This was the VRH session that never should have happened; it was as if Black Magic Murphy himself just did not want us to play hockey on this day. But despite all manner of obstacles, hockey we did play. With a few key regulars out in Point Roberts, low numbers overall and only gear for one goalie, things were not looking good until Saturday night when Ryno managed to round up a few more players and Klopp agreed to come back to town early Sunday (giving us another player and goalie gear). Naturally the forecast had changed to 40% chance of showers, and the clouds in the morning indeed had an ominous air about them; nevertheless, your resident meteorologist saw the approaching break in the cloud cover and gave the green light. Indeed, the sun did appear in the end and the weather was as pleasant as can be on warm spring day.

When we arrived at the rink we were greeted by the Voser crew, as expected, and Ryno only with no other players in sight. We would find out that all of Ryno’s buddies were not going to show up after all, which left us a little shorthanded to say the least. Nevertheless, the Rhymenoceros worked his magic and after a few more phone calls, a different buddy of Ryno’s said he’d come down with a couple of friends.

While waiting for the extra players to show, we began the day with some grueling 2-on-2 action. Game one would see Darrel & Stefan with Stu in net breeze by Ryno & Bernie, despite a heroic effort by Dom. The next game would see a close fought contest with Darrel/Ryno beating Bernie/Stefan in sudden death OT. Dom again was a major factor in this game, making highlight-reel save after highlight real save on almost constant odd man rushes and breaks. Not to be outshined by his brother, it should also be noted that Darrel had nine points in the first two games.

By the end of this game Stuart Bell had arrived and he would strap on the pads, seeing the other Stuart play out on some very wobbly skates. Since the remaining players hadn’t arrived yet, 3-on-2 teams were created with the powerhouse combo Darrel/Stefan with Dom taking on the remainder. Perhaps it was the 3 team taking their extra man for granted and playing a little lax, or perhaps it was the brute force of the Darrel/Stefan combo, but Darrel/Stefan took a commanding 4-1 lead early. However, the 3-team would begin to find their chemistry, and figure out how to better utilize their extra man, and before long a classic big comeback was in under way, with Team Stubell eventually wining it 5-4.

A late arrival by Rob and a friend’ of Stu Bell’s showing up, would finally allow us to play a full 3-on-3 game, with a sub on one team even. Sticks produced Stef-Rob-Ryno-Stubell(G) vs. Bernie-Stu-Darrel-Ryan Leonard-Dom(G) with Team Stu Bell taking the first game by a narrow margin. A VRH session wouldn’t quite be complete without at least one solid redemption effort and Team Dom would indeed accomplish this taking the final game of the day. Stu Bell was very solid in net this series, and Dom again was brilliant. In fact, even if the stats don’t end up reflecting it, this session featured probably the most impressive goaltending performance of the year. It may not have featured the most saves or the highest save percentage, but the number of unbelievable, diving, seemingly open net, show stopping saves by Dom today was absolutely unparalleled. It will go down as a goaltending performance for the ages.

Despite all obstacles, in the end everyone was glad that hockey happened on this day. It ended up being a great fun-filled session on a sunny day in Ambleside.

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Thanks, Bern! Darrel got off to an early start on the scoresheet this day and that would be enough to give him the day in scoring with 13G-5A, edging out Ryno (10G-7A) by a point and Stefan (7G-9A) by two. Judging by the way Stu Hall was scoring, he could have very well factored in had he played the entire session out. Stu was on fire in goal, too, finishing at .829, narrowly behind Dom at .833; Dom made 115 saves in just five games today. Stuart Bell’s debut wasn’t too shabby, either, at .787. History was also made today as Mr. Bell became the 200th player in Burton Hockey history; we’ve now had about as many players in Burton Hockey as there are people living in the actual village of Burton!

Game Scores:
Darrel Stefan Stu H def. Bernie Ryan D Dom 5-3
Darrel Ryan D Stu H def. Bernie Stefan Dom 5-4
Ryan D Bernie Stu H Stu B def. Stefan Darrel Dom 5-4
Stefan Rob Ryan D Stu B vs. Bernie Stu H Darrel Ryan L Dom 5-4 3-5

Elo Ratings
Rob Hajdu 1996 (-63)
Stefan Klopp 1983 (-2)
Darrel Voser 1921 (+41)
Ryan Disterheft 1919 (+24)
Stuart Hall 1765 (+12)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1561 (+18)

Provisional Elo Ratings
Ryan Leonard 1768 (n/a)

Season Stats: Oliver’s refusal to play in the Arena League is costing him a run at the scoring title; even with Stefan in Europe for a month, he came back still leading the race by seven points, and now Oliver has been passes by Ryno. Stefan leads Ryno 130-110 with Ollie at 107 and Darrel at 94... Bernie moves from ninth to sixth at 62... Rob passes Lee and Zac to moves to 12th... Ryno closes in on Stefan’s goal lead, 61-59; Darrel moves ahead of Nick and Oliver into third at 49... Rob moves up to eighth and Bernie up to ninth... Stefan finally takes the assist lead from the absent Oliver, 69-63... Ryan becomes the third player this year with 50 assists...Ryno extends his shots lead over Stefan to 339-299... Dom extends his save lead of Stu Hall, 671-547... Oliver continues to lose ground in games played as he is passed by Dom for third, 53-51... Bernie still hasn’t missed a game yet in 2012... Dom leads Stuart in games goaltended, 41-39... Ryno trails K.J. for the lead in three-star points, 65-55... Darrel ties Kyle for third at 50 with Stefan is tied with Andrew Smart at 45... Dom passes Brodie for the lead in goalie star points, 85-70, and passes K.J. for the lead in total star points, 85-70... Ryno passes K.J. for fifth in PPG with 2.44... Ryno passes Jesse Cann for fourth in GPG... Ryno moves up to second in saves-per-game at 7.31 with Darrel moving up to fourth and Rob up to fifth... Darrel’s 13 goals are the fourth-highest session total this year... Darrel’s 59 shots on goal ranks third on the year; Ryno’s 57 are fifth... Dom’s 115 saves are the fourth-highest total of the year.

SDF/GDF: K.J. remains on top of the SDF while Rob makes the biggest move toward the top, moving up from fifth to third. Oliver actually passes Darrel thanks to a bad session dropping off... Bron’s inactivity will remove him from the top of the GDF, making the top three will be Brodie, Dom, and Stu Hall.

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

On the All-Time Front: Stefan needs two points for 1,800... Rob is six points behind Pat Elischer for 11th all-time... Darrel is four points behind brother Dom for 33rd all-time... Bernie needs five points to become the third player to score 1,000 points in VRH... Bernie needs 14 goals for 700... Rob leads Ryno for 14th in goals, 374-365... Stefan passes Seamus for fourth in assists... Rob is seven assists behind Graeme for seventh... Dom needs 192 saves for 8,000... Stefan needs one more game for 800; Dom needs 12 for 600... Darrel needs five games for 100... Darrel records his fifth 15-pointer and finally gets his first ten-goal session... Stuart has five career .800s including four in a row... Stuart also has three .820s in a row... Dom has back-to-back .830s and is the first goalie with 25 all-time... Dom also become the first goalie with 50 90-savers... Bernie plays in his 15th consecutive session; Darrel his seventh.