12/30/2010 -- Boston College 6, Colgate 5 -- 12-5-0, 9-4-0 Hockey East
The shorthanded Eagles were able to squeak past Colgate 6-5 in a ... bizarre ... opening game of the Ledyard National Bank Classic. BC got two goals from Paul Carey, and goals from Jimmy Hayes, Brian Gibbons, Cam Atkinson and Bill Arnold.
Atkinson's goal was his 15th of the season. He's scored 15 in just 17 games, and ranks third nationally in goals scored behind North Dakota's Matt Frattin (17) and Niagara's Paul Zanette (16). Atkinson's 0.88 goals per game ranks his second in the nation in goals per game.
Carey notched the game-winner at 14:25 of the third period, with assists from Atkinson and Gibbons.
The Eagles got uncharacteristically outshot by the Raiders, 34-27.
With Dumoulin and Wey off at the World Juniors, and Patch Alber out with a broken jaw, York used a patchwork of defenders in this one. Samuelsson-Shea and Cross-Joe Whitney were the defensive pairings, with Isaac MacLeod skating as the Eagles' fifth defender. There wasn't much defense in this one and it sounded on the radio like BC missed the services of Dumoulin, Wey and Alber.
Speaking of Alber, when York was interviewed during the intermission, he gave an update on Alber's broken jaw. Paraphrasing here, York said that "Patch had an off-ice incident, got hurt over the break. Should be back in 3 weeks. Officially has a jaw injury. Should be back soon."
"Off-ice" incident? Getting into bar fights in Southie again, are we Patch? What's up with that? Somehow, I blame the BU Terriers.
Three weeks is certainly a better prognosis than the six-to-eight weeks originally reported. Hopefully, Patch will get back on the ice soon.
Tommy Cross was back on the ice for the first time in two months after injuring his knee in a win over Merrimack. Good to see Cross back on the ice as BC needs all the warm bodies they can get on defense until Dumoulin and Wey get back from the World Juniors.
BC will play tonight's winner of the Dartmouth/Mercyhurst in the Dartmouth tournament championship game tomorrow at 7 PM. Go Eagles!