With an over-a-month long hockey drought and only a small session the week before that only happened due to the sheer force of will of the players involved (i.e., shorthanded and a non-typical goalie, Rob, willing to play net), VRH would finally see a proper full session once again. In fact, if all the 'maybes' had shown up it would have been the largest session of the year. As it turned out, one sub on each team for most of the session and two subs on one for some of it resulted in pretty ideal conditions. With the scorching sun out in full force, the subs allowed us to keep our energy up and play a four-hour long 7 game session.

Despite a 5-4 score the first game ended pretty quickly with both goalies trying to find their groove (Bron especially had been on a very long hiatus). Andy & J-Bo (with Ian, Rob & Bron) would lead their team with 7 points each to take the series in two games.

With Rob having to leave to buy new skates due to the front of his chassis breaking off, one non-series game was played in between. With the arrival of Rhino and Rob returning halfway through the next game with a new set of blades, the series format would be back. Andy-Jbo-Tony-Ryno-Bron would beat Klopp-Bernie-Rob-Darrel-Ian-Dom in a hard fought series that featured some great goaltending and long grueling games. Though they would win it in 2 games, each of those games was very close.

One final series would see Rob-Klopp-Bernie-Andy-Bron take on Jbo-Tony-Ian-Darrel-Ryno-Dom. The first game would prove extremely even, going to a long drawn out sudden death overtime, with Team Bron pulling it out in the end; Stefan was a force in this game with 5 points. The second game though, was anything but close, with Team Bron running away with a 5-1 victory to take the series.

After 4 hours of grueling hockey in the hot sun, the session was about as done as could be. This was a great old-school VRH session with good numbers and much fun being had by all. Look for possible mini super session when a number of Vancouverites hit the Arrow Lakes in a little over a week.

Follow Burton Hockey on Twitter @burtonhockey
Visit Burton Hockey on Facebook
Join the Burton Hockey group on Facebook

Thanks, Bern! A return to dominance for Andy Smart this day as he ran away from the field at 12G-13A. The only other player to crack 15 points was Jordan, posting 11A and 17P. It was a close battle for third star but Tony (9G-5A) edged out Stefan and Darrel by a point. In goal it was an up-and-down day but Bron persevered to pick up .813 with a shutout. Dom faced a high volume of shots today and ended with .759 on 107 saves.

Game Scores:
Stefan Bernie Tony Darrel Dom def. Andrew Ian Rob Jordan Bron 5-4
Andrew Jordan Ian Bron def. Stefan Tony Darrel Bernie Dom 5-0
Jordan Bernie Darrel Ian Bron def. Andy Stefan Tony Dom 5-3
Andrew Tony Jordan Ryan Bron def. Stefan Bernie Rob Darrel Dom 5-3
Andrew Tony Jordan Ryan Bron def. Stefan Bernie Rob Darrel Ian Dom 5-4
Rob Stefan Bernie Andrew Bron def. Jordan Darrel Ian Tony Ryan Dom 5-4 5-1

Elo Ratings
Andrew Smart 2205 (+21)
Tony Hajdu 2028 (+15)
Rob Hajdu 2005 (-34)
Stefan Klopp 1967 (-1)
Jordan Barlow 1947 (+48)
Ryan Disterheft 1917 (-36)
Darrel Voser 1893 (+14)
Ian Bock 1671 (-20)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1555 (-6)

Season Stats: Andrew begins pulling away from Rob thanks to today’s performance, opening up a 177-145 lead in the scoring race. Jordan and Tony knock Seamus down from fifth to seventh, where Bernie is now only four points behind the Irishman… Tony jumps into fourth in goals at 41 ahead of Jordan and Oliver at 36… Jordan rockets from ninth to fifth in assists at 39… Tony edges Seamus out of the top five in shots on goal… Tony jumps into the lead in shooting percentage among players with 75 shots on goal or more… Dom falls from second to fourth in save percentage behind Sam and Seamus… Bron passes Sam for third in saves and is 23 behind Stuart Hall for second… Andrew passes Ryan and Oliver to move into fourth in games played… Bron jumps into third in games goaltended… Bron joind Dom and Lee as goalies who have posted shutouts this year… Bron ties Sam for third in goalie star points with 35… Bron drops behind Justin and Sam to fourth in saves-per-game… Andrew’s 25 points tie for the third-highest scoring session of the year, while his 13 assists rank fourth…

SDF/GDF: There’s some talk of a mid-week BUSH session, so these may not be the final rankings, but we’ve heard talk about mid-week sessions before… One week after falling out of the top spot, Andrew regains it after dominating scoring in a high-quality session, putting him third on the all-time rankings-led list with 33… In the ultra-tight bottom half of the top ten, Jordan moves up one spot to fifth and Tony jumps four to sixth… Bron easily holds court atop the GDF for an eighth straight ranking while Dom drops behind Sam and Lee to fourth.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Don’t look now, but Andrew is catching Rob for tenth on the all-time scoring list as they chase down Justin in ninth. Rob leads Andy 1,064-1,039… Ryan is five points behind Pat for 14th… Rob trails Graeme by four goals for 11th and needs eight for 500… Bernie needs five assists for 1,000 while Stefan passes 900… Andrew passes Rob for eighth in assists and Jordan passes Graeme for 12th… Andrew crosses the 2,500 shot mark and passes Justin for 11th… Dom needs 20 saves for 9,000 while Bron trails Alex for second in saves by 160… Rob becomes the 16th player to play 500 games… Dom needs nine games for 600 games goaltended, while Bron passes Laird to move into second all-time in games goaltended at 305… Bron passes Alex for second in shutouts with 19… Andy ties Stefan for fourth in all-time sessions led in scoring at 31… Andrew becomes the fifth player in VRH history to score 1,000 VRH points; Tony becomes the eighth to reach 800… Jordan ties Pat and Tony for 11th in 15-pointers with 26… Andrew has nine straight 15-pointers… Andrew ties Lorne Bilinski for fifth in 20-pointers with 28 and is one behind him for fourth in 25-pointers with 12… With six straight ten-assisters, Andrew is just one away from tying the all-time record he already shares with Kyle Grenier… Bron moves ahead of Alex Elischer into fourth on the all-time .800 list with 30; he has ten in a row and is two away from tying the consecutive .800 record… He also has ten straight .810s and is two away from that record as well… Bron’s .860 streak ends at two… Bron records his sixth-straight 80-saver… Rob becomes the tenth different in history to have played in 20 consecutive sessions… Dom’s consecutive session streak goes to 11.

Barring a mid-week session from BUSH or a weekend session from VRH, there’s a good chance that the next action for Burton Hockey is an all-too-rare, highly-anticipated interleague session! Finger crossed…