It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The air was crisp and the streets were packed with people celebrating Chinese New Year. We snaked our way through traffic to the old, stagnant court. Long forgotten, it had been waiting many months for VRH to return. As if the court knew we were coming is was clean, and relatively dry for a February day.

The bleary-eyed Monkey Paw Brewery crew arrived last, wheels rusted stiff, livers throbbing in pain from the East Van Beer-Tasting Fest. The opposing team of Vets J-Bo, Smart and Ryno were rounded-out by three rookies: Bryce, Jay, and Dylan. After a slow, methodical lace-up the game started and the rust disappeared from the Pawtriots. In a grueling, 45 minute-long opening session, the war of attrition began. The ticks, the tacks, the toes, and the Brewers showed how vicious the back-hand slap of a paw can be.

That was but the start. As very tide ebbs, so does it flow. Game 2 was hard-fought, close, and full of chances, but J-Bo found his buddy Bryce for soft-handed tip-ins, and the Smart-laser shot a couple of beams through the wall.

The tide began to turn. The 5 am partying wore heavily on the Paws, and the stretch passes moved just out of reach. The battles in the corner were lost or shied-away from. The energy left, and Dylan stood tall. Very tall indeed. An 82.5 save percentage put him at the top of the leaderboard for 2013, and sealed the deal with 4 straight victories.

Even with a couple of sneaky Hajdu-Koth-Kappus-behind-the-play-connections-that-really-piss-off-Andrew, the Smart-Bo-Bryce-Rhino lines dominated on all fronts, and made the Monkey Paw Brewery pay dearly for its arrogance.

All-in-all, all were happy. Legs are sore, but spirits are lifted in the first game for many months. Smart leads the scoring race. Will he even look back once?

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Thanks, Rob! Yes, Burton Hockey is back for a glorious 14th season. It’s probably no surprise that the top three scorers all came from the victorious Team Dylan. Andrew Smart picked up first star, as his 8G-9A edged out Jordan’s 6G-10A by a point. Ryan came third at 6G-8A, while Rob led Team Jay at 3G-10A. In the battle of the rookie goaltenders, Dylan came out on top with .825 on 66 saves ahead of Jay at .753 on 73 saves. Exactly on what planet are we on that Oliver leads a session in shots on goal?

Game Scores:
Jordan Bryce* Andrew Ryan Dylan def. Stefan Oliver Rob Jay 4-5 5-4 5-1 5-2 5-2 (*games 1-4)

Elo Ratings
Andrew Smart 2143 (+21)
Rob Hajdu 2024 (-15)
Stefan Klopp 1932 (-35)
Oliver Koth-Kappus 1873 (-8)
Jordan Barlow 1902 (+39)
Ryan Disterheft 1884 (+25)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1541 (-12)

Provisional Elo Ratings (fewer than three sessions)
Bryce Recsky 1773 (n/a)

Season Stats: Being the first session of 2013, the season scoring stats are the same as the session scoring stats!. Pretty easy to follow.

SDF/GDF: As 2013 begin, even more Arena League players fall down and off the chart as Sam continues to hold a commanding lead. Andrew and Rob now hold second and third comfortably. Colton peaks out at fifth before he begins his great fall down the chart. The big loser when it comes to the SDF is Kyle Grenier, who falls from third to 22nd... Over on the GDF, Stuart Hall holds courts on top for a second straight ranking, while newcomers Jay and Dylan rank seventh and eighth, respectively.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Oliver resumes his chase of Lee Orr for the all-time scoring lead. Ollie now sits just 19 points behind Lee for the all-time lead... Stefan needs 20 points for 1,900... Rob is 15 points behind Graeme for 10th all-time... Andrew needs 21 points for 900... Stefan becomes the third player in history with 1,000 goals... Ryan ties Mitch Detta for 14th in goals with Andrew three behind... Andrew needs three assists for 500... Andrew passes Chris Jackins for 22nd in games played and needs three for 300... Andrew ties Justin for eight in all-time 15-pointers at 34... Jordan passes Lorne for eighth in ten-assisters with 18, one behind Rob... Dylan pots an .820 session in his first time out... Rob plays in his ninth consecutive session; Stefan his seventh... Stefan and Oliver become the first players to play in all 14 Burton Hockey seasons.