A late-season surge has the Columbus Blue Jackets in prime position to contend for the Stanley Cup, and Greenwich, Conn., native Cam Atkinson will be a prominent figure in the team’s postseason fortunes. A former standout at Avon Old Farms, he helped Boston College win the 2010 NCAA title, scoring two goals in the championship game.
After putting up 35 goals last season, he’s found the going a bit tougher this season, but his 20 tallies through 61 games was second on the Blue Jackets at press time. New England Hockey Journal caught up with Atkinson before Columbus’ March 19 game at Boston, in which Atkinson scored the overtime winner.
Billy Jaffe: Besides your parents, who had the biggest influence in your youth hockey development days?
Cam Atkinson: I can pinpoint probably three guys. One of my main coaches besides my dad growing up was a guy named Marvin Minkler, who is still around. He still coaches youth programs in Mid-Fairfeld in Connecticut. He was a guy who probably taught me how important it was just to work hard every day, whether you had the talent or not, that sort of aspect of the game. I grew up with two skills coaches — they were both Russian. One skills coach would strictly be stickhandling and shooting and I would do that twice a week, then I had a Russian figure skater who taught me all my edge work, taught me the proper ways of skating. Actually I still see both Russian guys. I work with Sergey Khomchenko — a lot of NHL players work with him on stickhandling — at least once a week in the summer.
Jaffe: You try to impart on kids how important skating is. It’s not just going fast, it’s having the edge work down. Would that be the first thing you’d tell a kid just getting into it?
Atkinson: Yeah, absolutely. People are so focused on having the hardest shot and stickhandling the best. Don’t get me wrong, those two are crucial to playing, but in order to play the game, you have to skate, and skate well. The game is getting so much faster, even at an early age. It’s not so much northsouth going 100 miles an hour. It’s being able to use your edge work and cutbacks, throw in a couple of fakes here or there. Your edge work is most crucial.
Jaffe: What is your best memory in youth hockey before you went to college — all the way through Avon Old Farms?
Atkinson: Winning a (New England) title with Avon — I won three out of the four years. My first year was my freshman year, but it wasn’t as exciting for me because I wasn’t playing as much, but my sophomore year, winning was pretty cool. That, and I remember youth, winning a couple of state titles. One of them was my dad’s birthday, and I think I had four or five goals to win it. That was one that I will always remember.
Jaffe: You had amazing teams your three years at Boston College. Besides the national championship — that’s an obvious moment — is there something that you will always cherish about Boston College and your opportunity there?
Atkinson: There’s so many. My class was filled with a bunch of special players and people. We do a trip once a year in the summer. Everyone’s schedule is so crazy, but for the most part, a bunch of them all live in Boston still. Those moments. But coming here to the Garden, winning a Beanpot and the Hockey East championships, those are definitely up there. Probably my first Beanpot was the coolest moment. It was the first time I won something in my college career. Then the festivities after.
Jaffe: What did you take from your Boston College career hockey-wise, whether it was learning from Jerry York, Mike Cavanaugh, whomever? Is there one or two distinct things where you said, "I got this from there?"
Atkinson: Absolutely. You can talk about each one of those coaches — York, just the presence he brings on a daily basis. It wasn’t just about hockey for him. It was about being a good person and doing well in school and treating people with respect. Cavanaugh was a guy who pushed you to the limits. He knew how to push the right buttons for you to be a better player. But the most important thing, I think, as a hockey player was working with Greg Brown. I remember he would be on the power play working with us, and he would be a defenseman, a specialist. He’d be running the power play and he was so good still back then — still is today … he easily could still play the game. I would work with him at least once a week, maybe twice, whenever we had time, where he and I would just go on the ice for a half an hour. He taught me a lot of things as far as what it’s going to take to make it to the next level and get to these areas, all it takes is one little fake to throw the goalie off … things like that where he took the time out of his day to really help me with being a better hockey player and get me ready for pro.
Jaffe: What’s the best part of being a pro hockey player?
Atkinson: That’s throwing me on the spot here. I think the coolest part is probably visiting every city. Every city brings something different, especially food-wise. You get to go to different restaurants, fancy restaurants, and learn each city’s culture. Every city is so different. Getting the opportunity to travel, with some of your best friends, I think that’s the coolest part.
Jaffe: Go back to being a youth hockey player. Are you still close to any of those guys? Did you have any special team or bond that helps keep you grounded?
Atkinson: I grew up with five brothers. So I was always on my brother’s team. He was 18 months older than me and went to Boston College and I went to Avon Old Farms with. I would always be playing up. I was fortunate to play on such good teams with such good players. My dad and Jimmy Hayes’ dad, Kevin Hayes, we formed a team called the Boston Ice Men. They already had a team, but we formed a team for our age and we had the likes of P.K. Subban — there were like 12 NHL guys. It was a summer team. We went undefeated two years in a row. Logan Couture, Kyle Turris, me, Jimmy. Honestly a lot had to do with Mr. Hayes, "Big Daddy" we’d call him. He knew everybody. His selling point was, ‘You wanna win every single game?’ Sure enough we had all the Canadian boys playing for our team as well, which a lot of teams didn’t appreciate it. We had a solid team and we went undefeated two seasons in a row.
