There was always a chance the Boston University Terriers would bow out early in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, but nobody expected them to fold in their first game.
2015 NCAA hockey tournament scores and bracket: Boston U advances with overtime comeback win
Boston University and St. Cloud State both survived to reach the regional finals.
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BU certainly made their fans sweat it out, but the Terriers erased a third period deficit against Yale to eke out a 3-2 win in overtime and advance to the regional final against Minnesota-Duluth. The Terriers’ resilience and persistence was impressive for such a young team.
Despite leading in shots and chances, BU trailed 1-0 heading into the final frame. Consecutive goals by Ahti Oksanen and Evan Rodrigues gave the Terriers their first lead, but Yale evened things back up with six minutes left in regulation.
Leave it to Jack Eichel to show up when his team needed him the most. It was Eichel’s shot at 7:27 in overtime that rebounded straight to Danny O’Regan, who shot it home to send the Terriers to the next round.
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Minnesota-Duluth's trip to face BU in the regional final was a far simpler affair. The Bulldogs hadn't played in 13 days, but they didn't show any signs of rust in a 4-1 win over Minnesota. UMD succeeded on the back of freshman goalie Seth Ambroz, who saved 31 shots and nearly had a shutout. The win was the Bulldog's fourth in five meetings with the Gophers.
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The other overtime win on the first day of the tourney went to St. Cloud State, which upset Michigan Tech with a 3-2 win. The Huskies managed a second-half comeback despite getting outshot 29-9 over the last two frames. Judd Peterson played hero for St. Cloud by potting the game-winner at 8:11 in overtime.
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Much like UMD, North Dakota rode its goalie to a huge 4-1 victory over Quinnipiac to punch their ticket to the regional finals. Zane McIntyre stopped 29 shots as UND won its 9th first-round game in 11 years. North Dakota made its name on shorthanded goals, and scored another big one en route to the win on Friday.
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With half of the regional preliminaries over with, here’s the bracket, per NCAA.com:
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