad has four in a row. Mitch posts his first-ever 20-pointer. Kyle has three 20-pointers in a row; Andrew and Brad have two. Kyle has three-straight 25-pointers. Kyle joins Pat as the the only players with ten 30-pointers (Lee has seven; Andrew has two). Kyle is one ten-goal session behind Lorne for second, 46-45. Brad has his second in a row; Dom has his first ever. Kyle has three 15-goal sessions in a row. Andrew has his tenth career ten-assister. Mitch has his first ten-assister. Brad has four in a row. Alex passes Laird for fifth in .800s with 22 (five in a row). Alex is one .810 in a row away from tying the record of six held by K.J., Justin and Shem. Alex is third in .830s with 15 (four in a row). Alex becomes the second goalie with 30 80-savers; laird is third with 27 and Lyle hits 20 (Alex has 18 in a row, Lyle has three and Sam two). Alex is behind Dom in 90-savers 30-28; he has six in a row (Lyle has three and Sam has two). Alex trails Dom in 100-savers 25-24; he has six in a row with Lyle and Sam at two in a row each. Alex has five 110-savers in a row, one short of his own record shared with Seamus; Lyle has two in a row. Alex extends his record 120-saver streak to five and ties Dom for the all-time lead at 15. His 130-saver streak (a record) is also up to five; he trails Dom over all 14-13. Sam nets a 130-saver for the first time. Oliver and Lee both play their 31st consecutive sessions (the fifth-longest streaks ever). Dominik plays his 22nd straight; Bernie his tenth; Andrew his eighth. Stefan’s streak ends at six and Seamus’ and Graeme’s both end at five. Laird and Lee both add their names to the list of people who have played in all twelve Burton Hockey seasons; only Lorne is still eligible to join the list.

SDF/GDF: Andrew leads his seventh straight SDF, and opens up his lead a little as Marcus takes a big hit and falls behind Rob to third. Eric trades fifth and sixth with Tony. The big story here, even moreso than the return of BUSH players, is Dominik, who goes over the session minimum for the first time and lands all the way up in seventh. Lee is the only BUSH player with multiple session on the ranking; he moves up to eighth, knocking the falling Sam and Oliver out of the top ten. On the GDF, Alex is now sixth in all-time rankings led with 14. Sam moves up two spots to third.

Both leagues had fantastic sessions today. BUSH is off next weekend (but may try for a weekday session) but VRH should be back as usual. Until next time, check out the Records and Honours pages in the Links section.