I'm going to post a few articles from BU's student newspaper, The Daily
Free Press, regarding the Beanpot. It's pretty interesting. The Daily
Free Press did something like 4 or 5 articles and this one features
Brian Gionta and what the terriers did to stop him.
 
3.) BU defense shuts down, frustrates potent Gionta  (Boston U.)
By Chris Poisson
The Daily Free Press (Boston U.)
02/02/1999
 
BOSTON, Mass. -- Boston University's plan to contain Boston
College sharpshooter Brian Gionta played out like a simple game of
pinball.
 
Instead of a multi-colored, flashy machine as the setting, the
FleetCenter
served as the venue for the first-round of the 47th annual Beanpot
Tournament.
 
The little shiny silver marble came in the form of the 5-foot-7 Gionta,
one
of college hockey's beaming stars.
 
And all the handles, barriers and blockers that bang the marble in every
possible direction were played by the BU defensemen.
 
Gionta's inability to get into the flow of the game was a major factor
for
the Terriers, who pulled out a 3-2 overtime win as underdogs to advance
to
next Monday's championship against Northeastern University.
 
The young Terrier defense, which has been inconsistent all season,
turned
in its strongest outing of the year. Although BU gave up 31 shots, BC
was
forced to take many of them from long range. And when it did pull the
trigger from point-blank, senior goalie Michel Larocque (29 saves)
swallowed the bullets.
 
But it was the shutdown of Gionta more than anything else that
propelled BU
to the Beanpot title game for the fifth straight year. Gionta had no
points
and only six shots on goal, not the performance expected from someone
who
leads Hockey East in scoring with 34 points.
 
"Gionta had an all right game," junior forward Chris Heron said. "I
don't
think it was his fault. I think it was our D. They played him strong.
Our
forwards were bashing him hard. And of course Rocko was playing on his
head
again."
 
The strategy seemed simple enough: Put a body on him, don't get him
fired
up by trash-talking and keep an eye on his sweet stick. And every single
defenseman took part in this.
 
"I actually don't think we focused on him as much as it was when our D
had
a chance to stick him and hit him," sophomore forward Carl Corazzini
said.
"And that's what they did, and he got a little frustrated and wasn't on
his
game tonight."
 
Every time Gionta rushed toward the net, a defenseman was there to
smother
him. At 8:10 of the third period, Gionta received a breakout pass at the
blue line, and as he crossed into BU's zone for a potential break,
freshman
defenseman Pat Aufiero quickly recovered and pinned him to the boards,
forcing him to make a bad pass.
 
About a minute later, sophomore defenseman Juha Vuori found himself
man-to-man with Gionta. Vuori cut down Gionta's angle and forced him to
take a shot from the right circle rather than move to the slot, and
Larocque was there to make the glove save.
 
After a whistle, freshman forward Jack Baker bumped Gionta into the
boards
behind the net, and when no penalty was called, Gionta clearly was
beginning to lose his cool. And at 10:18, he took his frustration out on
sophomore defenseman Joe DiPenta, and both were called for roughing.
 
"I'm sure he was frustrated," said senior defenseman Dan Ronan. "I
talked
to the ref before the game. They know too that he's going to dive all
over
the place. I just wanted them to be aware of that, and I think that's
why
they called the one-on-one with Joey because he was kind of diving all
over
the place. He knows Joey was a foot bigger than him and he could
probably
get a call. Timmy [Bennedeto], the ref, made a good call there by going
with the one-on-one."
 
With Gionta off the ice for two minutes, the Eagles lost some of their
attack, and they never regained it.
 
DiPenta had begun to give Gionta problems in the second period. While on
the power play, Gionta tried to beat DiPenta to the net from the right
circle, but DiPenta poked the puck loose as he got by and then used his
size to cut him off and hold him behind the net.
 
"He's real nifty right in front of the net," sophomore defenseman Colin
Sheen said. "And if we get our sticks on him and pick him up in there,
it
limits his opportunities. If we do a good job of doing that, it's
easier to
shut him down.
 
"Even though you have his body a lot of the time, you don't have his
stick," Sheen added. "And he doesn't turn anyone inside out, but he's
always in the action in front of the net. He's a tough guy to cover so
you
really have to be cautious of the stick because that's what puts the
puck
on net."
 
Early in the first period, Sheen stopped a 2-on-1 break by Gionta and
forward Andy Powers. Sheen stuck with Gionta, forced him to the boards
and
swiped his own stick at the puck, forcing Gionta to make a drop pass,
which
Powers couldn't handle.
 
In BC's 6-2 win over BU on Nov. 20, Gionta torched the Terrier defense
for
a hat trick and two assists in a five-point outburst. Gionta found
himself
wide open and untouched as he picked up his goals in front of the net.
 
This time around, BU's physical style of play threw him out of rhythm.
And
the Terriers didn't talk trash so he wouldn't get that added motivation.
 
"It was just being able to leave him alone and not let him get going and
get that jumpy-spunky attitude," Ronan said. "Brian really likes to get
people in his face. Whether it's calling him small, or anything to
antagonize him. That really gets him going. We just left him alone all
night. He still had his opportunities, but for the most part we shut him
down and kept him off the scoreboard."
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