It certainly isn’t a bad time to be Megan Keller.

Is it ever?

The senior defenseman for the Boston College Eagles has an incredible international resume, having won three golds at the IIHF Worlds, as well as playing a team-high 29:05 on the backend for Team USA in the incredible gold-medal game at the 2018 Olympics in their dramatic victory over Team Canada.

College hockey, though?  

She’s doing just fine there as well. 

Alongside Clarkson forward Loren Gabel and Wisconsin forward Annie Pankowski, Keller, a 22-year-old Michigan native, was recently named as a finalist for the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top player in women’s college hockey.

“It was awesome. My teammates were the ones who let me know, and that’s always special. It’s a huge honor, so to be able to share that with them was a lot of fun,” Keller told FloSports.

“Everybody in the top 10, and now the top three, they’re amazing hockey players as well as amazing people with what they do for their communities. It’s an honor to even be in the talks for that with seeing all the players who have won it and seeing how they’ve represented Patty along the way.”

After a third season of making it to the top 10 finalists, Keller became the first defenseman since 2013 to make the cut for the top three thanks to an incredible year in which she’s potted 19 goals and 23 assists in 35 games, as well as a team-best +38 plus/minus rating.

If she wins the Kazmaier, which will be announced at the Women’s Frozen Four in Hamden, Connecticut, on March 23, she’d be the first defenseman to do so since one of her role models, Angela Ruggiero, did so in 2004 while with Harvard. Ruggiero remains the only D to have won it.

“Being a defenseman, Angela Ruggiero is somebody I’ve always looked up to, so this is awesome,” Keller said.

Keller was quick to credit her fellow Eagles for a year in which she’s truly been able to put it all together individually.

“I think it’s just being surrounded by great teammates,” she said. “We have a great leadership group and senior class, and that’s been awesome to be a part of this year. Everybody’s just taking on new roles and stepping up, and it’s really been a team effort, especially down the stretch here going into the playoffs.”

As in the Hockey East playoffs. Another reason why it’s not so bad to be Megan Keller at the moment.

As seen on FloSports, the Eagles swept the UConn Huskies in the first round with a 4-1 win in the opener and then a dramatic, 5-4, overtime victory in Game 2 thanks to a dramatic game-winner off the stick of senior forward Ryan Little.

“Anytime in the playoffs, it’s always going to be a battle,” Keller said. “We’re playing for a trophy and we’re playing for our season. It’s always going to be a grind. That second game, to win it in OT, Ryan stepped up with a huge goal at the end. That was really exciting, I think everybody was pretty pumped up, but now we’re looking forward to BU.”

Saturday’s semifinal showdown against the Terriers, which will be seen only on FloSports at 4:30 p.m. ET from Schneider Arena in Providence will be, in Keller’s words, a “bloodbath.”

The Eagles (19-7-1) finished three points ahead of the Terriers (15-6-6) in the conference standings this year, but dropped two out of the three games they played; they took the Nov. 20 series opener, 4-3, but lost the next two games 3-2 and 4-2 on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, respectively.

“To be in a Hockey East semifinal game, especially against a team like BU, it’s going to be a battle,” Keller said. “They’re one of our big rivals. We played them a while ago, earlier in the year, but we know it’s always going to be a hard-fought game, especially in a playoff-type setting. They’re a great team, and I think we’ve buttoned up a couple things from earlier in the year. At this point, things are starting to click for us; people are doing the little things and stepping up, making plays.”

Focusing on what’s ahead as a team makes it easy for Keller to not think too much about the history she may be on the brink of making individually when the Kazmaier winner is revealed.

“Honestly, it’s not that hard to not think about it,” she said. “When I’m surrounded by 23 of my best friends day in and day out, you don’t think about it that much because I want to keep playing with these girls as long as I can. We want to keep our season going, and that’s what’s on everybody’s mind right now. Hopefully, we can do something special as a team down the road here.”

Mike Ashmore has 17 years of experience covering professional and college sports. You can follow him on all social media channels at @mashmore98.