Your humble statistician was back in Metro Vancouver this weekend, but Vancouver Roller Hockey wasn't necessarily on the menu. This weekend was about the shocking playoff run of the Master Bladers in Division 6 of North Vancouver's Duffers Hockey League. Despite losing their quarter-final, the Bladers, which boast nearly fifty percent of their roster as Burton Hockey vets, gained the lone wild card into the semis. Capturing the Saturday semifinal with 8.7 seconds left in overtime, this set the Bladers and their gloriously generic orange sweaters up for a 12:30 final on Sunday. This was devastating news for VRH's lead organiser, as Bernie now had to convince a tired group of players to head to Ambleside 75 minutes after their championship final to come play roller hockey so that a Burton Hockey session could take place before the Canucks-Flames playoff game started. Once again, the Master Bladers went to OT, and Neil Spencer tipped home a Darrel Voser blast to capture the season title, garnering the squad the coveted Division 1 Women's trophy (the only cup available for presentation).

As the triumphant gang convened in the lounge upstairs, four Master Bladers declared themselves ready to go at 3:30 at Ambleside, and the session was on. Suddenly, we had a huge 11-player session lined up on a beautiful sunny day at the beach in West Vancouver. Making his long-overdue VRH debut was the gregarious Alex Joehl, and in attendance for the first half of the session were Burton legend Lorne Bilinski and son Nicholas (who was scared of all the people at first, but soon found some joy running around with a spare hockey stick). Special helper today was an unidentified young boy wandering around Ambleside Park who volunteered himself throughout the session for all sorts of tasks – dropping the puck for faceoffs, chasing loose balls, throwing sticks to make teams, closing the gate, and keeping track of the game score.

In the eternal battle of Stu versus Dom, Stu got Darrel, Tom, Andy, Alex, and Bernie, while Dom got Oliver, Stefan, Ryan, and Tony. While Game 1 was close on the shot count and in terms of play, Stu was hot out of the gate and the Darrel-Tom-Andy line was on fire. Darrel finished with four points and Tom had three as Team Stu won 5-2. Shots were nearly identical in Game 2 but Tony and Ryan were more successful in beating Stuart, pushing the game to a golden goal. Stefan began racking up assists here and would stop the rest of the day. Still, it wasn't quite enough as Team Stu won 5-4 to win the game and the series. Another three points had here by Andy and Tom in the winning effort.

Sadly, both Tom and Alex had to leave after Game 2. Fortunately, we still had plenty of players plus a sub for Bernie. Tony was exchanged for Darrel as Team Dom went for revenge. Stu faced a barrage here as his crew was outshot 23-9. The scoring was spread fairly evenly by the victorious Team Dom, and Dom got back on track with a shutout.

The final series saw Stefan and Ryan team with Andy and Dom against Stu, Tony, Darrel, and the Koth-Kappi. Oliver turned into a wrecking ball, finding his early evening groove with two goals to start the game, and Darrel was all-powerful as he pointed out. It was very similar to Game 1 in that the play was even but the score was not (another 5-2 result). Stefan immediately called for a rematch. The game started out much the same (two goals from Ollie), but Stef, Andy, and Ryno wouldn't quit, answering every blow. Prolonging the match even further was Stu standing on his head with some fantastic saves. The length of the game sailed past the half-hour mark as the two teams battled. Darrel had four points on his side's first four goal (and gashes on his elbow and left hand thanks to some spills). At 4-4 some equipment issues were experienced by Ryan. Rather than wait for repairs, Andrew called for 2-on-2. Almost immediately after play resumed, he sent it to Stefan, who potted the winner.

What was a session on the precipice for much of the week turned into a big success in the end. Whether or not live statskeeping will be in the house on the weekend is yet to be seen, but VRH is full swing regardless.

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

It was double victory for Darrel today. First, it was his shot that was deflected in by fellow VRH alum Neil Spencer to win the season championship for the Master Bladers. Then, Darrel came to Ambleside and dominated the session with 12G and 7A to take the day here as well. In second with 13P on the back of 11A was Stefan, followed by Andy in third with 4G-7A. Tom only played the first series but had six points in the two games. In goal, Stu was strong all day and capped it off with a 33-save performance to finish at .835 with 91 saves. Dom had a rough first series but recovered with a shutout in Game 3 and finished the day at .782,

Game Scores:
Stu Darrel Tom Andy Alex Bernie def. Dom Oliver Stefan Tony Ryan 5-2 5-4
Dom Stefan Ryan Darrel def. Stu Tony Oliver Andy Bernie 5-0
Stu Tony Oliver Darrel Bernie vs. Stefan Andy Ryan Dom 2-5 5-4

Length of session: 2h 15 min

Elo Ratings

Andrew Smart 2193 (-10)
Darrel Voser 2097 (+41)
Stefan Klopp 2080 (+24)
Tony Hajdu 1965 (+1)
Ryan Disterheft 1915 (+11)
Oliver Koth-Kappus 1896 (-13)
Thomas Slivinski 1814 (-15)
Bernie Koth-Kappus 1524 (+5)

Provisional Elo Ratings (fewer than three sessions played
Alex Joehl 1759 (n/a)

Season Stats: Darrel passes Stefan for the 2015 scoring lead, 55-52. Andrew falls behind a bit, but not too far, at 44, while Tom sits fourth at 34. The bottom half of the top ten gets crowded as Tony, Ryan, and Oliver all move up... Darrel has a huge lead in goals, 36-20 over Stefan, with Tom right after at 19; Tony moves into the top five... Stefan takes sole possession of the assist lead, 32-28 over Andy, while Tom passes Sam for fifth, 15-12... Darrel leads Andrew in shots on goal, 152-137, with Stefan at 120 and Tom at 100... Tony jumps from fifth to third in shooting percentage... Stu takes the lead in goaltending from Dom, .837-.832... Stu, Stefan, Bernie, Oliver, Dom, Darrel, and Andrew have played all 17 games this year... Darrel takes at 45-35 lead in three-star points over Stefan... Stu takes the lead in goalie star points from Dom, 45-40; Stu and Darrel share the lead in total star points with 45 each... Darrel takes the lead in PPG with 3.24... Stefan takes the lead in APG with 1.88; Andy falls to third and Ryan falls to fourth... Darrel's 19 points are the top mark in sessions so far this year... Darrel's 12 goals rank seccond-best; Oliver's six goals tie for fifth... Stefan's 11 assists tie for the season best... Ryan's 38 shots on goal and Darrel's 36 rank fourth and fifth, respectively... Stu' .835 ranks fourth-best in 2015 session so far; his 91 saves rank third; his 926 PPS ranks fourth.

SDF/GDF: It's the final week for Seamus and Bates atop the SDF (barring a shock BUSH session next week). The battle for first will be between Andy, Darrel, and Tom... It's Bron's final week atop the GDF before he begins falling off due to inactivity, and he celebrates it by tying Seamus for most rankings lead all-time with 36. Stu should take over next week barring a mishap, as K.J. also begins dropping as well.

All-Time Session Milestones & Streaks

On the All-Time Front: We officially begin the countdown as Oliver is now 52 points away from 3,000... Bernie needs 25 point for 1,800... Andy is 29 points behind Rob Hajdu for ninth and needs 20 for 1,200...Tony is five points behind Barlow for 13th... Darrel is 23 points behind Eric Coutinho for 23rd... Stefan is seven goals from 1,100... Ryan needs six goals for 500 and is eleven goals behind Andy for 13th... Darrel passes Eric for 21st in goals... Stefan is 23 assists away from 1,000... Ryan is three assists behind Joern Hornhardt for 14th... Darrel pots his 200th assist and passes Dom and Shem Hanna to move to 26th... Andrew is five shots on goal behind Graeme Orr for tenth... Stu becomes the 13th goalie to make 2,000 saves.... Tony needs two games for 400... Darrel passes 200 games... Stefan is ten three-star points behind Oliver for second all-time, 925-915... Oliver becomes the second player with 1,500 VRH points... Stu moves to eighth in all-time .800s with 19... Stu has seven .810s in a row; the fourth-longest streak ever... Stu has four straight .820s... Stu has back-to-back .830s... Dom's .800 and .820 streaks end at three... Stu records his 15th 80-save session and sixth in a row... Dom's massive consecutive session streak goes to 29, good for eighth all-time... Bernie's streak is pretty huge as well at 21... Darrel's streak goes to 12; Stu's goes to nine; Stefan's goes to eight; Andrew's goes to six.