Eyes blink themselves awake, the morning is bright and there’s hockey to be played. The Few creep outside, early and tentative, weary of a Sun Run nightmare. Will there be enough? Stragglers us all, hoping for full lines. Wheels are rotated before the game. We are all itchy for sport.

The Grapefruit was on, demanding his chance for glory from the Dominator. The steely Blueberry, the Mechanic in his new pads, was ready to take apart the snipers.

3-on-3 hit the ground, with Ollie, Dom and I over-passing ourselves into a froth. Andrew, Tony and Bern weathered a storm only to come back with some vengeance. Lars was injected late, and suddenly they were full of energy. Game 4, new teams, lots of shots. LOTS. The tending of the nets drove us crazy. The Grapefruit settled down, began moving laterally and held his post. Are those regulation pads? My pseudo-regulation curve had a delightful angle in it (the ref missed it).

Smart began to snipe, the top corner being has favorite spot to start a conversation. Tony would keep cycling around from end to end, while I tried to channel Forsberg and skate around the play several times. For some reason it didn’t work…

Dom, usually a stationary wall, felt the effect of motion and demanded to be on the sub-team. Someone that ‘tired’ doesn’t usually carry the play this well.

Lars was energy incarnate. Passes and shots were wild, but the action in the corner was intimidating.

Then there was a shift. Tony raged on the puck to jam it in the net, while Bangkok found his hands to be soft and lady-like. Goals and assists hurt the save percentages.

Even more damaging, was the second phase of the day where 2-on-2 ruled the court. Dom/Smart/Sam v Lars/Rob/Al. Dom went to town on us and the goalie’s stats were out the door. The Blueberry demanded retribution, and he got it with a 1-goal game as Lars jammed a dagger through the Grapefruit.

Beautiful-sun-shining-off-sparkling-water-as-gentle-breezes-kiss-players-of -awesome-hockey Day.

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Thanks, Rob! Mellifluous script as always. Volume, volume, volume. A massive barrage of shots was unleashed on the goaltenders in these eight games, particularly Alex, who spent the first two series over .900 before finishing at .889 (second-highest mark of his career) on a colossal 192 saves (a VRH record and fourth-highest ever) with a phenomenal PPS of 1081 (just five off the all-time Burton record held since 2003 by Nathan Robson) in what may be the best performance of his career and is certainly the top goaltending performance in either league this season. Not to mention the fact that he also tied Bron for the all-time shutout lead with 16. Sam was also fantastic for most of the day and finished at .818 with 148 saves. Scoring-wise, Andrew led the day with 27 points (11G-16A) on 88 shots. Not to be outdone, Rob took 89, getting himself a career-high15G en route to 21 points. Despite taking off before the final series, Tony scored enough to hit the 20-point mark for third place and may have had a shot at leading this session had he played the final two games. Shots in Game 5 were an astounding 57-50 in favour of Team Alex.

Here are the game scores:
Andrew Tony Bernie Alex Lars*def. Rob Dom Oliver Sam 3-5 5-0 5-2 (*no Game 1)
Tony Dom Oliver Alex vs. Lars Rob Bernie Alex Andrew 5-3 3-5
Tony Dom Oliver Bernie Alex def. Alex Andrew Rob Lars Sam 5-3
Dom Andrew Sam vs. Lars Rob Alex 5-2 1-5

Season Stats: Andrew’s scoring lead over second-place Oliver is a whopping 89 points (219-130). The race for second continues to be close with Tony (125) and Rob (124) moving up to third and fourth ahead of the absent Marcus. Injured Stefan finally drops from the top five. Bernie passes Lee for seventh; Dom enters the top 15. Andrew is the first to cross the 100-goal barrier this year at 103. Rob jumps from eighth to fourth in goals, pushing Lee from the top five. Rob also jumps to third in assists ahead of Stefan, Tony and Bernie. Andrew becomes the first player to take 500 shots on goal this year; Rob moves into third behind Tony. Alex’s save percentage went up ten points from this session alone; he easily leads the league at .840 while Sam passes Joe for third with .792. Alex passes Dom for the lead in saves, becoming the first goalie this year to make 1,000. With the Koth-Kappi missing the final two games today, that leaves Dom standing alone as the only player to have played every game in 2011 for VRH (Lee and Mitch have played all 30 BUSH games). Alex and Tony move into the top five ahead of Stefan. Alex joins Dom and Ryan Bateman as goalies with multiple shutouts this year. Andrew has a commanding 125-55 lead over second-place Rob in three-star points. Alex lead Dom in goalie star points 95-65 with Sam in third at 30. Andrew passes Lee for second in PPG, Brad for third in APG, and Tony for second in shots-per-game. Sam passes Joe for third in saves-per-game. Andrew’s 16 assists today are the third-highest session total of the year. Rob’s 89 shots on goal and Andrew’s 88 are the two top marks of the season. And, of course, Alex’s .889 save percentage, 192 saves and 1081 PPS are all tops in 2011.

All-Time Records, Awards and Honours
All-Time Session Scoring Milestones & Streaks
All-Time Session Goaltending Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Oliver needs 42 points to become the first player to score 1,000 points in both BUSH and VRH. Rob passes Jordan for 13th on the all-time scoring list and needs tend points for 600. Tony reaches 500 points and passes Sam for 17th. Andrew becomes the 22nd player with 400 points. Oliver passes Lorne for second all-time in goals and moves over 900. Bernie is 20 goals behind K.J. for seventh. Rob ties Ryan Disterheft for 16th in goals. Rob is five assists behind Barlow for 13th. Andrew passes Ben to enter the top 20 in assists and ties Mitch Detta for 19th. Oliver passes Stefan for second in shots on goal; Andrew enters the top 20. Alex passes Shem for fifth in all-time save percentage with .823 and passes Nathan for third in saves with 4,106; he is exactly 100 saves behind Laird for second. Bernie becomes the second player to play 1,200 games; Sam needs six for 300. Alex ties Bron for the all-time shutout lead with 16. Alex ties Nathan for third in goalie star points at 375. Andrew passes Ben for eleventh in three-star points with 210. Rob enters the top ten in 15-pointers with 19; Andrew has four in a row and Tony has three. Andrew has four straight 20-pointers; Tony has two. Tony records his tenth-career ten-goal session; Andrew has four in a row and Tony has three. Rob hits 15 goals for the first time. Andrew has four ten-assisters in a row. Alex pots his 23rd .800 session (fifth all-time) and sixth in a row; Sam nets his second all-time. Alex also has six .810s in a row, which ties a Burton record. He sits third in .820s with 18 including five in a row. Alex is one .830 behind Justin and Seamus for the all-time lead with 16 including five in a row. He ties Nathan for third in .840s with 12, and is one .850 behind Seamus for the all-time with ten. Interestingly, it’s only the third time he’s made it past .840. Alex extends his record 80-saver streak to 19; Sam’s streak goes to three. Alex is one 90-saver behind Dom for the all-time lead with 29 including seven in a row; Sam has three in a row. Alex ties Dom for the lead in 100-savers with 25 and ties Seamus for the longest 100-saver streak with seven; Sam has three in a row. Alex ties Dom for the lead in 110-savers with 20 and ties his own 110-saver streak with six; Sam has back-to-back 110-savers. Alex takes the lead in 120-savers from Dom with 16 and has a record six in a row and ties Dom for the lead in 130-savers with 12 (also six in a row); Sam has back-to-back 120- and 130-savers. Oliver plays in his 33rd consecutive session and Dom his 24th; these are tied for the fifth and tenth-longest streak ever, respectively. Bernie’s streak goes to twelve; Andrew’s to ten. As mentioned above, Alex’s 192 saves are the fourth-highest total ever recorded in Burton Hockey and the highest-ever in VRH. His 1081 PPS ranks second-best all-time.

SDF/GDF: Andrew becomes the ninth player to lead ten career SDF rankings, all of them in a row. The only other change of significance this week is a bad Marcus session falling off the ranking, bringing him up two spots to seventh. Over on the GDF, after a week away from the top position, Alex’s stunning session is good enough to move him just ahead of Ryan Bateman and back into first for the sixteenth time. Sam closes the gap between himself and third-place Dom a bit. Barlow drops below the minimum session line and falls from the top five.