As promised, Thursday's session was scheduled to start an hour later, which of course meant it started 90 minutes later thanks to our ever-prudent Burton crew (Graeme gets another Bitch Award for using Wednesday's soccer pains as an excuse to ditch). The session also ended early when Lorne left to catch a flight to Vancouver, so only five games were played in what was deemed 'The Challenge', a best-of-five series pitting Justin, Seamus, Lyle and the Koth-Kappii against the Bilinskis, K.J., Pat and Nathan in an epic struggle that was fought down to the last goal. Every game was 5-4 except for a quick second game in which Nathan was shellshocked 5-1 (hence his sub-par .783). The most incredible facet of the session was that Lyle still managed .803 despite not wearing a blocker for the entire session. Despite losing the series the series, the top three scorers all hailed from the same team, led by Justin (8-7-15) and Seamus and Oliver (both 5-7-12). K.J. posted eight goals and Laird had no goals but seven assists. In what could possibly be Lorne's last session unless a Monday session is organized, he fared not well by his lofty standards with only five points in five games.

Useless Stats: With no Robert, Justin and Seamus move into second and third in season points. Justin also moved into second in goals and third in assists ahead of Rob and is now third in points-per-game while Oliver has now tied Robert for fourth in assists. Despite a well-rounded .804, Lyle slips behind Laird in third while Nathan falls to fourth in this year's tight save percentage battle. Seamus and Justin move ahead of Graeme into fifth in games played. Lyle moves into a tie with Nowak for fourth in games goaltended. K.J. moves ahead of Lorne into second in goals-per-game. On the all-time front, Lorne is now just eight points away from 800 all-time and Oliver is three away from 700 (as well as Bernie from 500). Justin has become the fourth player to reach 400 points and Seamus the tenth to reach 300. Lorne becomes the first player to hit 500 goals. Seamus passes rob for tenth all-time in scoring, hits the 300-point and needs 14 points to pass Joe. ties Joern for ninth in all-time goals. Laird becomes the fourth player to reach 200 assists and Justin is three assists behind Joern for fifth all-time. Justin leapfrogs Stefan and ties Lee for third in shots with 995 and is five away from the 1000 mark. The gap between Nathan and Seamus is narrowed to .820-.818. Nathan needs 35 saves to pass Joern for second in all-time saves. Oliver becomes the second player to play 400 games and Lorne the fourth to play 300. Seamus passes Simon and Stefan to move into sixth in games played. Nathan needs four more games for 100. Lots of session streaks were snapped today despite 25 points being up for grabs. Justin's five-session streak of 10+ goals was ended (Lorne's four session streak also ended). Justin did keep his longest-going streak alive, though; he is now at six consecutive 15-point sessions. He now has 15 of those sessions all-time, tying him for third with Lee. Nathan's record-tying streak of five straight 80-save sessions and his record streaks of five straight 90-save, five-straight 100-save sessions and two straight 110, 120 and 130-save sessions are snapped while Lyle ups his streak of 80-save sessions to three. Bernie extends his consecutive session streak to twenty-six, but this could end if a Monday session is played next week.

Burton Cup: With only five teams represented on Thursday, Republic of Ireland inched a bit closer to Lords in the standings with Government Hill passing the absent North Kootenay Falcons for fourth. Before leaving for Vancouver, Lorne wants to organize a farewell session on Monday in the absence of Bernie, Justin, Pat and Seamus. Can it happen? Tune in here to find out, and don't forget the Burton Cup and Records And Honours links on the front page.