Courtesy photo by Bill Burbank
Max Ryan (from left), Max Rieley and Tommy Watson, members of Boy Scout Troop 692, relax in a snow shelter they made during a recent camping trip to Twin Hills Girl Scout Camp in Jonesville. Each scout or group of two to three scouts made a shelter to sleep in on the night of Jan 16.
Winter camping
January 28, 2010 By
Sports Notes (1/28/10)
January 28, 2010 By
CVU Nordic skiers going to Craftsbury
A visit to the Northeast Kingdom and the Craftsbury Marathon is coming up Saturday for the Champlain Valley Union High Nordic ski team, which had some success last Friday in a 12-school event in Jericho Center.
Led by Abby Stoner and Kylie deGroot, the girls scored a substantial victory, outpointing runner-up Mount Mansfield Union High 22-57. Bellows Free Academy of St. Albans finished third with 91 points.
Stoner finished second to winner Larissa Kehne of U-32 by five seconds. Kehne posting a winning time of 22:32.
deGroot took third, with teammates Johanna Fehrs seventh and Sierra Frisbie 10th.
The boys team took fourth with 84 points to 48 for winning Mount Mansfield, whose Jack Gegman led the field.
CVU’s Sam Epstein paced the Redhawks with a ninth-place finish.
Busy schedule on mats for CVU wrestlers
A Tuesday night victory at St. Johnsbury Academy was followed Wednesday by a home meet against visiting Randolph Union High and Colchester High as the Champlain Valley Union High wrestling team gets set for Saturday’s invitational meet at Colchester.
The 42-36 triumph at St. Johnsbury was led by winners Patrick Shea (112 pounds), Ryan Stearns (135), Sam Fortin (171), Ryan Fleming (189) and James Dattilio (285).
Over the weekend, the Redhawks finished 19th in the prestigious Essex Invitational, a two-day event that drew some 28 teams from the New York-New England region.
Fortin took a fourth in his 171-pound division while Stearns was sixth among the 135-pounders.
“This is one of the toughest tournaments of the regular season,” CVU wrestling coach Rahn Fleming said. “We are not disappointed, we are determined. We’ll be back, we’ll be better.”
Two regular season competitions remain for Redhawk gymnasts
The Champlain Valley Union High gymnastics team will be on the road to close out the regular season in preparation for the annual State Meet on Feb. 13 at Essex High.
Randolph High (7 p.m.) will be the destination for a Friday visit, followed by a trip to South Burlington High at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Last Friday, the Redhawks scored a victory over U-32 in East Montpelier by a 125.55 to 112.15 tally.
Ashley Bachand (vault) and Madison Bourdeau (floor exercise) scored the victories for CVU, with Bourdeau taking a second on the vault and third on the bars.
Second places also went to Emma Sienkiewycz on the bars and Amanda Holman on the beam. Kelsey Darby was third on the vault and Ashley Dubois third on the beam.
Megan Kloekner garnered a third in all-around.
CVU’s Howard nominated as Athlete of the Month
Champlain Valley Union High’s Molly Howard, leading scorer on the girls hockey team, is one of five nominees for the Vermont Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s girls December Athlete of the Month award.
Howard, a junior, led the Redhawks to seven victories in eight December games, scoring 18 goals and adding at least nine assists.
Also nominated for the monthly award were Essex High basketball player Kari Lavalette (16 points per game), Montpelier High hockey player Erin Banfield (24 goals), Chelsea Montello of Fair Haven Union High for indoor track and Twin Valley High basketball player Devon Spirka (21 points per game).
Voting members of the VSSA will choose the winners in girls and boys divisions in a few days.
Girls hockey looks to extend win streak (1/28/10)
January 28, 2010 By
Jan. 28, 2010
After recovering from a 1-3-1 pothole, the Champlain Valley Union High girls hockey team carried an overall 10-3-1 record and two straight victories in Wednesday evening’s contest against South Burlington High at Cairns Arena.
The game was scheduled for after press deadline. The Redhawks had nipped the Rebels 5-4 in the third game of the season.
CVU’s latest triumph came Friday, an 8-4 bopping of visiting Burr and Burton Academy of Manchester.
The offense was sizzling as KK Logan and Hannah Johnson each scored two goals and Molly Howard fired in one score and assisted on four others. It was Howard’s 23rd lamp lighter of the season, while Logan’s two goals boosted her tally total to 14. Amanda Armell scored her fifth goal in the last five outings while Alyx Rivard and Sasha Gunther also scored.
CVU outgunned the Bulldogs 49-18. Nicole Sisk blocked 14 shots in the Redhawks’ cage.
— Mal Boright, Observer correspondent
Hoops team returns home with winning smile (1/28/10)
January 28, 2010 By
Jan. 28, 2010
By Mal Boright
Observer correspondent
Having displayed some true grit in nudging past Mount Mansfield Union High 47-40 Monday night at the Cougars’ Jericho Center lair, the 9-4 Champlain Valley Union High boys basketball team will entertain North Country Union at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Bremner Gymnasium.
The Falcons will wing in with a 2-10 record as of Monday.
“It was a gritty victory,” a relieved coach Scott Bliss said after the hard-earned triumph over the young but determined MMU squad.
The Redhawks trailed 32-28 late in the third period before initiating a slow but steady 12-point run that carried late into the final reel. The Cougars didn’t score again until an Eric Suder put-back and free throw that cut the CVU lead to 40-35 with 1:47 left to play.
Redhawks point guard Chris Beaton, who had one of his best performances of the season, nailed two charity tosses at 1:37. But MMU’s Ethan Brown (15 points) then launched an intercontinental trey with 57 seconds on the clock, cutting the lead to 42-38 and causing angst on the CVU side.
The Cougars had to foul to stop the clock and the Redhawks, despite a so-so shooting night at the line, were able to drain enough charity flips to stay in command. Overall, CVU hit just 19 of 34 freebies.
Bliss had praise for Beaton, saying after the contest, “He carried us at times.”
The senior led scorers with 16 points, hitting five of six shots from the field while adding a pair of assists and four big steals.
Big contributions also came from center Will Hurd. Held without a hoop, the solid citizen hit three of four free throws and hauled down three of his nine rebounds in the prime time final quarter. Two of those rebounds came off the offensive glass on missed CVU free throws and kept vital possession of the ball for the Redhawks.
The Cougars varied man-to-man and zone defenses held Jake Donnelly to 13 points (4-for-10 from the floor), but the junior was invaluable with strong ball handling, eight rebounds and at least two assists.
Robert Russ chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds while big Eoin Karnes came off the bench and hauled in four rebounds — three of those and his lone free throw coming in the final reel.
“We played well late in the game,” Russ said.
That the Redhawks did.
“We moved the ball around and were patient, not taking the first shot that presented itself,” Bliss said.
The improving Mount Mansfield club led much of the way, at times by as much as four to six points, until CVU, on two free throws by Russ, opened that dozen-point run toward the end of the third period.
While Brown was the Cougar’s top gun with six of 10 from the floor, 6-foot-7 sophomore center Suder was a mountain near the CVU hoop, blocking five shots and hauling in eight rebounds to go with his seven points.
CVU 12 10 10 15 – 47
MMU 15 8 9 8 – 40
CVU (9-4)
Donnelly 4-10 5-7 13, Nigh 0-2 1-3 1, Hurd 0-6 3-6 3, Russ 4-8 3-6 11, Beaton 5-6 6-10 16, Gale 0-0 0-0 0, Clayton 1-1 0-0 2, Hart 0-0 0-0 0, Leckerling 0-0 0-0 0, Karnes 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 14-33 19-34 47.
MMU (6-7)
Lacy 2-6 3-4 7, Wright 1-1 1-2 3, Suder 2-9 3-5 7, Brown 6-10 2-2 15, Leland 0-6 0-0 0, Lavounty 2-3 0-0 5, Lecours 0-1 1-2 1, Sharrow 1-1 0-0 2, Chornyak 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-37 10-15 40.
Boys hockey hits rough patch (1/28/10)
January 28, 2010 By
Jan. 28, 2010
By Mal Boright
Observer correspondent
After going 1-2-1 in their last four games, the Champlain Valley Union High boys hockey team needs to do some serious work to gain a top Division 1 playoff berth.
Two games this week could help the 8-4-1 Redhawks emerge from their slump: A road trip on Jan. 27 (played after press deadline) to Harwood Union High’s home ice, followed by an 8:30 p.m. Saturday home contest against Stowe High.
The latest loss was a 4-0 defeat to rival Essex High (12-2-1) at noon on Saturday at Cairns Arena. The Hornets, CVU’s foe in the last two Division 1 championship contests, evened the season series at a game apiece; CVU had triumphed 3-1 at Essex earlier this season.
The Hornets were all over CVU from the opening drop of the puck Saturday, outshooting the Redhawks 12-4 in the opening period and 12-5 in the second frame.
Still, Essex’s lone score into the final two minutes of the second reel were a J.T. Begnoche slapper from the point with 7:01 remaining in the first period. CVU net minder Mark Albertson appeared to get a piece of the shot but not enough to deflect it from the net.
CVU continued to hang around until Essex’s Kyle Peckham scored a power play goal with 1:42 left in the second and Kurt Simendinger followed 23 seconds later with another score to put the Hornets up 3-0.
Begnoche put a lid on the contest at 13:39 of the final period with a hard shot after a sortie down the right wing, his second score of the day.
The Hornets did not allow much in the way of open ice for the usually hard-charging Redhawks. Robbie Dobrowski got off some decent rushes but came up blank, snapping a nine-game goal-getting string.
Kyle Logan, J.P. Benoit and Nate Lacroix also had serious attacks ridden off by the heady Essex defenders before getting solid open opportunities on goalie Chase Congreves or seeing shots go just wide. Congreves made 18 stops.
