Typically, the major weekend of the year in the sleepy burg of Burton is the May long weekend, during which hundreds descend upon its tranquil shores to get away from it all (in the process making it somewhat less tranquil). This year, it seems that the folks of Nakusp decided to start things off a month earlier instead. Knowing the crowd that was going to be in Burton for this Easter weekend full of sun, it was the perfect time to send out the annual call that beckons denizens of roller hockey back to the hallowed asphalt of John McCormack Memorial Park. Seamus did so, and ten of his fellow travellers answered the call.

Being originally scheduled for a noon start, it was decided to push the session back until 1 pm, which meant that everyone showed up at 1:30 and the action began around 2. It was a true fusion of generations: the ever-present Seamus and Graeme; K.J. returning home for the weekend from up north; old pro Jesse finally getting his shot at a full-court, full-length session; standout young guns Ryan, Terryn, and Kellan; Nate McInnes making his long-awaited BUSH debut after his Most Dedicated-winning stint in the 2012 Arena League, and the rookie debut of Alex McDougall, who came to Nakusp to work on the new ferry and has quickly integrated himself into the community. By the end of the day, there’d be two more new faces as well.

Rather than attempt to defend his ranking atop the SDF from the clutches of VRH’s Andrew Smart (all he needed was a solid half-session on skates to do so), Seamus opted to goaltend today (he is, after all, really good at it) against the debuting Alex. Sticks-in-the-middle gave Seamus Kellan, Nathyn, and K.J., placing Alex with Ryan, Jesse, Graeme, and Terryn. The Bates-Gimbel combo proved to be quite potent in Game 1 as Ryan pointed out and Jesse had four points. Kellan, meanwhile, struggled with a severe lack of wheels in the first series, and, after he went down to three properly functioning wheels, switched into Seamus’s kicks for the second series that were a size too big and slowly got his game back through the rest of the session. Alex was on fire in the first series as Seamus struggled, and Team Alex won handily 5-3, 5-1.

Midway through Game 2, Scott Graham of Overwaitea fame arrived and made his long-awaited Burton Hockey debut in Game 3, putting his team (Scott, Jesse, Graeme, Kellan with Alex) against Seamus’ squad of Nathyn, K.J., Terryn, and Bates (being the first session of the year during a long weekend, the usage of subs was chosen over 4-on-4). Powered by his #13 Joakim Noah shirt, Scott’s forechecking helped Jesse notch the first goal of the series, and then Scott himself scored on the next shot to put Team Alex up 2-0. Your humble statistician can’t even remember the last time someone scored on their very first Burton Hockey shot. That goal lit a fire under Seamus, who then proceeded to stop the next 26 shots as K.J., Nate, Ryan, and Terryn came alive for a 5-2 comeback despite being outshot 28-18. It was a small taste of what was to come in Game 4, in which Seamus stood on his head for 41 saves. Even that wasn’t enough, however, as Team Alex eked put a 5-4 win thanks to more Jesse heroics. It was also Alex’s best game of the day with 23 saves.

Scott would leave after Game 4 and miss the rubber match, but fear not – Team Alex would get another skater in the form of the man known to everyone simply as TOMI. Always smiling, always ready to go, and as we learned at the 2013 Falcons Cup, speedy and pretty handy with a hockey stick to boot. He pestered Seamus with two quick shots to begin Game 5, but that was probably the highlight for Team Alex as the potent offence of Team Seamus, led in this game by K.J. and Nate, scored five goals in just eleven attempts, giving Seamus a nine-save shutout and the series.

For the final series, Alex would backstop K.J., Graeme, TOMI, and Jesse, while Seamus, Nathyn, Terryn, and Ryan would continue together with Kellan in tow. Kellan had the hang of his skates by this point, and came alive with three points here. It was also Nathyn’s best game of the day. Another relatively quick affair, it would end up 5-3 Team Seamus. Game 7, however, was much more drawn out, and pretty one-sided. Alex would have little to do in this game, and for that matter, so would Jesse. While Jesse was sitting on the bench overturned garbage can, K.J., Graeme, and TOMI combined for four goals in the span of three minutes; K.J. and TOMI each grabbing four points. The final score would be 5-1, with Team Alex outshooting Team Seamus 30-9.

There would be no need for a rubber match; everyone knew immediately after Game 7 that three hours of solid hockey to start the season would be enough. 15 degrees all day with alternating periods of bright sun and light cloud provided optimal hockey conditions, and a great time was had by all, including the numerous spectators that kept the statsman and subs company for much of the day (one of whom is threatening to lace ‘em up and go in goal in the future, but no names, no jinxes). The improbable fifteenth season of BUSH is now officially underway, and we’re already lined up to go again next week. The tradition continues. See you then!

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Seamus recovered from a faltering-by-his-standards .767 in the first series to roar back in Game 3, and he was in overdrive from that point onward, finishing with .848 and a 987 PPS on the back of a massive 138 saves plus a shutout and 5A. Alex was at .840 after the first series and came back down to earth a little bit afterwards, but was still quite handy in his debut session at .771 with 5A; big things can be expected from him in the future (take away games 5 and 6, and he was .898 today!) Scoring-wise, it was largely a battle between Bates and Gimbel until K.J. poured it on in the final series. When it all shook down, Ryan and Jesse tied for first star at 18P each (8G-10A for Bates; 9G-9A for Gimbel), with K.J. just one point behind in third at 10G-7A. In his first Burton Hockey appearance outside the Arena League, Nathyn grabbed his first-career 15-pointer, and TOMI’s four-point performance in the final game should also be noted.

Game Scores:
Ryan Jesse Alex Graeme Terryn def. K.J. Nathyn Kellan Seamus 5-3 5-1
Seamus Ryan Terryn Nathyn K.J. def. Alex Scott* Jesse Graeme Kellan TOMI** 5-2 4-5 5-0
*Games 3 & 4 only **Game 5 only
K.J. Graeme TOMI Jesse Alex vs. Kellan Terryn Nathyn Seamus Ryan 3-5 5-1

Faceoff Stats (unofficial):
Graeme Orr 4/5 (80.00%)
Ryan Bateman 3/5 (60.00%)
Jesse Gimbel 10/18 (55.56%)
K.J. O’Connor 7/14 (50.00%)
Kellan Nishida 4/8 (50.00%)
TOMI 2/4 (50.00%)
Scott Graham 1/2 (50.00%)
Nathyn McInnes 8/19 (42.11%)
Terryn Stenseth 6/15 (40.00%)

Elo Ratings
K.J. O’Connor 2219 (-14)
Ryan Bateman 2041 (+39)
Kellan Nishida 2000 (-51)
Graeme Orr 1941 (-13)
Nathyn McInnes 1893 (+24)
Jesse Gimbel 1885 (+71)
Terryn Stenseth 1853 (+5)

Provisional Elo Ratings (fewer than three sessions played)
TOMI 1776 (n/a)
Scott Graham 1761 (n/a)

Season Stats: This being just the first BUSH session compared to four VRH sessions in 2014, the top five in goals, assists, points, and shots aren’t affected (as an example, Jesse and Ryan are tied for sixth in points after this session). Ryan, however, takes the lead in shooting percentage at 30.77%, while Kellan slots in fourth... Seamus knocks Dom Voser out of the goaltending lead, .848-.832... Seamus debuts third in saves at 139, and joins Dom and Stu Hall as goalies with shutouts this season... Ryan and Jesse sit joint fifth in three-star points at 15... Seamus debuts third in goalie star points with 15, while Alex is tied with Stu in fourth at 5... Ryan and Jesse debut joint fourth in PPG at 2.57... K.J. debuts third in GPG at 1.43... Ryan debuts third in APG at 1.43, with Jesse and Nathyn right behind at 1.29... Jesse debuts third in shots-per-game at 7.71... Seamus takes the lead in saves-per-game at 19.86... Ryan and Jesse’s 18 points apiece rank tied for fifth-best in a session this season... K.J.’s ten goals tie for fourth-best this season... Ryan’s ten assists tie for third-best this year, while Nathyn and Jesse’s nine each tie for fifth... Jesse’s 54 shots on goal are the top mark so far in 2014; K.J’s 49 rank third... Seamus sets the mark for most saves in a 2014 session with 139, as well as new high for PPS with 988; his .848 ranks third-best for goaltending this year.

SDF/GDF: With Seamus opting to go goal tonight, he falls below the session minimum (the only BUSH player over the minimum of two full sessions is Graeme), giving top spot back to Andrew Smart after six sessions. It should be very intriguing to see what happens to the rankings after the next BUSH session bring more players back over that threshold... In the meantime, Graeme jumps up six big spots into third behind Andy and Seamus, while Oliver gained six spots from Friday’s VRH action to move to fourth... Ryan Disterheft took the big hit, dropping six spots to ninth... Dom officially passes Bron to reclaim the top of the GDF for the 25th time, placing him sixth all-time for GDFs topped behind Nathan Robson at 26. Seamus debuts fifth after just one session.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: K.J. becomes the eighth player to score 1,300 points... Ryan needs 18 points for 200... K.J. is ten goals behind Seamus for sixth all-time... Graeme is 16 goals behind Rob Hajdu for 11th... K.J. is 19 assists behind Justin Gordon for tenth... Graeme becomes the 12th player to score 500 assists... Terryn needs four assists for 200... Ryan becomes the 35th player with 100 assists... Seamus is 17 saves behind Chris Jackins for sixth... Graeme is three games behind Rob for 13th... Terryn becomes the 30th player to play 200 games... Seamus passes Justin and ties Sam Lam for eighth in games goaltended... Seamus becomes the eighth goalie to post ten career shutouts... Seamus becomes the first player to score 150 points as a goaltender... Seamus trails Alex Elischer and Bron Mach for second and third in goalie star points, 460-455-450... If Jesse gets a couple more sessions in, he could really take a shot at some per-game records... K.J. passes Andrew Smart for seventh in 15-pointers with 45... Ryan grabs 15-pointers #4, Jesse his second, and Nathyn his first-ever... K.J. has three 15-pointers in a row in full-length sessions... Ryan notches his fourth career ten-assister... Seamus has back-to-back .830s and ties Justin for third in .830s with 19... Seamus passes Nathan Robson for fifth in 80-savers with 26, one behind Laird Bilinski... Alex pots an 80-saver in his first career session... Seamus ties Sam Lam for fifth in 90-savers with 19... Seamus records his 15th career 100-saver... Seamus has back-to-back 110-savers and passes Nathan for fourth with 13... Seamus records his fifth career 130-saver... Seamus plays in his seventh consecutive session.