For about one-fourth of tonight’s roster, tonight would be the first night of hockey as high school graduates (and the first session after two weekend of debauchery for many of them). As a result, a very festive atmosphere permeated the dressing room – but would it carry over onto the rink? The ever-tenuous goaltending situation would be resolved tonight, with Brodie and Carter back in their respective cages. Even with another large turnout (20 players tonight), there were some notable absences; for example, this would be the first Arena session Andrew Likness missed all season. Also absent were regulars such as Dylan Hascarl, Levi Cordingley, and Kris James (not the mention the continued Arena holdout of one Oliver Koth-Kappus, which prompted some words from Brodie and Terryn).

Blue Team:
0. Dugan McInnes
1. Carter Stenseth (goal)
3. James Hewlitt
4. Ryan Bateman
6. Brett Zeleznik
7. Colton Dachwitz
9. Kellan Nishida
10. Damin Devlin
11. Lee Orr
16. Jacob LaPlante

White Team:
2. K.J. O’Connor
3. Kyle Grenier
4. Terryn Stenseth
6. Nathyn McInnes
8. Zac Wethal
9. Ryan MacDonald
11. Laine Weighill
17. Ben Gardner
29. David Faucher
35. Brodie Yano (goal)

Tonight’s action would see the closest series played to date, with almost dead even shot totals (Blue 75, White 74), even goaltending, and only one of the four games not making it to 5-4. It would be Blue who took the first game 5-4. Colton would notch five assists on the first seven blue goals on goals by Lee, Damin, Jacob, and Bateman. A back-and-forth tilt, White had some impressive contributions of their own from K.J. (three points), Kyle, Terryn, and Laine.

Game 2 began with another Colton assist, this time on a beautiful goal by James. K.J. would respond with two goals of his own followed by another Lee snipe (Lee has really found his place in the Arena as a two-way defenceman over the past two sessions). The Game would remain 2-2 for over ten minutes as the game reached a stalemate; Colton for Blue and Terryn for white in particular were stymied by the goaltenders. Eventually scoring would resume and the game would again go to 5-4 before the K.J.-Kyle-Terryn combo scored the winner for White.

Game 3 saw Blue come back hard, led by the Jacob-Damin-Kellan combo as well as featuring two more Lee goals. Blue would go up 3-0 before a major Ryan MacDonald blast from the left point went top shelf on Carter; it was so quick and accurate that many didn’t even realise it had gone in. That was the momentum shift White needed, as they scored five unanswered goals to take the game 5-3. K.J., Kyle, and Zac figured heavily in scoring here.

Finally, Game 4 would be another hard-fought battle down to the wire. Lee, Damin, and Jacob were rock solid for Blue and Brett had a few scoring chances of his own, but Blue was just too much. Despite Grenier picking up three more points, Blue would win another 5-4 game on a Lee shot that surprised Brodie. After three weeks, it was good to have roller hockey back at the Arena, and it looks like the next week-and-a-half will see action from all three leagues. Should be fun!

K.J. was once again the top scorer despite late charges by Kyle and Damin. K.J.’s 8G would help him to 11P on the night, besting Grenier (5G-5A) by just a point. Damin picked up his first career star points in third with 2G-6A. Lee had his best session yet at the Arena with 6G-1A, and there was quite a logjam of players with six points (Bates, Colton, Kellan, Terryn, and Zac). Brodie was somewhat disappointed with his .773 tonight; Carter finished with .757.

Game Scores:
White vs. Blue 4-5 5-4 5-3 4-5

Faceoff Stats (unofficial):
Nathyn McInnes 4/4 (100.00%)
Ryan Bateman 1/1 (100.00%)
Ryan MacDonald 1/1 (100.00%)
Kellan Nishida 6/8 (75.00%)
David Faucher 2/3 (66.67%)
Terryn Stenseth 5/8 (62.50%)
Jacob LaPlante 5/7 (57.14%)
James Hewlitt 1/2 (50.00%)
K.J. O’Connor 4/10 (40.00%)
Ben Gardner 2/5 (40.00%)
Kyle Grenier 1/3 (33.33%)
Dugan McInnes 1/4 (25.00%)
Colton Dachwitz 1/5 (20.00%)
Damin Devlin 1/5 (20.00%)
Brett Zeleznik 0/1 (0.00%)

Elo Ratings
K.J. O’Connor 2265 (+32)
Kyle Grenier 2230 (+22)
Zac Wethal 2041 (-21)
Ryan Bateman 2018 (-13)
Lee Orr 1974 (+69)
Terryn Stenseth 1918 (+29)
Kellan Nishida 1911 (+33)
Nathyn McInnes 1897 (-80)
Jacob LaPlante 1828 (+5)
Colton Dachwitz 1820 (+73)
Ryan MacDonald 1807 (-40)
Laine Weighill 1763 (-65)
James Hewlitt 1707 (+35)
Brett Zeleznik 1640 (-74)
Ben Gardner 1611 (-13)
Dugan McInnes 1514 (+13)

Provisional Elo Ratings
Damin Devlin 1941 (+106)
David Faucher 1700 (n/a)

Season Stats: Kyle narrows the gap between himself and fourth-place Darrel to 94-79 with K.J. passing Andrew Smart and Bernie to move to sixth at 72... Zac and Lee both appear in the top ten for the first time at 53, tied with Tony Hajdu... Arena-wise, K.J. extends his lead, sitting at 67 points, 13 ahead of new second-place man Kyle... Kyle is one point ahead of Zac and nine ahead of Bates... K.J. passes Kyle for sixth in goals and Lee jumps up to eighth... K.J. has a large lead in goals in the Arena League ahead of Kyle... Kyle moves into the top five in assists... Zac leads the Arena in assists at 34, three ahead of K.J. and five ahead of Kyle... Kyle passes Oliver for fourth in shots on goal, 199-197... Brodie trails Stuart Hall 547-505 for second in saves... With Andrew Likness away, only Kyle Grenier has played all 32 Arena games and only he and Lee have shown up to every session... K.J. leads Kyle in three-star points, 80-60, and Dom in total star points, 95-85... Kyle passes Ryan Disterheft for fourth in total star points, 60-55... Brodie falls behind Laird to third in saves-per-game at 18.70...

SDF/GDF: K.J. and Brodie further confirm their positions atop the SDf and GDF, respectively... Grenier moves up two spots to seventh, trading places with Zac... Damin crosses the session minimum and rockets up 29 spots to 15th... Colton moves up 15 spots to 26th.

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

On the All-Time Front: Lee’s all-time point lead over Oliver is 57... Kyle is just seven points behind Seamus for fifth all-time... Kyle passes Nathan Robson for 12th all-time in games played and is one behind Laird for 11th... Brodie trails K.J. for 15th in games goaltended by four... Kyle passes Lorne for third in total star points, 880-870... Brodie’s fantastic run of .820s ends at five sessions and his .850 streak ends at three... Lee plays his 15th consecutive session; Kyle his ninth; Dugan, Nathyn, Kellan, K.J. and Terryn, their sixth; Brett, Bates, and James their fifth... Dylan’s consecutive session streak ends at five.