WORCESTER, Mass. — It was only a matter of time. After a four-game hiatus, the Boston College line of forwards Cam Atkinson, Brian Gibbons, and Joe Whitney reasserted its dominance on the ice. The three skaters combined for six of BC’s nine goals, as the Eagles punched their ticket to the Frozen Four in Detroit with a 9-7 victory over the Yale Bulldogs last night at the DCU Arena in Worcester.
“Cam [Atkinson] had gone through a dry spell with his line, but they have been working hard and practicing hard,” said BC head coach Jerry York.
The line’s hard work certainly paid off when the rest of the team needed it most. In a game that saw many ups and downs and twists and turns, including three different goalies in net for Yale, Whitney, Atkinson, and Gibbons served as a stabilizing force.
Whenever the trio was on the ice, BC pucks found the back of the net. The three combined for 17 shots on goal, and each registered a solid plus-minus rating, with Gibbons finishing the night plus-4, and Atkinson and Whitney at plus-5.
“I think we were just gripping the stick a little too tight the last four games,” Atkinson said. “I think we were just trying to do it all by ourselves. We sat down today before the game and talked about what we needed to do and what we needed to work on.”
The first of many scores by the threesome came only five minutes into the game.
Atkinson took control of the puck at BC’s blue line and saw Gibbons flying down the left side of the ice. Gibbons and Atkinson took advantage of Yale defenders out of their own zone to help out on Yale’s attack. Atkinson placed a crisp pass right on Gibbons’ stick, and then Gibbons skated it up the ice under limited pressure. He took the open shot, the puck crossed the crease and hit the right post, sailing in to give the Eagles the early 1-0 lead.
As the first period came to a close with the Eagles up 2-1, both Whitney and Atkinson knocked at the Bulldogs’ door once more, but both times their efforts were stymied. The late-period misses would soon turn into early second-period makes, though. Just over two minutes into the second period, Joe Whitney got on the board with a hard-fought goal to extend the Eagles’ lead to 3-1.
Pat Mullane gathered the puck behind Yale’s net and then found a wide-open Whitney as he charged to the front of the net. Whitney took the shot, but Yale’s goaltender Ryan Rondeau made an excellent save to keep the puck out.
That mattered little to Whitney. He took the rebound and just continued to bang away at the puck until it eventually found its way past Rondeau.
After BC was whistled for too many men on the ice, Yale took advantage and cut the Eagles’ lead to 3-2 with 15 minutes left to play in the period.
Atkinson responded in a resounding fashion a mere 11 seconds later.
He stole the puck in Yale’s zone off a poor clearing attempt, and in the blink of an eye, Atkinson was standing in front of Rondeau with his arms up, and the puck in the back of the net.
“He has to be considered one of the top players in the country,” York said.
Later in the same period, Atkinson proved why he is one of the nation’s top scorers and why York believes him to be one of the best in the country, when he tallied his second goal of the night. The series also typified the excellent night that he, Gibbons, and Whitney had.
The series began with a nice steal by Gibbons. He poke checked the puck free and directed it right to a wide open Atkinson who then blasted a shot, but Rondeau made a great save to keep the puck out of the net, at least for a few more seconds.
Whitney then gathered the puck up and passed it along the boards to Gibbons, who positioned himself behind the net. Gibbons stalled for a bit, and waited as Atkinson positioned himself right in front of Rondeau. Gibbons then hit Atkinson at the point, and Atkinson rifled the shot home to give BC the 5-2 lead midway through the second period.
“We just played our game today,” Atkinson said. “Everyone executed.”
Yale then decided to switch goalies, putting Billy Blase in between the pipes. A few minutes after getting on the ice, however, and Whitney showed that Blase’s luck would prove just as bad as Rondeau’s.
Whitney received a pass from assistant captain Ben Smith, and then proceeded to rocket a perfectly placed slapshot from the top of the left circle. The puck squeezed right in between the netminder’s stick and the post, extending the Eagles’ lead to 6-2, and giving Whitney his third point of the game.
Yale refused to go away, though, and scored two late second period goals to close the gap to 6-4 heading into the locker room.
Atkinson again responded at the start of the third period. After a blocked shot sent the puck drifting up the ice toward Yale’s zone, Atkinson showed his pure speed, blazing past defensemen to get to the puck in order to create a one-on-one situation with Blase.
Atkinson simply wristed a shot over the glove side to earn the hat trick, as well as his 27th goal of the year, placing him in a tie for second in the nation in goals scored. Hats proceeded to fall on the ice, and just like that, the Eagles were back up by three.
“It was great to see all the hats on the ice,” York said. “Unbelievable experience.”
With the Eagles needing more than seven goals to top Yale, it’s only fitting that it come from the line that has received the most attention all season.