If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. F orward Laurel Koller took that motto to the ice last night in the Boston University women’s ice hockey team’s stunning 3-3 tie with Hockey East rival Boston College at Walter Brown Arena. The freshman scored two goals on seven shots, increasing her point total to six on the season.
“She’s out there to score,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “I don’t think she is ever going to try and win the game on fancy plays. She just goes to the net.”
Early in the first period, neither the Terriers nor the Eagles were able to get their offenses going, and the same could be said for Koller.
She took three shots with no luck. One went wide, another was blocked by the defense and still another was saved by BC goalie Alison Quandt. A difficult 0-for-3 first period didn’t intimidate Koller from shooting, though.
“You can’t score if you don’t shoot the puck,” she said. “My coaches told me to just shoot the puck, because you never know what is going to go in.”
Koller came out of the locker room ready to fire away in the second. This time, however, her shot cut into the Eagles’ 3-0 lead.
Quandt made a spectacular save on a shot by freshman Erica Christensen that appeared to go in. Junior captain Cara Hendry was there to get the rebound, though, and she passed it off to Koller. Seeing another opportunity to score, Koller took it and succeeded.
Her goal broke the gloomy silence of the Walter Brown crowd, which had seen its Terriers dig themselves a three-goal hole.
“We all definitely thought the first shot was in the net,” Koller said. “It could not have been more exciting once I did score, though.”
Koller took another three shots in the third period, making good on one more.
With 11:22 left to play in regulation, BC’s Colleen Harris was called for a slashing penalty. This gave the Terriers a sixth power play opportunity. BU and Koller would not let it slip past them.
Once again she got the puck off a great pass by Hendry and put it past Quandt. It tied the game and solidified Koller as the No. 3 star. Although the Terriers couldn’t break the tie in overtime, it was a job well done by a team expected to be well overmatched.
“Personally, this game was big,” she said. “Everybody thought we were going to get killed, but coach told us to just go out there and show up, and we did.”
Taking a shot when given the chance is not anything new for Koller, who leads the team in shots (22) this season and is second in goals (3). Her aggressiveness last night was a glimpse into what she does on the ice every game.
“She doesn’t hide what she does,” Durocher said. “It’s one of her goals to get shots and play hard all the way through.”
Koller also believed that this tie was great for the team as a whole.
“We got a good performance out of everybody,” she said. “It was a little bit of a slow start, but we finished strong.”