The Arena League took last week off due to the rainout of the Nakusp Canada Day events, which forced the celebration onto the Arena floor as an emergency back-up, in the process leaving the rink in no condition to play on. Nine days after the celebration, it still wasn’t ready; dirt and oil still covered still nearly the entire rink. The conditions would make for one of the more interesting sessions in some time.

Also not helping things was the complete lack of goaltenders once again. There was an uncharacteristically low number of players tonight (just 13, which would be amazing for BUSH or VRH but very low for the Arena League), with action being delayed a good 15-20 minutes before game time as players waited for the stragglers to show up before they donned their gear, wanting to make sure we’d actually play. Nathyn and Zac would be in attendance but not playing due to back issues and taking care of a baby, respectively. Eventually, the two youngest players, Dugan and Ben, were convinced to suit up.

Blue Team:
0. Ben Gardner (goal, 3)
1. Dugan McInnes (goal, 1-2)
1. Lance Beingessner
2. Lee Orr
3. Kellan Nishida
6. James Hewlitt
8. Brett Zeleznik

White Team:
0. Ben Gardner (goal, 1-2)
1. Dugan McInnes (goal, 3)
2. K.J. O’Connor
7. Terryn Stenseth
9. Jacob LaPlante
11. Ryan MacDonald
15. Colton Dachwitz
15. Dallas Sinclair

Yes, that’s right; Dallas f’n Sinclair! A legend of the Burton rink, Dallas still sits third in all-time points-per-game. It would be Dal’s first session since all the way back on 9 September 2006 (a session in which he led scoring with 24 points), and everyone was excited to see how he’d do after six years off and a major knee reconstruction in the interval. That said, the second the skaters took to the rink for the warm-up, the major question quickly became how anyone would make it more than five strides without falling on their ass, and the surface was absolutely treacherous. It’s one thing to have to deal with water seeping through the pores in the concrete, but having actual oil, dirt, and grease covering the rink was not short of abominable.

With just eleven skaters tonight, we’d have scoring conditions as close to BUSH or VRH as we’ve ever seen at the Arena, and it would prove to be a short scoring bonanza tonight, at least for Blue. The sticks-in-the-middle gave Blue a fairly defence-oriented team compared to the flash and dash of White. Within ten seconds of the opening faceoff, players began falling like bowling pins all over the rink; Dallas in particular. Dallas would have the last laugh, however, as he scored the first two goals of the game to let us all know that he was back. The second goals was by far the awesomest, as Dallas dangled around Dugan and slid one home only to immediately fall straight down flat on his face with a massive thud. Blue would fight back quickly, however, with the Kellan-Lee-James line peeling off five quick goals interrupted by a K.J. tally. Kellan’s five points in Game 1 made him the first player to point out a game at the Arena, and Lee and Jamie each had four points of their own. Brett’s two assist tally for Blue would set a precedent as he picked up two assists in each of the three games tonight.

Lee and James would carry the bulk of the scoring load from here on in as Dugan exploded with highlight reel saves for Blue during Game 2 (the only .800 game by a goalie in this freewheeling session), stoning Dallas and K.J. repeatedly. Backed again by the able defence of Brett and Lance, Blue would win 5-2, although the two #15s for White, Colton and Dallas, would hook up on a pretty nice goal.

While the slipping and sliding was funny to watch and made for some great bloopers, including a four-way pileup that ran on and like a Three Stooges skit (absolutely no one was exempt from their feet coming out from under them, and the ratio of falls to playing time here was absolutely unprecedented in 13 seasons of Burton Hockey), frustration with the conditions prompted the crew to get one last game in and then get out of there. The two teams traded goalies, and Game 3 proceeded to last all of 13 shots, ending in another 5-3 win for Blue. While there was always the fun of getting out there and playing (any hockey is better than none), the rink just wasn’t workable. Big thanks go out to Dugan and Ben for saving the session and getting in goal. This might be the last one for a while if the rink isn’t cleaned up properly. It will also be the last time we see K.J. for a very long while, as he moves off to Kamloops in a couple of weeks.

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With lots of points up for grabs tonight, five players took advantage of the conditions, led by Lee as the all-time leading scorer in Burton history finally grabs his first first-star performance at the Arena with 8G-3A in the three games. Right behind him at 4G-6A was James with his best session by far at the Arena. The inspirational story of the night was Dallas, who returned to roller hockey after six years and a major knee surgery to easily lead the White team in scoring, notching five of their eight goals en route to 7P. Also posting seven up were Kellan, who recorded the first point-out game in Arena history, and Brett with his first career star points on the back of a session-leading 6A.

Game Scores:
Blue def. White 5-3 5-2 5-3

Faceoff Stats (unofficial):
Brett Zeleznik 2/2 (100.00%)
Lee Orr 1/1 (100.00%)
K.J. O’Connor 2/3 (66.67%)
Kellan Nishida 8/15 (53.33%)
Dallas Sinclair 2/4 (50.00%)
Lance Beingessner 1/2 (50.00%)
Terryn Stenseth 5/11 (45.45%)
Colton Dachwitz 1/4 (25.00%)
James Hewlitt 0/2 (0.00%)

Elo Ratings
K.J. O’Connor 2218 (-77)
Lee Orr 2070 (+49)
Dallas Sinclair 2052 (-2)
Colton Dachwitz 1926 (-30)
Kellan Nishida 1898 (+32)
Terryn Stenseth 1881 (-65)
Ryan MacDonald 1834 (-9)
James Hewlitt 1774 (+95)
Jacob LaPlante 1762 (-66)
Brett Zeleznik 1684 (+75)
Lance Beingessner 1572 (-3)

Season Stats: With so many players absent tonight, not a lot of things change near the top... K.J. passes Kyle to move into the top five overall at 90 points, four behind Darrel Voser... Lee passes Bernie to move into seventh at 73... Kellan passes Dylan and Drew to move to 16th... Lee moves into the top five in Arena points at 46 with Kellan moving up two spots to sixth at 41... James and Terryn enter the Arena top ten for the first time... No positions actually change in the top ten in goals or assists overall... Arena-wise, Lee passes Zac for fourth in goals, 22-19... Dylan passes Drew to move to fifth in Arena assists, 28-25... Lee moves into fourth in shooting percentage at 26.48%... Lee moves into fifth in games played this year with 47; K.J. has 44... Kyle misses an Arena session for the first time ever; Lee leads Kyle and Kellan in Arena games played, 40-37-37... K.J. falls behind Ryno to fifth in GPG at 1.24...

SDF/GDF: The first Arena session finally drops off the ranking this week, so we will begin to see some names drops off as well... K.J.’s rating took a major hit tonight but he had enough of a cushion over Nick that he will continue to hold the lead... The absent Grenier drops two spots to seventh; Jesse three spots to eleventh... Kris has a bad session come off and he rises four spots to eighth... Bates falls four to 15th; Lee moves up three to 16th; Kellan re-enters the top 20... With no real change in the GDF this week, Dom holds onto the top spot again for a 21st time overall, the fifth-most of any goalie ever.

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 17 goals to become the first player with 1,500... Terryn passes Troy for 26th in assists and needs 11 for 200... Lee is 11 games away from 1,000; Terryn needs ten for 200; James needs two for 100; Lee plays his 17th consecutive session; Dugan, Kellan, Terryn, and K.J. their eighth; James and Brett their seventh; Colton his fifth... Bernie’s abstention from the Arena League means that his consecutive session streak ends at 15; Grenier’s streak ends at ten; Nathyn’s at seven; Bateman’s at six.