Having returned to the ancestral hockey homeland of Burton and reclaimed the Fuller Cup for Vancouver Roller Hockey, it was time for Stefan, Dominik, and the Koth-Kappi to return triumphantly to VRH action at Ambleside Park on a sunny Labour Day. A special guest would be returning as well today. Racing over from Victoria via car, ferry, train, and bus would be your humble statistician, arriving on the beach at West Vancouver literally right in the middle of the second game (seriosuly – I ran from the bus right to the court and Rob, who was subbed off, handed me the stat sheet and a pen as I entered the bench area, and so I went to work). The session would have more guests in store, with visits from Vincent Garcia and his budy Jay, and the heroic return to the Burton Hockey fold of new father Lorne Bilinski and son Nicholas, who watched his first action alongside papa for over half of the session. Making his long-awaited Burton Hockey debut was Dom Voser's friend Lee Beer, the 220th player in Burton history. Melvin Ong would make his 2014 debut tonight as well.

The pace was quick in the first series with none of the games extending much longer than 15-20 minutes. The first series saw the Vosers team with Lee, Ryno, Darrel, and Rob against Bernie, Andy, Melvin, Stef, J-Bo, and Stu, and it wasn't pretty for Dom. While the score was decently close (5-3), Dom let in five goals on nine shots. He recovered for Game 2, where Stu was the victim (six for eleven). Darrel laid down a hat trick and Lee registered four assists in just his second career game in a 5-2 victory. The rubber match was a replay of Game 1 with Team Stu winning 5-2. The final goal summed it all up for Team Dom in this game: Andy had just gotten past defender Rob to place a shot on Dom. Dom kicked out the rebound which Rob then hit with his stick onto his skate and booted into his own net. Smart got a free goal, and Rob got a new stick after he smashed his original over the end board following the own-goal.

The goalies settled down from Game 4 on. Game 4 was a single-game series pitting Stefan, Jordan, Bernie, Rob, and Stu against Ryno, Darrel, Andrew, Lee, and Dom (Mel disappeared during this part of the session). Powered by an early Klopp hat trick, it looked as though Team Stu were on their way to victory before the Darrel-Andrew combo came back to power their team to a 5-3 win, coming back from 1-3. Stefan and Andrew powwowed after the game and came up with some very even teams for the final series, with Stefan grabbing Rob, Darrel, Mel, and Bernie backed by Stu against Andrew's team of J-Bo, Lee, Ryan, and Dom. While Andrew notched four points in the game, it wasn't enough as a total team effort powered Team Stu to a 5-4 win. Stu would be forced to stand on his head in Game 6 as his side was outshot 43-18. It was a vailant effort, with Stefan grabbing four more assists and Bernie chipping in with two goals, but it was not enough. Dom consistently pulled the brotherly glove on Darrel, Jordan had a hat trick, and Ryno finished it off to give their team a 5-4 win. No rubber match would be played as the gang was quite satisfied with three hours of action at Ambleside.

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

Andrew Smart took first star for the 35th time in his career, notching 6G and 13A. A three-way tie for second star occurred between Ryan (10G-6A), Darrel (9G-7A) and Stefan (7G-9A). Lee finished his debut session with a goal and 7A, plus a whole heap of cuts and bruises from falls caused by faulty wheels. Stu was solid in goal at .817 on 107 saves, while Dom was off at .753 on 73 saves.

Game Scores:
Bernie Andrew Stefan Melvin* Jordan Stu def. Lee Ryan Darrel Rob Dom 5-3 2-5 5-2 (*no game 3)
Ryan Darrel Andrew Lee Dom def. Stefan Jordan Bernie Rob Stu 5-3
Stefan Rob Darrel Melvin Bernie Stu vs. Jordan Andrew Lee Ryan Dom 5-4 4-5

Length of session: 3h 05 min

Elo Ratings

Andrew Smart 2258 (+14)
Darrel Voser 2009 (+16)
Stefan Klopp 1995 (+18)
Rob Hajdu 1976 (-31)
Ryan Disterheft 1924 (+32)
Jordan Barlow 1905 (0)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1541 (+2)

Provisional Elo Ratings (less than three sessions
Lee Beer 1786 (n/a)

Season Stats:Darrel extends his 2014 scoring lead to 119-99 over Rob. Seamus has been dropped from the top five , which now consists of Darrel, Rob, Andrew (79), Ryan (71), and the absent Oliver (71). Stefan climbed from 11th to seventh today... Darrel's goal lead over Rob is even more commanding, 69-47... Ryan passes Oliver for third in goals, 39-27, while stefan ties Kellan Nishida for fifth at 26... The VRH crew overthrows Seamus at the top of the assists race, which now sees Andy on top at 57, followed by Rob (52), Darrel (50), and Seamus (50). Ryan jumos from ninth to sixth at 32... Dom and Bernie still haven't missed a game this year... Darrel takes the three-star point lead from Rob, 75-65, with Andy at 60... Stu closes in on Dom's goalie star points lead, 65-60... Darrel leads a crowded total star points race with 75, followed by Rob and Dom at 65 each, and Andrew and Stu at 60... Andrew falls behind Seamus in the APG race, 2.63-2.59... Rob falls from the top five in GPG... Stu knocks Dom out of the top five in saves-per-game... Andrew's 13 assists rank fifth-highest in a session this year.

SDF/GDF: Andrew Smart's performance today was enough to hold his second position on the SDF, but noth enough to make up ground on leader Ryan Bateman... Bron maintains his spot atop the GDF (his 32nd ranking topped of his career; he needs four more to tie Seamus for the lead), while Stuart passes Dom for fourth.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: Rob becomes the ninth player to clear 1,200 points... Joran needs 20 points for 900... Darrel becomes the 25th player to reach 400 points, passing Troy Waldron and Terryn Stenseth... Rob passes Justin Gordon for ninth in goals... Andrew needs 11 goals for 500; Ryan, 12... Darrel jumps to 23rd in goals... Andy passes Rob for seventh in assists... Jordan becomes the 13th player with 500 assists and is eight behing Graeme Orr for 12th... Ryan is 14 assists behind Joern Hornhardt for 14th... Dom is 106 saves away from 10,000... Stu passes K.J. for 14t in saves... Bernie is just 13 games behind Oliver for the all-time games lead... Stefan needs ten games for 900... Stuart becomes the 14th player to goaltend 100 games... Stefan is ten total star points behind Kyle Grenier for fifth, 885-875... Stefan becomes the first player history to score 1,500 points in VRH... Stefan moves ahead of Kyle Grenier into third in 15-pointers with 60; Andrew passes K.J. for seventh with 46... Ryan notches his 20th 15-pointer... Andrew has five 15-pointers in a row... Stu records his 15th career .800, while Dom's streak of .800s ends at four... Stu .820 streak ends at four... Dom's 80-saver streak ends at six; Stu has three in a row... Dom now has the tenth-longest consecutive session streak ever at 25... Bernie's streak is also getting huge at 17... Darrel extends his session streak to eight; Ryan to seven; Stu to five.