After more than a month without a session (due to a number of reasons including weather and lack of goalies), VRH would finally hit the pavement of Ambleside once again on hottest day of the year. Temps were expected to hit the low 20s by the water and the sun was blazing down with not a cloud to be seen. With Stef and Ollie headed to Nakusp we would in tough with numbers, but luckily almost every remaining regular player would be in for Saturday, leaving us with just enough for a full 3-on-3 game.

Ryno worked the phones to try to get another body or two (for subs) but to no avail. Soon after, Rob's shirt would come off and the game would begin. With Bernie taking the occasional break, parts of the game would be played 2-on-2. As the opposite team would get an occasional rotating sub and thus be much fresher this way, it was decided to switch up the teams after every game. This resulted in no series (and no redemption possibilities) but also provided an interesting opportunity for everyone to play with different players in a number of different combinations.

Andy was a force today putting up big points and winning 4 of 5 games. Dom was also brilliant in net, having perhaps the best single game performance of the year with highlight reel save after save, while Sam was very solid in the other net as well.

Three and half hours of grueling hockey in the heat left most everyone utterly exhausted and the session was called (despite no soccer players attempting to usurp the rink from us). With the splendid weather expected to continue and one of our key goalies (i.e., Dom) back from Italy, expect more VRH sessions in the coming weeks.

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Thanks, Bern! A thoroughly dominant performance from Andy Smart today, as Mr. JS put up a 4.00 PPG session with 9G-11A on 43 shots. You’ll have to go back to 13P to find Jordan at 6G-7A. Tying for third were Eric and Rob at 12P. Bernie had some great hands today, scoring on 7 of 17 shots. In goal, both goalies were fantastic as usual. Dom was .829 with 97 saves while Sam finished with .809 and 76 saves.

Game Scores:
Eric Jordan Ryan Sam def. Rob Andrew Bernie Dom 5-3
Andrew Rob Ryan Sam def. Jordan Eric Bernie Dom 5-1
Bernie Jordan Andrew Dom def. Rob Ryan Eric Sam 5-1
Andrew Ryan Eric Sam def. Bernie Jordan Rob Dom 5-4
Andrew Eric Bernie Dom def. Rob Ryan Jordan Sam 5-4

Elo Ratings
Andrew Smart 2143 (+28)
Rob Hajdu 2026 (-15)
Jordan Barlow 1894 (+25)
Ryan Disterheft 1894 (-25)
Eric Coutinho 1845 (+6)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1507 (-6)

Season Stats: The absence of Oliver this week means that Rob takes sole possession of the scoring lead at 63 points, but Smart took a giant chunk out of it, now trailing by just three points… Oliver sits third at 51 followed by Jordan and Ryan at 46, and then it’s a big drop to Bernie and Eric at 23… Andy leads Rob in goals, 29-24, followed by Jordan (22) and Ryan (19) and Oliver (18)… Rob takes the assist lead from Oliver, 39-33, followed by Andy (31) and Ryan (28)… Rob has a big lead in shots on goal over Andrew, 195-146… Bernie’s light-out performance on the stick (seven goals on 17 shots) vaults him into the shooting percentage lead at 27.78… Sam falls to third in save percentage behind Dylan Rimmer, giving Dom a massive .850-.826 lead over Dylan… Sam closes toward Stuart for second in saves, 219-171… With Ollie away, Rob takes the games played lead at 24, followed by the Koth-Kappi at 21 and Ryan and Dom at 20… Dom’s 20 games have all come in goal; Sam sits third in games goaltended at nine… Andrew leads Rob in three-star points, 45-25, followed by Jordan at 20… Dom leads Stu and Sam in goalie star points, 50-30-20… Dom keeps his five-point lead over Andrew in total star points, 50-45; Sam is third at 35… Andy takes the lead in PPG at Sam with 3.53… Jordan passes Rob for fifth in PPG with 2.71… Andrew takes the APG lead from Rob, 1.82-1.63… Eric falls to third in shots-per-game behind Scotty Edison, 9.75-9.40… Sam falls from second to fourth in saves per game behind Stu Hall and Dom… Andrew records the second 20-pointer of the 2013 season, taking one fewer game than it took Sam to accomplish it back in March… Andrew’s 11 assists in 5 games rank as the highest total yet seen in this young season, while his nine goals tie for fourth… Dom’s 97 saves rank fourth-highest in a session this season; Rob’s 44 shots on goal rank fifth… There have still not been any shutouts recorded this season, which is rather abnormal.

SDF/GDF: SAm and Andrew remain far ahead of everyone else on the SDF... The big movement comes from the drop of Griff from fourth to 13th as he falls below the session minimum, and Ryan falling from fifth to eighth. Oliver, Stefan, Jordan, and Darrel all move up within the top ten as a result... Eric jumps from 13th to ninth... Bron's inactivity hands the lead on the GDf back to Dom, who tied Laird for fifth in all-time rankings led with 22... Stu sits second with Sam third.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Rob needs 16 points to become the first VRH-bred player to score 1,000 points… Jordan is nine points behind Pat Elischer for 13th… Ryan passes Joern Hornhardt for 16th and is five points behind Tony Hajdu for 15th… Eric needs 23 points for 500… Andy becomes the 14th player to score 400 goals and is six behind Tony for 13th, while Ryan is six goals behind Andy… Rob is seven assists behind Justin Gordon for eighth… Andy is one assist behind K.J. O’Connor for tenth… Jordan passes Graeme Orr for 12th in assists… Ryan is six assists behind Nathan Robson for 15th… Sam is 34 saves behind Lyle Detta for 11th… Ryan becomes the 18th player to play 300 games… Andy passes Pat Elischer and ties Seamus O’Connor for sixth in 20-pointers with 25… Andy is really beginning to make some history on the assist charts. He’s now tied Seamus and Stefan Klopp for third in ten-assisters with 27… Dom becomes the first goalie to record 50 .800 sessions… Sam ties Lyle Detta for tenth in .800s at 13… Dom now has the second-longest .800 streak of all-time at 11, just one session short of tying Alex Elischer’s all-time record… Dom has back-to-back .820s… Dom records his fourth-straight 80-saver… Rob plays his 13th consecutive session; Oliver’s streak ends at nine; Bernie plays his fifth consecutive session.

VRH heads into the sunny spring, while Nakusp is full of tumbleweeds. In normal years, a visit from Stefan and Oliver would mean instant session, but this is hardly a normal year for the eastern circuit.