#4 Eagles Advance To Hockey East Semi-Finals

As the USA Today #4 ranked team in the nation, the Eagles have, as fervent fans might put it, ‘soared’ past pre-season expectations. With only three returning seniors, many questioned the youth of coach Jerry York’s squad as an issue come March and the national tournament.

Before the puck dropped on October 19th of last year, the Hockey East powerhouse was left out of the top 10, far behind the likes of perennial favorites Miami of Ohio and rival Boston University. At that point, some questioned BC’s ability to vie for its 4th national title in school history. But, despite presumptions, the Eagles are once again in position to contend for their 2nd title in three years.

One word defines the 2009-2010 season: speed. The Eagle’s speed and agility runs four lines deep at every position to create an attack that can score from anywhere on the ice. With their fast, aggressive style of play, the team finished 2nd in Hockey East, one point behind University of New Hampshire who stands at 10th in the national rankings. Sophomore Cam Atkinson and Junior Brian Gibbons led the team to a 16-8-3 record, including a 12-2 record in Conte Forum. These exceptional forwards led the team in points and assists with Atkinson posting a mark of 21 goals and Gibbons accruing 42 points.

Although the Eagles boasted the top scoring offense in the conference with 126 goals going into Friday’s best-of-three show down with UMass Lowell, their defensive prowess has been second to none. Senior Carl Sneep provided the catalyst to a stellar unit that allowed a league low 82 goals. Other key contributors include Philip Samuelsson and Brian Dumoulin, the latter posting a stingy +24 plus/minus ratio.

Throughout the season, aggressive and unselfish defensive play has allowed the Eagles to pressure the puck to create scoring opportunities through transition. Despite the overall, and future, success of this year’s season, the season has been defined by its stagnating nature. The Eagles cruised through November and December with an 8-2-2 record before dropping three in a row in January, culminating in the outdoor January 8th, 2-1 loss to Boston University at historic Fenway Park.

After a rough January, the Eagles rebounded with a Beanpot Championship beating Harvard and then BU. The team has ridden the momentum through February and into last weekend’s three game series against UMass Lowell.

With the arrival of Selection Sunday and the NCAA tournament comes the Hockey East conference tournament.

After a home-home series with UNH to decide the regular season conference championship, the Eagles squared off against UMass Amherst in the quarterfinals. With the 2nd seed, a 3-0 regular season record against the Minutemen, and an attack that has been potent as of late, the Eagles entered the weekend with a significant level of confidence.

On Friday night, the Eagles continued their dominance with a 6-5 victory in dramatic fashion. The game was everything an avid hockey fan could ask for: scoring. In a heavily penalized contest, success on the power play was the deciding factor amidst spectacular goals and record-breaking performances.

Early in the game, Cam Atkinson netted his first of three goals, en route to his hat trick, to give the Eagles the first lead of the series. Midway through the period, penalties to Carl Sneep and Brain Gibbons left the Eagles down two men for nearly a minute. After an anemic start to the power play, the Minutemen turned the 5-on-3 into the equalizing goal. A late Atkinson power play goal put the Eagles ahead going into intermission.

After outshooting the Minutemen 15-10 in the first period, the Eagles continued their offensive dominance early in the second. Following a UMass goal early in the period, Chris Kreider quickly responded with a dazzling move, sweeping across the crease to place a backhand over the glove of Massachusetts goalie Paul Dainton. Two minutes later, the Eagles found themselves up 5-2 after a scoring frenzy started by a wrist-shot off the stick of Barry Almeida and capped by an Atkinson one-timed, power play goal, completing the hat trick.

After this flurry of scoring, BC settled into a more defensive approach, placing a premium on possessing the puck. Aggressive fore-checks and strong shot blocking kept the Minutemen off of the scoreboard until late in the period when Casey Wellman brought UMass within two with a 5-on-3 power play goal. Once again, the Eagles answered quickly on another power play goal by Steven Whitney to end the period up 6-3.

Contrary to the trends of the previous two periods, the Eagles did little offensively in the third. Up 6-3, the Eagles settled in defensively and played rather timidly, seemingly content to ride out their three-goal lead. Massachusetts came out of the intermission with vigor, scoring two goals within the first minute of play, cutting the lead to one goal.

For the remainder of the period, the Eagles played solid defense to kill the Minutemen’s momentum and stop any attempts they made to complete their comeback. A game marked by Atkinson’s hat trick, flurries of goals, and Joe Whitney’s 100th career point ended with a rather dull third period and a 6-5 win for the Eagles.

After a win in the series opener, BC was poised to move on to the Hockey East Semifinals with a win Saturday night. While the first game of the quarterfinals was defined by the power play and speed, Saturday’s matchup yielded a different dynamic. Facing elimination, UMass-Amherst maintained a physical approach throughout the game, aggressively pursuing pucks and making increased efforts to initiate contact with the small and speedy Eagles. Unlike the previous night, the power play was a non-factor in deciding the game, with the teams going a combined 1-11 on the advantage.

The teams exchanged goals through two periods, scores coming from Almeida and Sneep for the Eagles and a pair from Casey Wellman of the Minutemen. Despite the tie score, the Eagles went into the third confident. Despite their lack of size, they had matched Massachusetts’ outwardly physical play to lead shots on goal 18-15.

In contrast to the first game of the series, the second game was decided in the third period. Goals from Assistant Captain Matt Lombardi and sophomore Paul Carey were unanswered as the Eagles held the Minutemen to a dismal three shots in the third period. An empty net goal by Almeida closed out the game for a 5-2 Boston College win, sending the team to the Hockey East Semifinals against Vermont this Friday at the Garden.

As the young BC team progresses further into the season, they continue to improve as a unit and gain experience through their successes and failures. Under the leadership of Coach York and senior Captain Matt Price, the Eagles look to continue their run towards the Hockey East title and build momentum in their run for the 2010 National Championship.

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