Stowe Youth Hockey roundup, Dec. 31

On Saturday, the Squirts faced off against Central Vermont Skating Association in Montpelier. Andrew Libby did a tremendous job in goal, making many terrific saves. The offense — including Bo Graves, Woody Reichelt, David Gosselin and Aaron Lepikko — put a lot of pressure on CVSA, yet it was defenseman Eames Eiden who roofed a beautiful shot that gave Stowe its one goal of the game.

Hayden Tibbits outmaneuvered CVSA defenders by taking the puck up the middle and Charlie Davidow made great use of the boards to clear the puck from the Stowe zone.

Despite all their effort, Stowe lost to CVSA 2-1.

On Sunday, the Squirts played Essex in Waterbury. Again, the Stowe team was short on players, but not on effort. Bo Graves earned himself a hat trick, while Woody Reichelt scored two. David Gosselin assisted on four of the five goals, and Aaron Lepikko also assisted on one. Hayden Tibbits and Eames Eiden switched roles, moving to the offense, but were able to get back on defense when needed.

Final: Stowe 5, Essex 0.

— Diane Lepikko

Squirt B

The Stowe Squirt B team hosted Essex White in Stowe on Saturday, Dec. 27. Down a few players for the holiday weekend, the boys received support from two brothers to round out their team.

The two offensive lines — Ashton Tibbits-Calvin James-Nicholous Lord and Liam Newhouse-Finley Robertson-Chace Newhouse — worked industriously as they moved the puck from end to end. Defensemen Nathan Nolan, Ivan Stancliff and Hayden Tibbits worked the blue line and took some hits to help goalie Cooper Shove on several close shots on net.

All three Stowe goals came from Hayden Tibbits, who maneuvered through traffic to achieve his first hat trick of the season. However, Essex prevailed, 5-3.

On Sunday, Dec. 28, Stowe hosted Harwood A at 9:15 in the Stowe Arena. The game accelerated when Harwood sneaked a shot past goalie Cooper Shove early in the first period.

Soon after, Chace Newhouse tied it up for Stowe. However, while Stowe dominated the second period, with many shots on net, not one got past Harwood’s goalie. Meanwhile, David Gosselin aided defensemen Nathan Nolan, Hayden Tibbits and Ivan Stancliff, who held off the Harwood forwards, and Ivan Stancliff blocked shot after shot.

Finally, Hayden Tibbits gave Stowe the lead on a breakaway, and his brother Ashton Tibbits fired a shot that David Gosselin collected on the rebound, and scored. Harwood answered with a goal out of a scuffle in front of the net, but Stowe was able to hold on to the lead. Final: Stowe 3, Harwood 2.

— Karen Tibbits

Peewees

Last weekend the Peewees continued to develop their individual skills while working as a team toward the goal of beating the pants off their opponents.

• In the first game, they beat Essex 5-2 in Stowe. Atticus Eiden opened up the scoring with a top-shelf slap shot from the top of the circle after a nice feed from Henry Paumgarten. Eiden would later assist on two of Paumgarten’s goals.

Essex closed the gap with two goals, but Rowan Keller and Kyle Rahilly scored for Stowe, Rahilly on a perfect setup from behind the net by Paumgarten.

Ethan Brown and Kai Taylor split the goaltending for Stowe and both had the crowd oohing and aahing after excellent saves.

• Immediately after, the exhausted Peewees had a friendly scrimmage with Stowe’s older U-13 girls. Brown opted not to play goalie, so Jack Hickey padded up and made some good saves despite never having played the position. The girls’ squad gave the kids some lessons in checking and showed great emotion, but Eiden and Paumgarten pestered their former teammate and fellow state-championship-winning goaltender Leo Clark with five goals and five assists, and Brown and Keller also scored. Final: 7-5.

• On Sunday the Peewees traveled to Woodstock. The game opened with defender Nate Libby sending Eiden on a breakaway for a backhander past the goalie, and that opened the floodgates.

Rahilly scored on the rebound of a Keller shot, Tristan Love clinked the puck off the crossbar and in, and Eiden and Paumgarten combined for five goals and five assists. Sam Abramsohn, Colin Scott and Hickey played outstanding defense. Final: Stowe 7, Woodstock 0.

— Heath Eiden