After nearly a month long absence, VRH would finally hit the pavement of Ambleside once again. Despite the glorious sunshine on this day, the rink was still a little wet from the previous day’s drizzle creating slippery conditions on one side of the rink and also numerous spills. With Dom’s vision rather blurry (from recent lasik eye surgery), he would opt to play out and Jordan “Garth Bones” Downey would volunteer to man the pipes. Perfect numbers today would see each team with one sub.

Sticks were thrown to produce Andy-Ollie-Dom-Rob-Sam(G) vs. J-Bo-Marcus-Tony-Bernie-Jordo(G). Game one was quite even in terms of play but an “unstoppable” performance by Bones would lead his team to a 5-2 victory. Bones, however, would come back down to earth in the next game, surrendering 5 goals, and with a solid team effort and a Lammer shutout, Team Sam would win easily. The rubber match would be another quick one, with Team Sam again solving the Downey equation and winning 5-1.

For the next series the teams were kept the same, with just the goalies switched. Backed by some excellent goaltending, Team Sam (now with J-Bo-Marcus-Tony-Bernie) would take the series in 2 games. It should also be noted that after the 4th game a formal announcement was made as Ollie had both reached his 1000th all–time goal and finally surpassed Stefan Klopp as the all-time VRH points leader.

Sticks again were thrown for the next series to produce Andy-J-Bo-Tony-Bernie-Sam(G) vs. Dom-Ollie-Rob-Marcus-Jordo(G). Lead by a 5 point effort from Marcus and another miracle game from Bones, his team would win the first game handily. However, Team Sam, lead by Andy & J-Bo (8 & 7 points respectively) would get their redemption by winning the next two games and the series.

Even though the conditions weren’t ideal today, it was a blast to get back out there again! Look for another VRH session or two before Christmas (as long as the weather co-operates) and the possible return of VRH perennial member Stefan Klopp.

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Thanks, Bernie! A very strong performance from Sam Lam in goal this day, with .851 and a shutout on 103 saves. Jordan Downey performed admirably in relief with 90 saves and .732. Scoring-wise, another first star for Andrew Smart with 10G-12A to best Rob and Marcus (10-8 and 11-7, respectively). Let's hope for more action before Christmas, and as always, we're holding out hope for a BUSH Christmas session.

Game Scores:
Andrew Oliver Dom Rob Sam def. Barlow Marcus Bernie Tony Downey 2-5 5-0 5-1
Barlow Marcus Bernie Tony Sam def. Andrew Oliver Dom Rob Downey 5-2 5-2
Andrew Bernie Tony Barlow Sam def. Dom Oliver Rob Marcus Downey 1-5 5-2 5-1

Elo Ratings

Andrew Smart 2258 (+15)
Rob Hajdu 2072 (+14)
Marcus Keighron 2061 (+15)
Tony Hajdu 1983 (-16)
Jordan Barlow 1866 (+21)
Dominik Voser 1836 (-10)
Oliver Koth-Kappus 1823 (-42)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1600 (+3)

Season Stats: Rob joins Andrew and Oliver in the 300-point club while Marcus closes in on Tony for fourth, 290-287... Barlow trails Lee for sixth, 219-212... Dom becomes the 16th player this year to score 100 points... Tony leads Marcus for second in goals, 168-165; Rob ties Oliver for fourth at 149... Barlow becomes the seventh player with 100 goals this year... Andrew passes 300 assists... Tony leads Bernie for fourth in assists, 129-127... Marcus trails Oliver for fourth in shots, 745-735... Sam is 97 saves behind Alex for second... Dom needs six games to become the first player to play 200 this year... Sam ties Alex for second in shutouts with four... Andrew hands the PPG lead back to Kyle, 3.18-3.17... Andrew passes Tony for third in shots per game...

SDF/GDF: Andrew holds the top spot again on the SDF while Marcus drops one spot to fourth and Lee drops two to seventh... Dom jumps up seven spots to 12th as he reaches the session minimum... Alex’s 17th straight ranking on top sees Sam move up to third behind Dom as Mitch Zorn falls below the minimum and drops down accordingly; Downey debuts in seventh.

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

On the All-Time Front: Bernie passes Seamus for fourth in all-time scoring... Tony needs 10 points for 700... Marcus becomes the 21st player with 500 points... Oliver passes Stefan to become the all-time leading scorer in VRH while Andrew passes 700 VRH points... Oliver becomes the second player ever with 1,000 goals... Tony is one goal behind Mitch Detta for 12th... Andrew enters the top 15 in goals... Barlow is three goals behind Sam for 17th... Bernie needs four assists for 900... Andrew becomes the 14th player with 400 assists... Andrew becomes the 14th player with 1,800 shots on goal... Barlow passes Jason for fourth in all-time shooting percentage... Sam passes Lorne for 12th in saves and needs 103 for 2,000... Sam records his fifth career shutout... Andrew passes K.J. for eighth in 20-pointers with 22... Marcus has nine straight 15-pointers, the longest active streak in Burton Hockey; Andy has three... Dom’s 15-pointer streak ends at four... Andrew ties Tony for ninth in ten-goal sessions with 15; Rob has ten... Andrew has three straight ten-assisters... Sam has back-to-back .830s... Downey records his first 80- and 90-savers... Dom has three straight 80-savers... Sam has nine consecutive 80-avers, the fifth-longest streak ever... Sam has four straight 90-savers and back-to-back 100-savers...Andrew plays his 16th straight session; Dom his 13th... Andrew records the fourth 300-assist season ever (Lee has two; Oliver has one)... Andrew’s 335 total star points ties Seamus’ 2010 campaign for the fourth-highest mark ever.