If Cam keeps this up, he won't be playing right down the Mass Pike for very long.
Atkinson had a professional debut to remember, assisting on the game-tying goal and scoring the game-winning goal late in regulation as the Springfield Falcons notched a 3-2 come-from-behind win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Falcons scored all three goals in the third period.
Atkinson is just one of many college players who have recently been assigned to Columbus' AHL affiliate. Cam joins Allen York (RPI), Aaron Bogosian (St. Lawrence), Denny Kearney (Yale), Wade MacLeod (Northeastern) and Paul Dainton (UMass), who have all joined the Falcons' roster last month.
Atkinson and the Falcons have just five games remaining on the 2010-11 schedule -- Connecticut (tonight), at Bridgeport (April 5), Albany (April 8), Providence (April 9) and at Portland (April 10). The Falcons -- currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division -- likely won't find themselves in this year's Calder Cup Playoffs.
Highlights below.