(Sorry for the lateness of this one; didn't get a chance to post until
late, then I had problems (again) with my internet service.)
(Box from BC game summary sheet)
Friday, January 19, 2001 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 4, PC 0 HOCKEY EAST GAME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE (HE) 0 0 0 - 0 (13-6-3 overall, 7-4-1 HE)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 1 2 1 - 4 (16-6-1 overall, 9-3-1 HE)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
PC 10- 5- 3 -- 18 8 - 16 0 - 5
BC 6-17-13 -- 36 9 - 18 0 - 4
PC - Nolan Schaefer 5-15-12 - 32 saves/4 goals (60:00)
BC - Scott Clemmensen 10- 5- 3 - 18 saves/0 goals (60:00)
Referee - Jim Fitzgerald
Assistants - Chris Low, Mike Taddeo
Attendance - 7770
1st Period
BC1 Brian Gionta 14 (Eaves) SHG 6:45
Penalties
BC - Scuderi (hooking) 5:09
BC - Gionta (holding) 10:18
BC - Allen (hooking) 15:00
2nd Period
BC2 Jeff Giuliano 8 (Kobasew, Cass) 8:31
BC3 Ben Eaves 4 (Scuderi, Gionta) 19:47
Penalties
PC - Suderman (hooking) 0:21
BC - Gionta (slashing) 13:40
PC - Wood (holding) 15:28
3rd Period
BC4 Brian Gionta 15 (Voce) 7:35
PC - Timeout 9:33
Penalties
BC - Forrest (high-sticking) 5:19
PC - Leach (high-sticking) 5:19
BC - Forrest (slashing) 11:11
PC - Wright (interference) 12:09
BC - Lephart (hit after whistle) 13:03
PC - Rask (hit after whistle) 13:03
BC - Dziama (roughing) 15:22
PC - Torretti (slashing) 15:22
PC - Robinson (cross-checking) 18:27
BC - Dziama (high-sticking) 18:27
PC - Luszcz (hit after whistle) 18:27
3 Stars - 1. BC - Scott Clemmensen (0G, 18 saves) - 12th career shutout
2. BC - Brian Gionta (2G, 1A)
3. BC - Ben Eaves (1G, 1A)
Providence College:
F Mike Lucci, Peter Fregoe, Drew Omicioli
MARC SUDERMAN, ADAM LEE, J.J. PICINIC
Doug Wright, Devin Rask, Jon DiSalvatore
John Luszcz, Mike Robinson, Cody Loughlean
D REGAN KELLY, MATT LIBBY
Jay Leach, Dominic Torretti
Jason Platt, Stephen Wood
G NOLAN SCHAEFER, Boyd Ballard, Matt Curran
Boston College:
F TONY VOCE, BEN EAVES, BRIAN GIONTA
Jeff Giuliano, Krys Kolanos, Chuck Kobasew
Marty Hughes, Ales Dolinar, Mike Lephart
Mark McLennan, Ty Hennes, Justin Dziama
D BOBBY ALLEN, J. D. FORREST
Brooks Orpik, Bill Cass
Brett Peterson, Rob Scuderi
G SCOTT CLEMMENSEN, Tom Egan
COMMENTS
--------
It was a highly-anticipated game Friday night at BC, as the first and second
place teams in Hockey East started their home-and-home battle. Providence
was looking to cement their position as a bonafide contender for the league
crown (and gain national prominence), while the Eagles wanted to leave
behind the previous loss to Merrimack and assert superiority. It ended up
a 2-part game, with Providence dominating most of the first period and BC
shutting them down the rest of the game. Brian Gionta's 2 goals led the
Eagles, along with the 4th shutout of Scott Clemmensen's career against
the Friars (overall he is 8-2-2 against Providence in his career.)
The first period gave no evidence of how the game would turn out, as
Providence had most of the good chances, using their speed and 3 power plays
to pressure the Eagles. An early 2-on-1 after a BC defenseman unsuccessfully
pinched at the blue line was shot into Clemmensen's body and the rebound
cleared. Doug Wright fired wide in close, and Peter Fregoe forced a tough
save after an long break pass found him behind the defense. BC took a
penalty to prevent the rebound being sent into the wide-open net, and
Clemmensen made a couple of saves to begin the power play. A little later,
Brian Gionta was a one-man buzzsaw on the forecheck behind the PC net, and
it resulted in a turnover to Ben Eaves on the left boards. He wheeled to
the net, flipped a backhand pass to the slot, and Gionta was there to bury
it shorthanded for what turned out to be the gamewinner. The Eagles had
some jump in the minutes after that, with Kolanos and Lephart getting good
shots to no avail. Another BC penalty was killed with no real problem,
but it gave Providence a chance to get the skaters moving again, and they
kept the pressure up the rest of the period. Jon DiSalvatore sent a long
through pass up the middle, forcing BC's Allen to haul down the forward
breaking clear over the blue line. Clemmensen did his best work on this
power play, stopping Fregoe in close. BC did get another shorthanded chance
when Tony Voce stole a pass and walked in cleanly, but Schaefer followed
his move to the backhand and made the save. J.J. Picinic forced another
nice save, and a rebound pass slid thru the crease untouched. Another late
rush by the Friars found Devin Rask charging the net, but his tip of the
centering pass flew wide instead of denting the open net. The Eagles were
fortunate to end the period up 1-0, instead of down 2-1.
Having allowed Providence to move swiftly around the BC offensive zone in
the first and not responding, BC adjusted in the second period and ended up
beating PC to the dump-ins and loose pucks and moving it out of the zone
swiftly. It started quickly with a Gionta backhand shot, then a Providence
penalty as Voce was hauled down. The Eagles kept the possession and moved
the puck quickly but got few shots. Two quick Providence shots followed
off of forechecking pressure, but DiSalvatore and Wright were stoned by
Clemmensen. BC's top group of Kolanos, Kobasew, and Giuliano then cranked
up their pressure and the action was in the PC end much of the next few
minutes. It paid off when Kobasew carried the puck in on the left side,
fed it back to a trailing Giuliano, and his low shot scored from the near
left circle to make it 2-0. BC had continued pressure after that, with
Eaves and Voce both getting break opportunities. Clemmensen had to make
another big save at the 10:15 mark when DiSalvatore stole a cross-zone pass
and sped the other way on a partial breakaway. BC started to control play
especially strongly after that, with most of the possession and a lot of
forechecking pressure, even when killing a penalty. A lot of the Providence
possession did not lead to shots or shots that went wide, a pattern that
was dominant for the last 30 minutes of the game. BC was able to turn their
possession into shots or dangerous chances that went wide. It looked like
it might end a 2-goal deficit, but a floating shot from the left point to
the crease was deflected in front by Eaves and it bounced down and through
Schaefer for the 3-0 margin with just 13 seconds left in the period. This
deflated any comeback thought PC may have had, I think.
In the third period, BC was mostly content to play defensively, limiting
Friar chances. Things got more heated, with several matching penalties
throughout. Gionta collected his third point of the game 7 minutes in
when Voce pushed the puck clear of the BC zone and sent him racing through
the neutral zone. The PC defense was a bit flatfooted and that allowed
Gionta to speed past them and come in on a breakaway. He slid in toward
the net from the right side, moved to the left, and lifted a backhand over
the sliding goalie. PC got a few weak chances after that, then BC kept
possession for a long shift, with Marty Hughes being allowed to wheel in
the zone for 2 shots from the slot. Coach Pooley took a timeout at that
point to emphasize to his team that they couldn't relax and wait for a
teammate to do the hard work, as they were not working hard enough
defensively. The remaining 10 minutes were filled with up-and-down play,
with most of the action in front of Schaefer. Several penalties were
called, and BC basically controlled the puck. The only question was
whether PC's inability to score at Conte Forum would continue (this was
their 3rd shutout in a row at BC.) And it did.
The first period was no doubt the Providence team that had been fighting
for first place in Hockey East this season, with lots of fast skating and
offensive chances. They controlled the pace and had the momentum, but
couldn't get a goal. The last 2 periods, though, were mostly dominated
by BC's game plan, as they started outskating and outworking the Friars.
The defensive effort by BC was smart and effective; BC out-attempted
PC 33 to 8 in the second period, and 21 to 7 in the third. The shot
charts were instructive, as the few PC shots were mostly from outside (a
couple of good, close chances that Clemmensen did a good job to save,
however.) Something about playing in Conte Forum has been difficult for
Providence the past year. This was their 3rd consecutive shutout there,
losing 8-0 and 6-0 last year as well. For a team that wanted to use the
weekend to prove they were one of the elite in Hockey East, it was
disappointing. They had Saturday's game to look forward to, back in
Providence, to make up for that. As it turns out, it wasn't that good
either, as BC won the next night 4-2.
The players of the weekend for BC were Gionta and Clemmensen. After his
only really poor effort of the year in the loss to Merrimack on Tuesday,
Clemmensen showed the form he has had for most of the year in playing
sharp and controlled. He made big saves when needed and worked well with
his defense in clearing rebounds, etc. Gionta, who had been in a mini-slump
from the scoring standpoint, broke out with consecutive 2-goal, 1-assist
games against Providence, leading the team in Saturday's victory as well.
Brian had been working hard and getting some opportunities in previous
games, but they hadn't been going in for him. This weekend allowed him
to breathe a sigh of relief, and provide signs that his luck was returning.
Gionta was named the player of the week in Hockey East for his
6-point effort in the 2 games.
There were lots of other good signs for the Eagles in these 2 games, with
some solid defensive play (even when Providence was carrying the flow in
the first period, BC deflected a lot of passes and disrupted play enough
to keep them off the board.) Brooks Orpik had a strong weekend, perhaps
not coincidentally because he took no penalties and was on the ice to play
defense. Other notables included Jeff Giuliano and Chuck Kobasew, who have
been forechecking demons lately, and producing offensively as a result.
Combined with UNH's loss Saturday to Northeastern, it opens up a 3-point
margin for the Eagles in the race for first place in the league. They
get to try to maintain that lead this coming weekend by hosting always-tough
Maine for 2 games. The Saturday night contest is the Fox Sports Net Hockey
East game of the week. Providence goes on the road for a single game at
Lowell Saturday night.
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Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A pleased BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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