FargoND
03-14-2007, 12:30 PM
Stephen Gionta earned more than a black eye from his first professional fight.
Once again, the pint-sized right winger (5-7, 180 pounds) with a big heart earned the respect of his Lowell Devils teammates.
"It was fun," the Boston College product via Rochester, N.Y., said of his fight last Friday in Albany against Pat Dwyer, who is four inches taller and five pounds heavier than Gionta.
It was a fight, by the way, Gionta more than held his own.
"It's a case of you've got to do what you've got to do," said Gionta, whose bright smile was in stark contrast to the blackened area around his left eye, "to stand up for yourself. Sometimes that means dropping your gloves. That's just the way the game is."
For the record, Gionta has now dropped the gloves once in 57 pro games. In 54 games this season, the younger brother of New Jersey star Brian Gionta has picked up only 12 penalty minutes.
"No, this isn't the new role," a laughing Gionta said.
Gionta, a Tsongas Arena fan favorite due to his fearless style of play, said he enjoyed the reaction of his teammates after he fought Dwyer.
Area fans will get three chances to watch Gionta, Lowell's smallest player, in action this week. The Devils host Springfield tonight, Portland on Friday and Hartford on Sunday.
This is another crucial week as the Devils hold fourth place in the Atlantic Division by two points over Worcester and five over Portland. Only the top four teams in the Atlantic will make the playoffs. Lowell has also crept to within three points of third-place Providence.
ON THE DEFENSIVE: With 24 goals, center Chris Minard has a chance to become only the third player in Lowell pro hockey history to score 30 goals. (Chuck Kobasew scored 38 in 2004-05 and Jeff Heerema scored 33 in 2001-02 when the team was the Lowell Lock Monsters).
"It's all who you play with and coaches having confidence in you to put you out on the ice," Minard said modestly.
"Chris isn't a guy who needs a lot of opportunities to score goals," Devils head coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. "He gets a chance -- boom -- the puck's in the net. And he's worked so hard on his play without the puck to become a more complete player."
"That was the knock on me coming in," Minard said, "that I wasn't strong defensively. I've tried to improve my defensive game."
David Clarkson (17) is Lowell's second-leading goal scorer. Minard leads Lowell with 37 points, three more than defenseman Dan McGillis.
LOOSE PUCKS: Despite the fact that Lowell has 15 games left in the regular season, the Devils have already earned more points (73) than the Lock Monsters did all last season (72). Lowell failed to make the AHL playoffs three of the last four years. The Devils are on a 3-0-0-1 roll and are 5-0-0-1 in their last six road games. Only two Lock Monsters teams went unbeaten in six straight road games.
"Honestly, I definitely think our guys have started to figure it out a little bit, what it takes to be on top of your game over a period of time," Kleinendorst said. ... The Devils have been successful on 18.6 percent of their power plays, good for seventh best in the AHL. In their eight-year history, the Lock Monsters never finished a season with better than a 18.0 success rate with the man advantage. ... Center Rod Pelley has 13 goals. Only Mike Zigomanis (18) scored more goals as a rookie in Lowell pro hockey history. Tomas Kurka and defenseman Ray Giroux each scored 13 times as rookies to match Pelley. ... Left wing Dan LaCouture began last week with five points in 29 games -- and ended it with 11 points in 33 games, a stunning turnaround for the former Boston University star.
Once again, the pint-sized right winger (5-7, 180 pounds) with a big heart earned the respect of his Lowell Devils teammates.
"It was fun," the Boston College product via Rochester, N.Y., said of his fight last Friday in Albany against Pat Dwyer, who is four inches taller and five pounds heavier than Gionta.
It was a fight, by the way, Gionta more than held his own.
"It's a case of you've got to do what you've got to do," said Gionta, whose bright smile was in stark contrast to the blackened area around his left eye, "to stand up for yourself. Sometimes that means dropping your gloves. That's just the way the game is."
For the record, Gionta has now dropped the gloves once in 57 pro games. In 54 games this season, the younger brother of New Jersey star Brian Gionta has picked up only 12 penalty minutes.
"No, this isn't the new role," a laughing Gionta said.
Gionta, a Tsongas Arena fan favorite due to his fearless style of play, said he enjoyed the reaction of his teammates after he fought Dwyer.
Area fans will get three chances to watch Gionta, Lowell's smallest player, in action this week. The Devils host Springfield tonight, Portland on Friday and Hartford on Sunday.
This is another crucial week as the Devils hold fourth place in the Atlantic Division by two points over Worcester and five over Portland. Only the top four teams in the Atlantic will make the playoffs. Lowell has also crept to within three points of third-place Providence.
ON THE DEFENSIVE: With 24 goals, center Chris Minard has a chance to become only the third player in Lowell pro hockey history to score 30 goals. (Chuck Kobasew scored 38 in 2004-05 and Jeff Heerema scored 33 in 2001-02 when the team was the Lowell Lock Monsters).
"It's all who you play with and coaches having confidence in you to put you out on the ice," Minard said modestly.
"Chris isn't a guy who needs a lot of opportunities to score goals," Devils head coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. "He gets a chance -- boom -- the puck's in the net. And he's worked so hard on his play without the puck to become a more complete player."
"That was the knock on me coming in," Minard said, "that I wasn't strong defensively. I've tried to improve my defensive game."
David Clarkson (17) is Lowell's second-leading goal scorer. Minard leads Lowell with 37 points, three more than defenseman Dan McGillis.
LOOSE PUCKS: Despite the fact that Lowell has 15 games left in the regular season, the Devils have already earned more points (73) than the Lock Monsters did all last season (72). Lowell failed to make the AHL playoffs three of the last four years. The Devils are on a 3-0-0-1 roll and are 5-0-0-1 in their last six road games. Only two Lock Monsters teams went unbeaten in six straight road games.
"Honestly, I definitely think our guys have started to figure it out a little bit, what it takes to be on top of your game over a period of time," Kleinendorst said. ... The Devils have been successful on 18.6 percent of their power plays, good for seventh best in the AHL. In their eight-year history, the Lock Monsters never finished a season with better than a 18.0 success rate with the man advantage. ... Center Rod Pelley has 13 goals. Only Mike Zigomanis (18) scored more goals as a rookie in Lowell pro hockey history. Tomas Kurka and defenseman Ray Giroux each scored 13 times as rookies to match Pelley. ... Left wing Dan LaCouture began last week with five points in 29 games -- and ended it with 11 points in 33 games, a stunning turnaround for the former Boston University star.