Twelve seconds. That's all the time it took for the No. 6 Boston University women's ice hockey team to get started en route to their 4-1 exhibition victory over the University of Windsor.
The game was a great display of the team's versatility and depth as four different Terriers scored and most of the roster enjoyed plenty of ice time.
"I think the game went great in that we got to see people play," BU coach Brian Durocher said. "We only had 10 forwards so it was almost like you were playing every third shift, which is a great rhythm for people to get in. The defensemen were in the same category."
The Terriers saw encouraging performances out of many of their players, especially some of their freshmen.
Defenseman Anya Battaglino collected two assists on the day while forward Louise Warren scored once and took six shots. Aside from the freshmen, the Terriers enjoyed solid performances from some returning players who did not necessarily have a lot of playing time under their belts.
"A bunch of people played well today," Durocher said. "It was nice to see [sophomore forward] Taylor Holze back here, who had missed an entire year with double knee surgery."
Indeed, it was Holze who got the action started for the Terriers with a pass to sophomore forward Jill Cardella, who was camped out in the corner. Cardella found sophomore forward Britt Hergesheimer in front of the net, and Hergesheimer slipped the puck past Windsor netminder Kasey Martin for a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the contest.
The Terriers were unable to celebrate for long, however. Just over a minute later, forward Candace Rapchak responded with a goal for Windsor.
But that was all the offense Windsor would muster.
BU gave all three of its goalies playing time on Saturday, and all three turned in solid performances. Sophomore Alissa Fromkin took the reins for the first period and allowed the only goal of the game, while freshmen Kerrin Sperry and Braly Hiller played between the pipes for the second and third periods, respectively.
"We have to make sure that they get comfortable and get an opportunity [to play]," Durocher said. "It's hard to put three people in one spot."
After remaining knotted at one for the rest of the first period, BU came out firing again in the second. In the first minute of the period, senior assistant captain Lauren Cherewyk found Warren at the blue line, and Warren took it from there. The freshman scampered past her defender and swooped past Martin while sneaking a shot through the five-hole for the Terriers' second score of the game.
Cardella widened the gap seven minutes later by flicking a puck over Martin's shoulder for a goal and Cardella's second point of the game. Senior Jillian Kirchner got the final tally of the game on a power play in the third period when her pass bounced off a defender's legs and into the net.
"This is not as quick of a pace as you are going to play against the tops in our league or the tops in the country, but just to get a feel for the game, a feel for their teammates, it was a win-win there," Durocher said.
The offensive effort was an especially good sign considering that the Terriers were missing five of their top players in graduate student Catherine Ward, junior forwards Jenelle Kohanchuk and Jenn Wakefield, junior defenseman Tara Watchorn and freshman phenom Marie-Philip Poulin. All five are participating in Canada's National Women's Team evaluation camp.</p>
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