Undefeated, unflappable, and quite possibly unstoppable. The CVU girls' high school basketball team is heading back to the Division one finals, looking for their fourth consecutive championship following a 43-27 win over Burlington in the D-1 semi-finals last night.
Laurel Jaunich led CVU with ten points, nine rebounds, and four assists on a night when the Redhawks were relentless on defense, limiting the Seahorses to just three points in the first half, and the numbers for CVU are simply staggering. The team is still undefeated this season with twenty-three wins against no losses, but the winning streak actually stands now at ninety-four games stretching back over the last several seasons. So if you like underdogs, get ready to cheer for number ten seed BFA-St. Albans, as they look to play David against Goliath in the final on March 8th at Patrick Gym. The Comets are heading back to the title game for the first time since 2009 after beating Brattleboro in the other semi-final last night 55-26. Kelly Laggis had eleven points to lead the Comets, who led 29-12 at halftime and never looked back.
In Division two high school hockey semi-final playoff action, the U-32 girls and boys both came out winners. The second-seeded boys topped Middlebury 3-0, and the top-seeded girls were winners over Stowe in overtime 4-3.
After one day of races at the high school Alpine state championships at the Middlebury Snow Bowl, Caleb Genereaux of Lyndon was the fist place finisher in the boys' giant slalom, the second year in a row he's won that crown, and on the girls' side Mount Mansfield’s Karin Rand took first.
In the NHL, Boston Bruins fans got their first look at two of the team's trade deadline acquisitions at TD Garden last night, and the reviews were generally good for both winger Lee Stempniak and defenseman John-Michael Liles.
Both looked comfortable in their black and gold debuts, Stempniak riding on the number one line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and it took a late power play goal from Bergeron with less than five minutes to go in the third period to give the Bruins a much-needed 2-1 win over a slumping Calgary Flames squad that had played in Philadelphia just a night earlier. The Bruins scored first on a goal by Landon Ferraro off a beautiful feed from Torey Krug, but the Flames tied it at one in the second period after goalie Tuukka Rask lost his stick and was left hung out to dry on a one-timer by Jakub Nakladal. The game also saw the debut of rookie center Noel Acciari who played on the fourth line.
The Bruins were without Zac Rinaldo, who was just smacked with a five-game suspension for a dangerous hit to the head of Tampa Bay's Cedric Paquette last Sunday. Why the Bruins signed a player like Rinaldo, with a history of dangerous hits like the one he's again suspended for in the first place, is a legitimate question. As has been said before on the sports report, hockey needs to weed out these types of players for the betterment of the game and the safety of its employees. As for last night's game, it wasn't a pretty win, but the two points were critical for Boston, because if their schedule ahead was a road it would resemble the fury one featured in the latest Mad Max film. Coming to town next are two teams that are arguably the best in their respective conferences, the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals, followed by two road games in Florida against the first and second place Panthers and Lightning, and a west coast road trip is also in the Bruins' future. The team currently sits one point ahead of Detroit for third place in the Atlantic and points going forward will be increasingly tough to garner.
Some hot stove news, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has suspended New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman for thirty games to begin the season, this stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident at Chapman's home in Florida last fall. Chapman was alleged to have choked his girlfriend and to have fired multiple shots from a gun in his garage following the incident. Chapman denies having hurt his girlfriend but is not appealing the thirty-game suspension, which only covers regular season games. He will be eligible to play in spring training. Florida Police did not charge Chapman and said the investigation was closed pending any new evidence, citing a lack of sufficient evidence, conflicting stories and failure of witnesses to cooperate in the investigation.
