You know, people seriously doubted about the future of Burton roller hockey. No Stefan, no Joern, no JC, etc. But guess what? I think we can now say that Burton hockey is as strong or stronger than it's ever been. A record fourteen players took part in the first session on the new rink at John McCormack Park on Thursday. In fact, it necessitated a three-team tournament with subs. This must have energized the goaltenders to some degree because they were on fire. While the skaters had to take twenty-minute (or, in some cases, forty-minute) breaks, Nathan got to play all six games while Chris and Laird each played three consecutive games, letting them stay sharp against the onslaught of shooting. Oliver, Justin, Laird and Graeme won the first tournament playing a grinding defensive style that frustrated opponents and made for slow, plodding games that often went over thirty minutes long. Nathan logged the first shutout of the year in this tournament. Robert, Seamus, Bernie and Kyle went 1-1 and Lorne, Scott, K.J. and Jared lost both of their games. Chris switched spots with Laird in the second tournament and teamed with Lorne, Justin and Kyle to win it 2-0. Bernie, Robert, Graeme and Seamus went 1-1 Jared, Scott, Oliver and K.J. went 0-2. Despite scoring five goals in the first game alone, Robert was slowed by the defence-first atmosphere and barely won the day over Lorne and Justin 13-12-12. A special Pavel citation is given to K.J. for nine goals and no assists. On the other hand, Laird registered 7 assists in the two games he played as a skater along with a goal. The real stars were Nathan and Laird in net. Laird just won the day, .857-.854. Laird averaged a sickening 28 saves per game. Chris improved on his Fauquier goaltending performance by almost 40 points. The next session is scheduled for Monday. Justin is proposing that in situations where we have this many people to just play two teams with two lines in stead of a tournament, this improves flow and gives everyone frequent breaks while still getting the opportunity to play. Games would now go to 10 goals BUT every time a goal is scored the players would have to come off and switch with the others on their team. On the fly changes are also welcome, bringing in strategy and line-matching.

Useless Stats: Nathan's excellent performance brings him back over .820 for his career, once again making him Burton's top all-time goalie. Robert and Lorne share the 2004 scoring lead with 37 points. Lorne has two more assists, Robert two more goals. Laird, obviously, is now the season goaltending leader at .857 with Nathan in second place at .810 and rising fast. Despite only playing five games, K.J. is now top-five in goals and shots. Laird, scoring eight points in two games, is on top of the per-game stats for points and assists. Robert is leading in shooting percentage and shots-per-game. Justin moves up another sport in all-time three star points as does Robert, who becomes the 11th player to hit 200 points. Justin is just a handful of points behind Stefan for eigth all-time in points, and K.J. shoots up from 24th to 18th all-time. Seamus becomes the 12th player to reach 100 goals and is four assists away from becoming the 11th to reach 100 assists.