A History of Burton Hockey SuperSessions
#1: 19 July 2003, Fauquier. The first ever supersession took place at the now-abandoned Fauquier Rink, back in its better days, but was kicked off with a massive barbecue at the Klopp house. The interesting dimensions of the rink (it formerly served as two separate tennis courts) forced the gang to place the nets in the corners, creating a funnel effect. The first-ever session played under outdoor lighting, it started at 7:30 pm and went past midnight. Not only were there six different goalies, but it also marked the appearance of the legendary PAUL IRRELEVANTE.
#2: 3 May 2004, Fauquier. With McCormack Park being repaved, the gang heads back to Fauquier. Lorne Bilinski outscores Robert Rogers (for those of you who missed the Robert days, you have no idea how big of an accomplishment that was). Eight different times, Lorne and Robert scored goals off of opening-possession slapshots from behind centre, leading to the current slapshot rules we know today in VRH (BUSH, of course, went to faceoffs in 2009, and so this no longer applies). The goalies were uncharacteristically shit, Gavin Kiyono was there for some reason, and Pat Strachan fractured his arm in Burton's worst-ever injury.
#3: 26 May 2004, Fauquier. Just three weeks later, Stefan Klopp's return from a year in Uganda prompted the largest session to date in terms of numbers with 15 different players. Robert lit it up with 36 points (the second-highest mark to that date behind his own 40-point session). We also saw the Zarr family and Mike 'The Spike' Menard (who I believe was nine!) play their only games, and, of course, the infamous Jerry Currie goaltending stint.
#4: 24 July 2004, Burton and Fauquier. The only session ever played in two different locations thanks to Bernie Koth-Kappus's unilateral decision to move it to Burton at the last minute to be closer to Andrew Watson's barbecue over the wishes of Stefan and Joern Hornhardt, who had actually organised the session and came back to the valley that weekend specifically to play it, nearly leading to a Burton mutiny as half the crew stayed in Burton while the other half went to Fauquier as intended. Things calmed down eventually, and most of the Bernie faction ultimately rejoined the crew in Fauquier. Also, it featured the first ever appearance of a female skater (Kim McPhee). Robert's PPG was 4.38 here with 35 points (the next highest scorer was at a mere 20), and once again the goalies self-destructed on Fauquier pavement. All the bad feelings were patched up by the end of the night.
#5, 21 May 2005, Fauquier. An epic six hour, ten-game set featuring the nine core Burton Hockey originals. It would be the last time for five years that these nine legends would suit up together at the same session. It also marked the last time the the Fauquier Rink would see Burton Hockey action. Today, the rink's pavement lies in ruins, cracked, broken, and covered in littler and debris.
#6, 16 August 2009, Burton. It took ten seasons, but finally a full supersession would happen in McCormack Park. While planning the 2010 DecaSession, the idea of a BUSH SuperSession also came about. What happened was completely epic: a high-quality, six-hour session that holds the record for the highest volume of shots ever seen in Burton Hockey (587!) as Joe Leonard and Shem Hanna battled to the death. Kyle Grenier set a then-record score of 42 points, and everything was left on the rink.
#7, 22 August 2009, North Vancouver. Seeing the hype generated by the BUSH SuperSession, and wanting to organise a massive session in honour of Stefan's return from Europe, Bernie put together the VRH MegaSession at William Griffin Park with an astonishing 17 skaters. It would be the first appearance of Eric Coutinho and the second appearance of the man who would ultimately become Burton's most experienced goaltender, Dominik Voser.
#8, 2 April 2010, Burton. What can be said about the DecaSession, the most epic battle in Burton Hockey history, featuring two hungry squads representing both leagues competing for the Fuller Cup, 25 players, 7 1/2 hours of straight hockey. BUSH would win 6-2, but they were definitely pressed by the Lower Mainlanders, especially in the first half. Also notable for the return of Joe Chwachka and Tony Sivilay. it will be hard to top this day in Burton Hockey history.
#9, 3 April 2010, Burton. Back again the day after, the gang, still 24 strong, came together for the first Burton Open, a four-team tournament featuring mix-and-match teams from both leagues. Dom was valiant in defeat, being named MVP of the weekend. Despite breaking his thumb in the final game, Joe Leonard would score the winning goal for Team Seamus. More barbecue, more beverages, and a trip to the Hot Springs, the Kuskanax Lodge, and a house party rounded out the weekend.
#10, 9 October 2010, West Vancouver. Thanksgiving 2010 marked the return battle, this time at Ambleside. Played in an absolute downpour, BUSH showed up undermanned and were overwhelmed by the dominant trio of Pat Elischer, Marcus Keighron and Ryan Disterheft, who led VRH to a 5 games-to-1 lead before Ben de Wit, the Orr brothers and BUSH nearly pulled out a miracle. The phenomenal VRH goalie tandem of Dom Voser and Alex Elischer were the difference as VRH took the Fuller Cup in the wettest session ever.
#11, 10 October 2010, West Vancouver. Day 2 at Ambleside saw the Burton Open mix-and-match, this time taking place in broad sunlight. Won by Team Dom (Dom was named MVP once again), the evidence continued to mount that goalies step up their games dramatically for interleague play. At the end of the day, cries of 'May Long' could be heard in the distance...
