Day Two. The main event of the SuperSession weekend. Vancouver Roller Hockey, valiant defenders of the Fuller Cup, having embarked on a journey across the province to meet the challenge of the former champions, Burton United Socialist Hockey. The VRH side, firmly entrenched with seven skaters and a goalie that produces a combination of save percentage and volume at a level of consistency never before seen in the history of the game. The BUSH side, plagued with a touch of uncertainty as it wondered who would answer the bell for Sunday’s action, but led into battle by a blond Fu-Manchued tattooed demon and his new army of insurgents. Two very different lineups than the ones that suited up for battle twice in 2010, to be certain.

It would be hard to have a supersession without the game’s all-time leading scorer. Fighting off the aftereffects of a horrific dental surgery injury that tore an interior gash between his nasal cavity and upper palate, a tired-yet-willing Lee Orr would join BUSH for the big battle, making it eight players to seven in favour of the westerners. Before we found out if anyone else would answer the call of the stick-and-sickle, it was time for a trip to Three Lions Pub to start the day’s festivities, as most of the group from both sides gathered together to watch Stanley Cup playoff action between Vancouver and San Jose, commencing at a ridiculously early 12 noon (ridiculously early for an NHL game, that is). It was a smart plan, for while the gang congregated indoors, the weather outside was miserable as a downpour blanketed the valley. Nothing ever stands in the way of a supersession, however, and the rain ended exactly when the VAN-SJ game did. Back to Burton we went.

An interesting situation arose upon arrival. The Hascarl/Bateman convoy was a few minutes late; so late that it was decided to grab Lyle Detta. Sure enough, they all arrived at the same time, and so BUSH now had two goaltenders. Ryan would start while Lyle waited patiently on the bench. At the same time, Dylan volunteered to play for VRH in order to give each side two lines of four skaters each. The result was the final lineups:

Burton United Socialist Hockey:
0. Ryan Bateman (goal)
4. Lee Orr (C)
9. Seamus O’Connor (A)
11. Justin Gordon (A)
24. Brad Gibson (wearing Andrew Watson’s sweater)
71. K.J. O’Connor
88. Kyle Grenier
BB. Mitchell Detta (wearing a provincial basketball championship shirt)
DTB. James Hewlitt (wearing Dylan’s Devin Townsend Band shirt)
(none). Lyle Detta (goal)

A lineup reflective of the major turnover this year in BUSH while still maintaining plenty of the old relaibles. Perhaps most notable is the huge age span between the sides, with two players over 40 (Brad, James) and two teenagers (Ryan, Mitch). This would mark the first Fuller Cup for Ryan, Mitch, James and Lyle. It would also mark the 2011 debut of Justin Gordon, and the first game back for Lee after his dental surgery nightmare that opened a gash between his nasal cavity and gum.

Vancouver Roller Hockey
0. Alex Elischer (goal)
2. Dylan Hascarl
8. Oliver Koth-Kappus (A)
17. Joern Hornhardt
21. Bernie Koth-Kappus (C)
21. Steve Weatherhead (Master Bladers jersey, hence the number duplication)
33. Ryan Disterheft
41. Andrew Smart
96. Sam Lam

For VRH, the past week’s worries about a depleted line-up proved to be unfounded with the addition of Steve Weatherhead and Dylan Hascarl. Put the all-world Elischer in net and 2011’s leading scorer Smart on the same team, and this team was poised to defend the Fuller Cup with honour. This would be the first Fuller Cup for Smart (who spent last year in Southeast Asia), Steve and Dylan. It also marked the first trip to the Arrow Lakes for Andrew since the 1998 BC ‘A’ soccer provincials, where his Collingwood squad beat Nakusp Secondary to finish 1-2 in the standings.

At 4:30 pm, the Cup officially kicked off with the opening faceoff between Lee and Joern. Keeping in mind that the Fuller Cup is usually played as a best-of-eleven, that notion went flying out the window immediately as Alex and Ryan stood on their heads for 35 straight minutes to open the session, not allowing a single shot to pass through. Alex was taking the bulk of the shots as BUSH unleashed hellfire but couldn’t get one past the Blueberry. On the south side of the rink, Ryan was equal to the task with Sam and Ryno pushing hard to break through the BUSH wall (Andy was on defence here). Finally, on the 61st shot of the game (the 22nd for VRH) an Andrew Smart blast from the point beat Bateman and VRH had a 1-0 lead. VRH would actually get up 2-0 before a Lee-Seamus-James tic-tac-toe in the 45th minute on the 59th BUSH shot finally beat Alex. There was no way we were having a best-of-eleven with these goalies. There was no way we were having a best-of-seven. As the minutes ticked on punctuated by only the occasional goal, we quickly realized history was being made here. Bateman was hanging around .920 and Alex was into the .940s. VRH had it 3-1 at one point, but after 83 back-and-forth minutes, BUSH finally pulled out a 5-4 comeback win with Lee notching a rare interleague hat trick. Bateman essentially stamped his claim as the new top goaltender in BUSH with 46 saves on 50 shots; Alex may have just claimed the title of greatest of all-time. In just one game, he stopped 87 shots; a new Burton record. He was .946 in a loss! We knew right then and there that we were look at two of the greatest goaltending

Taking a ‘mere’ 45 minutes, Game 2 was a fairly dominant performance by BUSH, who outshot the Lower Mainlanders 55-29. The best two-man tandem of the day was K.J. and Brad, who teamed up for five goals this day, including two in Game 2. Ryan Bateman continued his stunning run in goal, stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced to push his session save percentage to .925, trailing only Nathan Robson’s .2006 .930 session and the goaltender he was playing against, Alex. With VRH playing Smart on defence, they were getting good blasts from the point but also depriving themselves of their top scorer (Jordan Barlow was definitely missed here), leading to a change in strategy for Game 3. The game will be remembered mostly for more infamous reasons, however, as at 4-1, police actually showed up for seven belligerent minutes and confiscated all of the alcohol they could find. Was it a complaint? Was it bored cops looking for something to do on the long weekend? I guess we’ll never know for sure, but it was the first time in twelve seasons that police came to Burton Hockey.

Switching Andrew back to forward in Game 3, the VRH gang knew that Game 3 might be their last chance for a win, since the goalies were so good and the games were lasting so long that the daylight would run long before someone would win six games. The new rule that getting up by four games would clinch the cup regardless was changed to three. BUSH made a roster change, switching in Lyle Detta for Ryan Bateman in goal. It was another high-energy slugfest; the intensity level through the roof. Alex’s save total was already nearing 200, an astounding number for three games. At the other end, Lyle was pitching a shutout and flirting with the all-time save percentage record. At 4-0 BUSH (once again led by K.J. and Brad), Kyle blasted a shot at the net that appeared to go through a hole in the side and play continued; it was later found that it had actually went in, broke through one of the ties holding the mesh together, and exited through the side of the net. That was a turning point, for VRH would score four unanswered goals over the next 15 minutes to tie the game and send it to a golden goal with the series on the line. For the next 34 minutes, Alex and Lyle dueled as the game went goal-less, stopping everything in their paths. Lee also appeared to score during the sequence, but the ambiguity over the goal and the fact that the Fuller Cup was on the line caused it to be waved off; if it was going to happen, it was going to happen right. The turning point came when K.J.’s MCL suddenly locked on a turn. The day’s leading scorer was out, and Ryan Bateman was called in off the bench to take K.J.’s place. Three minutes later, a Bateman shot on net was cashed in by Mitch Detta off the rebound, and BUSH had reclaimed the Fuller Cup in the most grueling three-game series we may have ever seen. Alex stopped 63 of 68 in Game 3; Lyle went 42 for 46. When it came time to celebrate, the physical Fuller Cup was nowhere to be seen, for Bernie had forgotten it at home in Vancouver. A bowl taped to a jar of sauerkraut wrapped in tinfoil had to suffice.

The initial save by Alex was his 201st; he had stopped 201 of 216 shots to this point. Had the session ended there, that would have been .931, a new session record. Alex, however, wanted the session save record of 248 as well. The odds of him staying above .930 were insane, though, and your humble statistician went apoplectic at the thought of someone throwing away the most important session goaltending record there is. He’d need at least two games to break the volume record, and the odds of getting in two games after 7:20 pm were minimal. Nevertheless, sticks were thrown in the middle. Alex got Joern, Oliver, Bates, Kyle, Seamus, Dylan, Ryno and James. Lyle got Brad, Steve, Lee, Bernie, Sam, Mitch and Andrew. Sure enough, Alex let in three of the first seven shots. The save percentage chance was done; at that level of volume, it take dozens of saves just to move the percentage up by a point or two. Lyle picked it up, and suddenly he was the one changing the record before three quick goals on him killed that as well. Once the game settled down, the goalies got back in their groove, and at 8:15 pm, Alex tied Shem Hanna’s record of 248 saves (Shem played 12 games when he set it in 2009; Alex took FOUR.). The next goal ended it, and Alex finally had a 5-4 win on the day, stopping 49 shots to Lyle’s 30. Ploughing head-on into the twilight, Game 5 proved to be pretty lopsided in favour of Team Alex on the scoreboard, but the 34-15 shot count in favour of Team Lyle told the real story. At this point not only were kitchen sinks being thrown at Alex, but dishwashers, portable generators, and entire Kia hatchbacks. Visibility was now severely affecting play; goalies having to rely on their positioning to stop shots. The brightest object in the park was the glow of the white stats sheet in the moonlight. Ultimately, the Grenier/Bateman tandem was just too much, with seven and six points in the final series. When Grenier hooked up with Ryan Disterheft to end the game 5-2 in favour of Team Al, it was 9:20 pm. Five games, 280 saves, .927 save percentage (yes, he almost climbed back up to the save percentage record as well), and a stultifying 1207 PPS. The words almost betray me.

The gang hung around at the park until 10 pm, chatting away in the darkness of the park before heading down to the VRH campsite at Burton Historical Park to gather around the campfire with smokies, marshmallows, lentil soup, and about one-third of the alcohol they had three hours beforehand. The communal Burton Hockey experience at its best. Congratulations and many to everyone who came out and made this weekend so fantastic. See you at Thanksgiving in West Vancouver!

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.927/280/1207 is a goaltending line that will live forever in the annals of Burton Hockey. The 280 saves Alex Elischer threw down this day is a number that was not even considered in the realm of possibility in a single day. Throw in the fact that there were only five games played today, and the number becomes even more amazing. .927 is the second-greatest goaltending stint by save percentage in history, and to pull that off over 302 shots against? Unfathomable. His 1207 PPS blows the old record of 1086 (Nathan Robson) out of the water. Stunning. We bow to thee, Alex. The greatest session of Burton Hockey ever played by a goaltender, bar none.
Nearly lost in the shuffle is the fact that BUSH’s Ryan Bateman pulled off the third-best session of all time with .925 on 74 saves in his two games. This brings the 2011 rookie to a lifetime .869 in goal, sending him to the top of the all-time goaltending list ahead of Taylor Reitmeier. Lyle Detta also flirted with the all-time session goaltending record well into Game 4 before three quick goals took that opportunity away. Nevertheless, he finished at a stellar .877 (the best mark of his legendary career) with exactly 100 saves. Could we ever imagine three separate goalies putting up numbers like this in the same game? Not likely again.
Scoring-wise, the points were as widely dispersed as they had ever been in Burton Hockey history. At the end of the Fuller Cup series, Brad and K.J. were tied for the lead with eight points. New teams and K.J.’s departure opened things up for Kyle, who potted five points in the last two games to finish at 12, ahead of Brad and Andrew at 10.

Here are the game scores:
Spring 2011 Fuller Cup: BUSH def. VRH 5-4 5-2 5-4
Alex Joern* Oliver Bates Kyle Seamus Dylan Ryno James (*no Game 5) def. Lyle Brad Steve Lee Bernie Sam Mitch Andrew 5-4 5-2

Here are the (unofficial) faceoff stats:
Kyle Grenier 3/3 (100.00%)
Dylan Hascarl 3/3 (100.00%)
Ryan Bateman 2/2 (100.00%)
Steve Weatherhead 3/4 (75.00%)
K.J. O’Connor 6/9 (66.67%)
Joern Hornhardt 3/6 (50.00%)
Seamus O’Connor 2/4 (50.00%)
Mitchell Detta 1/2 (50.00%)
Andrew Smart 4/11 (36.36%)
Ryan Disterheft 3/10 (30.00%)
Lee Orr 2/7 (28.57%)
Justin Gordon 0/1 (0.00%)
James Hewlitt 0/2 (0.00%)

Weekend All-Star Team
Alex Elischer (G), VRH
Kyle Grenier, BUSH
Sam Lam, VRH
K.J. O’Connor, BUSH
Andrew Smart, VRH
Most Sportsmanlike Player Lyle Detta, BUSH; Dylan Hascarl, VRH
Most Outstanding Player Alex Elischer, VRH
Most Valuable Player Alex Elischer, VRH

Containers of alcohol confiscated by the RCMP: At least 35

And now, a massive summary of how the season and all-time stats and streaks look like after the weekend:

Season Stats: There were few points to be gained this weekend. Not that it mattered, since Andrew led all SuperSession scorers with 27 points (beating Kyle by one thanks to Kyle leaving early on Saturday). Andy sits at 297, 70 points ahead of Oliver… Bernie passes Tony to enter the top five at 145, with Lee at 134 in seventh… Mitch and Ryno pass Barlow for eighth and ninth… Kyle becomes the 13th player this year with 100 points… Oliver passes Marcus for second in goals, 94-92… Mitch and Lee are knocking on the door of the top five while Grenier jumps to tenth at 50… Oliver passes Marcus for fourth in shots at 436; he’s right behind Tony for third… Ryno also passes Marcus to move into fifth…Kyle hands the shooting percentage lead to Barlow, while Bateman jumps into third ahead of Mitch and Marcus… Bates holds an .869-.858 lead over Alex in the goaltending race, while Lyle moves past Golden Joe and Sam into fourth at .802… Alex blows by Dom to take the lead in saves; Bateman moves into fifth… With Dom missing this weekend, no one has played every game this season in VRH, and only the Koth-Kappi have played every session (Mitch has played every BUSH game)… The Koth-Kappi hold a 122-113 lead in games played over Dom, with Andy also over 100 games… Dom leads Alex in games goaltended, 82-76… Andrew holds a commanding 180-80 lead over Rob in three-star points, with Kyle moving into a tie for fourth with Oliver and Lee at 50; Marcus lies in between at 65… Alex’s lead in goalie star points moves to 140-95 over Dom… Bateman moves to fourth at 40 while Lyle ties Jesse for fifth with 20… Andrew holds a 180-140 lead over Alex in total star points… Interleague plays killed the PPG/GPG/APG of everyone who played it, benefitting the people who weren’t there. Kyle and Andrew fall below 3.00; Bateman and Brad fall from the top five… K.J. takes the lead in GPG from Lee… Andrew now leads in APG followed by Brad and Kyle… K.J. blasts his way to the top of the shots-per-game chart… Alex leads Bateman in saves-per-game 21.50-19.91, with Lyle passing Joe for fifth… Four of the five top goaltending marks of the season were set this weekend: Alex’s .927 today was first; Ryan’s .925 was second; Alex’s .879 yesterday was fourth; Lyle’s .877 was fifth… Nothing more needs to be said about Alex’s 280 saves and 1207 PPS and where they stand this year.

SDF/GDF: Major upheaval on the SDF as Kyle’s big win and the challenges of interleague rearrange the ranking from top to bottom. Kyle moves into first ahead of Andrew; both have led 13 ranking all-time… Jumping into third I K.J. with Bateman hot on his tail, displacing Lee to fifth… A strong showing from Brad sees him move up one spot to sixth… Alex’s monster session pushing his rating to a monster .8825, the fifth-highest ever recorded… Alex ties K.J. for fifth in rankings led with 19… Ryan passes Jesse for second; Lyle jumps up two spots to sixth.

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

On the All-Time Front: Lee needs seven points for 2,600… Seamus passes Lorne for fourth in all-time scoring and become the fourth player to reach 1,500 points… Bernie is ten points behind Lorne for fifth and needs 16 for 1,500; Kyle is 35 points behind Bernie… Ryan Disterheft passes Tony for 17th in points… Andrew is just eleven points behind Laird for 20th… Lee needs one goal for 1,400… Kyle is 33 goals behind Stefan for fourth… Sam becomes the 14th player with 300 goals… Andrew is four goals behind Joe Chwachka for 19th in goals… Lee needs six assists for 1,200… Seamus becomes the fourth player with 800 assists… Kyle passes Lorne for sixth in assists and needs five for 600… Joern passes Graeme to enter the top ten in assists… Disterheft passes 250 assists… Kyle needs 103 shots on goal for 4,000… Andrew passes 1,200 shots… Now having enough shots under his belt to qualify for the record, Ryan Bateman becomes the all-time leading goalie in Burton with .869; Alex moves from sixth to fourth ahead of K.J. and Terryn with .831… Oliver becomes the first person to play 1,300 games… Joern is seven games behind Lorne for sixth… Mitch becomes the 19th player to play 300 games… Lyle plays his 200th game… Alex ties Chris for third in games goaltended with 272… Kyle passes Lorne for second place in all-time three-star points, 765-755… Andrew knocks Graeme out of the top ten with 265… Alex passes Seamus for second in goalie star points with 420 and is just 15 behind Dom for the all-time lead… Ryan takes over the all-time lead in saves-per-game from Taylor with 19.90… Alex’s .927 ranks second all-time in save percentage; Ryan Bateman’s .925 is right behind in third… Alex’s 280 saves today destroys the previous session record held by Shem Hanna since August 2009 of 248; it’s just the fourth session over 200 saves ever… Alex’s 1207 PPS today obliterates the previous record of 1086 set by Nathan Robson way back in 2003 (.880 on 206 saves)… Alex’s 140 goalie star points this season is the sixth-highest single year total ever.

Streaks and Benchmarks: Interleague play brings death to scoring streaks. No streak was more epic than Kyle Grenier’s 41 consecutive 15-pointers. That ended this weekend, along with Andrew’s seven straight 15-pointers; Ryan Bateman’s three straight 15-point, ten-assist sessions; Andrew’s record-tying seven straight ten-assisters (shared with Kyle); Lee and Oliver’s five-straight 15-pointers; Mitch’s three-straight 15-pointers; Andrew’s six straight 20-pointers; Bateman and Oliver’s back-to-back 20-pointers; and Andrew’s three-straight 15-pointers… Seamus did grab his 25th career ten-assister yesterday; Andrew his 14th… Alex ties Dom for third in .800 sessions with 26; he has nine .800s in a row and is just one short of Justin’s record streak of ten…Alex extends his record .810 streak to nine…Bateman now has a streak of four .810s to start his career…Lyle records his tenth .810…Alex passes Nathan to move into second in .820s with 21… Alex sets a record with his eighth straight .820… Alex passes Justin and Seamus for the lead in .830s with 19… Bateman has back-to-back .830s… Alex has a record eight straight .830s…Alex ties Justin for the lead in .840s with 14… Alex ties the record of four straight .840s, shared by himself, Justin, Shem and Laird… Alex passes Seamus for the lead in .850s with 11 while Bateman and Lyle grab their second… Alex has back-to-back .870s, just the third player to do after the O’Connors… Bateman goes over .880 for the first time…Alex becomes the seventh player and first VRHer with multiple .890s… Alex and Bateman beat .900 for the first time; the first time two goalies have done so in the same session…Lyle moves into seventh in 80-savers with 21… Alex extends his record 80-saver streak to 21; Lyle’s goes to four… Alex ties Dom for the lead in 90-savers with 32; his tenth in a row to go with his prior record streak of 12 and his other streak of 11… Lyle also has four straight 90-savers… Alex takes the all-time 100-savers from Dom with 28; Lyle moves to ten… Alex has a record ten 100-savers in a row; Lyle three… Alex takes the all-time lead in 110-savers from Dom with 23 and has nine in a row… Lyle’s 110-save streak ends at two… Alex becomes the first player with 20 120-savers; he has nine in a row where no one else has ever had more than two… Alex takes the all-time 130-saver lead from Dom with 17; he has eight in a row where no one else has ever had more than two… On the consecutive sessions front, one of the two streak competing to take down the all-time record ended on Saturday when work forced Lee Orr to miss the session, ending his 14-month-long streak at 35 consecutive sessions… Oliver’s streak, on the other hand, is strong at 39, and is now the second-longest streak ever behind his 2007-2010 streak of 47… Another huge streak ended when Dominik Voser missed his first championship weekend, ending his run at 28 sessions… Bernie has a streak of 18; Sam seven; James five.