The May long weekend has been the major holiday celebration in Burton dating all the way back to the 1910s, and pretty well everyone in the valley has a fond memory of their times spent in Burton during May. Burton Hockey is no exception, so despite the forecast and regardless of the ominous dark clouds that loomed over the valley, another May long weekend was to be spent at the McCormack Park rink. It was also a big day as it marked the return of Lee Orr, who would begin his stunning 15th(!) consecutive season of action at Burton. The rest of 2014’s core lineup would be in action today as well for a 3pm start.

While K.J. was set for one of the nets, numbers were drawn out of a hat to see who would face him in the other net. Ultimately, Ryan would be selected with Andrew agreeing to spell him off after the first series. There was light drizzle for the first half of Game 1, and stats were done from Terryn’s truck as he teamed with Lee, Seamus, Nathyn, and K.J. against Kellan, Graeme, Ryan, and Andrew (a roster that would be augmented by Mitch Hascarl once he arrived). Fortune obviously smiled upon Terryn for letting your humble statistician use his truck for shelter, as he potted four goals in Game 1 (and he was on the sub team!) as Team O’Connor won 5-2. Seamus had helpers on three of the goals.

Mitch didn’t quite make it on the court for Game 1, but he was ready for Game 2 and action switched to 4-on-4 for the first time in a long time at Burton. It certainly made a difference as Team Bates jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to three goals from Kellan. Oddly enough, the arrival of Alex and Amber (and the newest member of the Marshall-Ens family, a little rascal of a pup named Rando, who seemed pretty eager to get on the rink himself – not to mention get his chompers on one of Seamus’ gloves and the tie-dye ball, and then proceed to follow Kellan to the bathroom) coincided with a comeback for Team O’Connor. Seamus would grab five apples here (bringing him to 8A after two games) while Lee, Terryn, and Nate all chipped in with goals to pull off the massive 5-4 comeback win. Team Bateman refused to call it quits after such a close game, however, and decided to extend the series to a best-of-five. It didn’t work; Team O’Connor ended it quickly with a 5-1 victory.

With the rain holding off, the ball field below filled with softball players (including Terryn’s mom), and our old friend Scott Britton now in attendance as well, the park was hopping. Ryan and Drew would exchange positions, and Ryan would team with Seamus, Kellan, and Graeme backed by K.J. against Drew’s team of Nate, Terryn, Lee, and Mitch. It was a pretty competitive back-and-forth game with every player getting their chances to shine. Ultimately, the O’Connors won again, 5-3, with Seamus finally getting a goal to go with his now 11A on the day, and Ryan grabbing four points. The rain finally arrived for Game 5; a 5-1 blowout for Team O’Connor despite some pretty great chances for Terryn and Mitch that were ultimately denied by Andrew. Another four points each for Seamus and Ryan here.

Despite the skies opening up, everyone decided to play on. The overcast skies made for great playing temperatures, and even the heaviest downpour would need at least half-an-hour to fill the court with standing water. The statsman went back into the truck as the final series saw Andrew get Seamus, Kellan, Terryn, and Ryan, while K.J. got Nathyn, Mitch, Graeme, and Lee. It was another closely-fought game with both teams getting their fair share of 2-on-1s, but Andrew’s team pulled out a 5-3 win, with Seamus and Ryan getting four points each for the third straight game (and Seamus finally got another goal), and Terryn and Kellan each scoring some nifty goals of their own. Both goalies were at their best in this final game, and everyone had more energy to go, but K.J. taking a faceful of water from a Kellan blast out of a puddle let everyone know that the rink probably had only another half-game left. While not quite the level of March 2010’s infamous Battle of McCormack Lake, it would get there soon enough if we kept playing any longer, and it was an easy decision to call it there after another fantastic three hours of Burton Hockey.

The Burton train keeps rolling with another May long weekend session from VRH tomorrow in West Vancouver, followed by another BUSH session next Sunday. See you then!

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Seamus had a day for the ages today, as he just kept churning out assist after assist. The past two years, he’s been playing the best hockey of his life, and it showed today as he dominated the scoring race with 2G and a stunning 20A in six games; the fourth-highest session total in history (and everyone ahead on that list needed at least ten games to beat that mark). The only one who matched him today in terms of PPG was Ryan, who nabbed second star despite only skating half the session; he had 2A in goal and then dominated on skates with 8G-4A in three games. Tying for third star were Terryn (9G-4A) and Nathyn (5G-8A). It was an understated day in net thanks to the 4-on-4 action keeping the focus on corner battles, blocked shots, and turnovers, but K.J. went on to post perhaps the quietest .843 in Burton Hockey history. Andrew was solid at .790, while Game 3 brought Bates down to .727 in goal.

Game Scores:
Lee Terryn Seamus K.J. Nathyn def. Andrew Ryan Kellan Graeme Mitch* 5-2 5-4 5-1
*Games 2 and 3 only
K.J. Kellan Graeme Seamus Ryan def. Nathyn Terryn Lee Mitch Andrew 5-3 5-1
Seamus Kellan Terryn Ryan Andrew def. Nathyn Mitch Graeme Lee K.J. 5-3

Faceoff Stats (unofficial):
Graeme Orr 2/2 (100.00%)
Seamus O’Connor 3/4 (75.00%)
Mitch Hascarl 7/10 (70.00%)
Kellan Nishida 5/9 (55.56%)
Nathyn McInnes 4/8 (50.00%)
Lee Orr 2/4 (50.00%)
Terryn Stenseth 9/19 (47.37%)
Ryan Bateman 4/9 (44.44%)
Andrew Likness 1/5 (20.00%)

Elo Ratings
Seamus O’Connor 2145(+34)
Ryan Bateman 2072 (+31)
Lee Orr 2002 (-27)
Kellan Nishida 1996 (-7)
Nathyn McInnes 1929 (+36)
Andrew Likness 1919 (-45)
Terryn Stenseth 1902 (+41)
Graeme Orr 1900 (-41)

Provisional Elo Ratings (fewer than three sessions played)
Mitch Hascarl 1821 (-24)

Season Stats: Seamus is on a tear this month. Despite just two sessions on skates, Seamus has already vaulted into a tie for second in the 2014 scoring race with 51 points, tied with Oliver Koth-Kappus and just one behind Darrel Voser for the lead. Andy Smart is next at 45, while Terryn moves into a tie for fifth with Rob Hajdu at 39. Kellan (36), Ryan (32), Nathyn (28), and Mitch (22) round out the top ten... Kellan moves up to third in goals at 21 behind Darrel (30) and Ollie (26), with Terryn now fifth at 19... It probably comes as little surprise that Seamus has now taken the assist lead from Andrew Smart, 39-36, with Terryn now fifth at 20... Terryn leads BUSH in shots on goal at 99, good for fourth overall... Ryan now has a commanding lead in shooting percentage at 35.56%... The O’Connors still lead in goaltending with Seamus at .848 and K.J. at .840... K.J. passes Seamus for third in saves, 184-139... Terryn, Seamus, K.J., and Kellan have played in all 19 BUSH games in 2014, placing them two games behind the four players that have played all 21 VRH games (Sam, Dom, Oliver, Bernie)... K.J. becomes the third goalie in double-digits games goaltended with 12... Seamus joins Andrew Smart and Darrel Voser at the top of the tree-star list with 30 points each; Ryan Bateman and Rob Hajdu are right behind at 25.... K.J. ties Sam Lam for second in goalie star points at 30... Seamus ties Dom for the lead in total star points with 45, while K.J. ties Sam for third at 35... Seamus leads Andy Smart in PPG, 3.83-3.75. Bates jumps to third at 3.00, while Mitch falls from the top five... Bates also moves to third in GPG at 1.60, while Seamus and Mitch fall from the top five... Seamus now only trails Smart for the SPG lead by 3.00-2.83... Thanks to today’s 4-on-4, Seamus plummets out of the top five in shots-per-game... Seamus’ 22 points today is the third-highest mark of the season so far... Obviously, Seamus’ 20 assists today are the season-leading total... K.J.’s .843 is the fifth-best session of the season.

SDF/GDF: This week’s rankings are still yet to be finalised since there’s a VRH session tomorrow (weather permitting), but what we do know is that both rankings will be topped by O’Connor, as Seamus will extend his lead on the SDF over Andrew Smart while K.J. will take over the GDF from Dom Voser.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Seamus becomes the fifth player in history with 1,700 points, and is just 21 points behind Bernie Koth-Kappus for fourth... Terryn passes Troy Waldron to enter the top 25; he needs six points for 400... Ryan needs four points for 200... Seamus needs nine goals for 800... Terryn passes Darrel Voser for 26th in goals... Lee needs three assists to become the second player with 1,300... Seamus is four assists behind Stefan Klopp for fourth... Terryn needs 39 shots on goal for 1,000... K.J. brings his career save percentage to .830... K.J. needs five saves for 1,500... Seamus becomes the fifth player to play 800 games in Burton Hockey... Seamus becomes the second player with more than 1,200 total star points... Seamus becomes the second player to score 1,600 points in BUSH... As mentioned above, Seamus’ 20 assists today is the fourth-highest session mark ever and just one short of K.J.’s BUSH record of 21 assists (which took 12 games to reach, not six)... Lee is the fourth and final player to have played in all 15 seasons of Burton Hockey, joining Stefan Klopp and the Koth-Kappus brothers... Don’t look now, kids, but Seamus has a streak of eight straight 15-pointers going... Now with back-to=back 20-pointers, Seamus is now sixth all-time in that category with 29, one behind Oliver Koth-Kappus and Andrew Smart ... Can you believe that’s only K.J.’s ninth 80-saver? Regardless, he has three of them in a row... K.J. ties Sam Lam for ninth in .820s with 12; he’s got three in a row of those as well... Seamus’ consecutive session streak goes to nine.