The juggernaut that is roller hockey is truly an awesome beast. You cannot overwhelm it; you can only hope to contain it. Tonight it would be contained within the confines of the Nakusp & District Sports Complex as a record 25 hockey warriors suited up and took to the glazed concrete to wage battle on the rink. With Brodie and Laird back in net again, the gang was primed for more epic challenges in goal. In the eternal battle of Blue versus White, two colours would enter, but only one would leave victorious at the end of tonight’s Nakusp Arena League action.

Blue Team:
1. Dylan Hascarl
1. Laird Bilinski (goal, 1-3)
2. Lee Orr (2-5)
3. Kyle Grenier
4. Dugan McInnes
6. James Hewlitt
8. Andrew Likness
9. Lance Beingessner (1-4)
10. Luke Krbyla
11. Jesse Cann
19. Jacob LaPlante
24. Levi Cordingley
35. Brodie Yano (goal, 4-5)

White Team:
1. Laird Bilinski (goal, 4-5)
1. Ryan MacDonald
2. Ryan Bateman
3. Zac Wethal
4. Kalum Stevens (3-5)
6. Kellan Nishida
7. Ben Gardner
8. Terryn Stenseth
10. Tyson Cann
11. Andy Kieran (2-5)
11. Nathyn McInnes
15. K.J. O’Connor
29. Brett Zeleznik
35. Brodie Yano (goal, 1-3)

As the group filed into the rink to draw sticks in the middle, Lee Orr was noticeably absent, missing his first game of the season as he and cousin Andy Kieran were en route from the Okanagan; they’d be back in time for Game 2 (the other Faint family cousin, James Hewlitt, was there, however). This would leave Drew Likness and Kyle Grenier as the only two players to play every game this year in the Arena. From the opening faceoff of Game 1, it was an onslaught of Blue shots against the bulwark that is Brodie Yano. They would require 2 shots for every White shot to keep the game close. While Blue scoring was spread around evenly (including two points each for Jesse, Kyle, Jacob, and Lance), White’s offensive power was concentrated in Zac, K.J., and Bates (four points for Zac and K.J.; three for Bates). Despite being outshot 30-13, White would take the first set 5-4.

Game 2 was similar in style as goals were traded back and forth between the two squads, and Blue continued to fire off bombs at Brodie. Dylan in particular was unleashing massive slapshots, but little was getting through. The biggest bomb of all was a major volley from the point by Levi that absolutely blew by Brodie. Decked out in a jersey missing the entire right sleeve with a handwritten ‘Daniels’ nameplate, he was a key figure in helping Blue get even in the series with a 5-4 win of their own led by a Jesse Cann hat trick. Zac, K.J., and Andrew still had plenty of points in the loss, however. The fourth goal of the game for White was a rather nice one. Andy Kieran had just stepped onto the rink for his first shift of the game. Stripping the puck from Blue off the faceoff, he sent it right up the rink to K.J. for a terrific breakaway snipe on Laird.

Game 3 saw Kalum Stevens join the action to put the day’s numbers at an even two dozen, and just like Andy he made a huge impact in his first shift with a booming slapshot to beat Brodie. Zac and K.J. would each have another three points, and Nate and Kalum would have two as well as White took another closely fought 5-4 victory. The first three games saw lots of frustration

For Game 4, the goalies were switched, completely changing the complexion of the series. From this point onward, it would largely be the Jesse and Dylan show, but not before the Blue tandem of Levi and Jacob kicked the game off with two lovely tic-tac goals to push Blue toward their eventual 5-0 shutout victory. Thanks to a Jesse hat trick, the game ended in just nine minutes. White would recover for Game 5 as Laird finally found his groove, Nathyn kept sniping, and K.J. turned into an assist machine. Going the other way, Jesse and Jacob continued to hold hot sticks and Dylan remained an offensive threat with two goals as Blue would win at protracted Game 5 5-3. Ending at 9:10 pm, this would be the longest Arena session yet.

Lots of great performances tonight. There was much more defence tonight, which resulted in defencemen picking up a lot of points, particularly Luke Krbyla. We should also not the debut of Ben Gardner, who we believe becomes the first player to be born after the founding of Burton Hockey.

The weekend is shaping up to be rather interesting with Brouse natives and VRH cornerstones Bernie and Oliver Koth-Kappus coming in from Vancouver to join in on the May long weekend BUSH session down in Burton; an all-too-rare interleague visit. Oliver in fact, will be sticking around past the weekend, leaving him poised to make his debut in the Arena League next week. And, of course, one wonders how will VRH fare without them for the first time in 2012. It should be good!

Follow Burton Hockey on Twitter @burtonhockey
Visit Burton Hockey on Facebook

Zac had 10P after three games, and that was enough of a cushion to give him first star with a final total of 6G-6A despite just three goals for White in the final two games. He would edge out Jesse by just one point for first star, but Jesse did make history as the first player to notch a ten-goal session in the Arena. Coming in third on 2G-7A was K.J., who himself noted after the game how strange it was for him to have this many more assists than goals. Just missing out on the three stars were Dylan (8P including five in the final two games), Kyle (8P), and Nate (7P). In goal, it was all Brodie all night long with what was the most impressive goaltending session of the Arena season so far: .857 with 96 saves and a shutout. Laird had an off night at .757.

Game Scores:
Blue def. White 4-5 5-4 4-5 5-0 5-3

Faceoff Stats (unofficial):
Dugan McInnes 2/2 (100.00%)
Lance Beingessner 1/1 (100.00%)
Ben Garder 1/1 (100.00%)
Dylan Hascarl 12/15 (80.00%)
Terryn Stenseth 4/6 (66.67%)
Levi Cordingley 4/7 (57.14%)
K.J. O’Connor 3/7 (42.86%)
Kellan Nishida 4/7 (36.36%)
Jacob LaPlante 2/6 (33.33%)
Kyle Grenier 1/4 (25.00%)
Nathyn McInnes 1/5 (20.00%)
Ryan Bateman 0/5 (0.00%)

Elo Ratings
Kyle Grenier 2174 (-8)
K.J. O’Connor 2160 (+27)
Zac Wethal 2084 (+109)
Jesse Cann 2029 (+122)
Andrew Likness 1961 (+17)
Dylan Hascarl 1935 (+129)
Ryan Bateman 1925 (+44)
Nathyn McInnes 1875 (+136)
Lee Orr 1850 (+23)
Terryn Stenseth 1844 (-142)
Luke Krbyla 1831 (+63)
Ryan MacDonald 1821 (-49)
James Hewlitt 1756 (-78)
Kalum Stevens 1753 (+54)
Levi Cordingley 1734 (+18)
Lance Beingessner 1729 (+70)
Andy Kieran 1727 (-55)
Kellan Nishida 1726 (-162)
Dugan McInnes 1629 (-55) Provisional Elo Ratings
Jacob LaPlante 1927 (+42)
Brett Zeleznik 1703 (-144)
Ben Gardner 1677 (n/a)
Tyson Cann 1674 (-18)

Season Stats: Kyle climbs back into the top five at 63 points, two ahead of Andrew Smart and two behind Darrel Voser... The next closest Arena player to the top ten is K.J. at 43 points, one behind Rob Hajdu for 11th... Kyle and K.J. are tied for the Arena scoring lead at 38 points with Zac now just one point behind... Kyle is the only Arena in the top ten in goals, sitting sixth at 27... K.J. leads the Arena in goals at 18 followed by Kyle (16), Zac (15), Bates (14), and Jesse (13)... Kyle jumps from ninth to fifth overall in assists with 36, one ahead of Darrel... K.J. enters the top ten in assists with 25... Kyle and Zac are tied for the Arena assists lead with 22 followed by K.J. (20), Drew (19), and Dylan (18)... Kyle passes Darrel for fourth in shots, 170-161, and is miles ahead in the Arena race... Despite just two tonight, K.J. is the overall Burton leader in shooting percentage at 29.03%... Brodie leaps into second in goaltending at .832 and is easily tops in the Arena at .847... Brodie passes Sam Lam for third in saves, 371-308, while Laird jumps from ninth to sixth... Brodie becomes the fourth goalie this year to get a shutout and the second in the Arena... K.J. sits first in the Arena and tied for third overall in three-star points with 35 (tied with Kyle and Oliver Koth-Kappus); Zac is just five points behind... Brodie has now tied Dom Voser for the lead in goalie star points and total star points at 55; K.J. is five total star points behind... Jesse jumps to fifth in GPG at 1.30... Kyle falls from third to fifth in shots-per-game... Laird debuts second in saves-per-game at 18.86... Brodie’s .857 is the fourth-best session of the year and second in the Arena... Brodie’s 953 PPS is fourth overall and tops in the Arena.

SDF/GDF: The rankings for the week are now finalised... Nick Jornitz barely holds onto the top of the SDF, as K.J. closes to within less than a point... Jesse crosses over the session minimum and vaults into fourth... Big drops from Bates and Kellan... Jacob now finds himself up in the top 20 and he’s still not at the session minimum yet... For the third time ever and for the first time since March 2005, Brodie Yano finds himself on top of the GDF, dethroning Bron after two rankings on top... Dom drops below Stuart to fourth while Laird moves up three 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: Heading into a likely BUSH session on Saturday featuring both players, Lee holds a 43-point lead over Oliver in all-time scoring... Andrew needs six points for 100... Kyle passes Lorne for fourth in goals with 903... K.J. trails Seamus by 15 for sixth in goals... K.J. becomes the ninth player to score 500 assists... Brodie needs 58 saves to become the 16th goalie with 1,000... Kyle becomes the 13th player to play 500 games... Brodie posts his fifth career shutout... Laird’s volume of saves tonight did help net him a third star, so he passes Justin for sixth in goalie star points, 320-315, and ties pat Elischer for 13th in total star points at 410... Jesse posts his first ten-goal session... Brodie now has four straight .820s and back-to-back .850s... Counting only full sessions, Brodie has back-to-back 90-savers... Lee plays in his 12th straight session; Kyle his sixth; Brodie his fifth.