Brian Gionta
Brian Gionta
Brian Joseph Giontais an American professional ice hockey player and the captain of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He goes by the nickname "Gio" from his teammates and The Rochester Rocket, dubbed by the media. Although small in stature compared to most other players, he is known for his tenacious play...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth18 January 1979
CityRochester, NY
business care concern games happens high left main montreal taking trying winning
Our main concern was winning games and trying to get as high as we could. Obviously, we've been taking care of our own business and we can do that again. We have one game left in Montreal and if we win that, we'll just see what happens from there.
beginning couple last lose row time trying understand year
There's no real panic. It's just trying to understand what we weren't doing right the last couple of games. Any time you lose two in a row in that fashion, there's got to be some concern, but we know what we need to do. It's not like the beginning of the year when we were searching.
fancy passing plugging shots trying
We've just got to keep plugging away. We're trying to be too fancy at times, passing up some shots that we should be taking.
brings needs respect rest sets team
What he brings is that threat. The other team needs to back off a little because they need to respect him. That sets everything else up for the rest of us.
atmosphere careful ceremony felt home kept playoff whenever
Whenever there's a ceremony like that, if you're home or away, you always have to be careful not to get too stale. But it sparked a lot of emotion, and that kept us going. It felt like a playoff atmosphere out there.
keel staying waiting
We're staying patient. We're staying on an even keel and waiting for our chances.
chance division knew third throw
We knew what was going on. Down 3-1 going into the third and with a chance for a division title, we had to throw everything on the line.
start stick
We know we need to start scoring. We just have to stick with it. We know we're doing the right things.
chances goals number
We dominated. The number of chances we had didn't show in the goals.
against bottom desperate drop game playing slow start top
We don't start the same way against those bottom teams. Against these top teams, we're playing them desperate right from the drop of the puck. We're playing down to other levels. We start out slow and let them take the game to us.
games ourselves previous worry
We got away from (playing our style) the previous two games. We just have to worry about ourselves right now.
desperate played second third
We played a little desperate in the third period. We didn't play with that desperation in the first and second period.
board dominated drawing great learned periods smarter
We'll go to the drawing board and tighten things up. I thought we dominated two periods and everyone was great for them. We learned a lot. We got here, and we learned something - learned that we have to be smarter in how we play.
honor
To be up there with him is an honor.