2017 NCAA hockey tournament scores and bracket: Top seeds advance in day 1 thrillers

Boston University and Minnesota-Duluth must be exhausted.

Both top dogs in the NCAA hockey tournament East Regional advanced in the first round on Friday, but both of their opponents pushed them to the limit.

Let’s recap the first day of action, shall we?

But first, the bracket:

BU owes goalie Jake Oettinger a nice steak dinner.

The Terriers got out to a strong start against the defending champions despite letting Dallas Stars prospect and North Dakota winger Rhett Gardner score the opening goal on them. BU dominated the second period and early third, taking a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Doyle Somerby, Bobo Carpenter and Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson.

But then the dynamic flipped completely when a hit from a BU player shattered a pane of glass, stopping play for 14 minutes. BU’s momentum was sapped, and North Dakota essentially controlled play for the rest of the game. Ludvig Hoff scored off a faceoff, and two minutes later Christian Wolanin tied the game to send the first round matchup to overtime.

North Dakota outshot BU 21-5 in the third period. Oettinger, a top NHL draft prospect this year, made 56 saves in the game and 13 in overtime.

The game finally ended when Coyotes prospect Clayton Keller found Bruins prospect Charlie McAvoy for the game-winner:

The second overtime game of the night happened to be the last one.

Minnesota-Duluth took an initial lead in the second period with goals from Dominic Toninato and Nick Wolff, but Ohio State roared back to tie the game in the second period.

For a top seed, Minnesota-Duluth looked outmatched by the No. 4 Buckeyes all night, and especially in the third period and overtime. Luckily, goalie Hunter Miska was up for the challenge: He made 40 saves in the game and a few sensational ones in overtime.

He kept them alive just long enough for Willie Raskob to score the game-winner off a slapshot at 11:58 in the extra frame.

It was the third time these clubs had met this season, and it showed. At least for Air Force.

Air Force looked like the more poised of the two teams despite its lower seeding. Jordan Himley gave the Falcons the first lead just 56 seconds into the game, followed by a Kyle Haak goal at 11:02 to stake them to a 2-0 lead.

Haak wasn’t done. The sophomore forward potted another goal in the second period to restore a two-goal lead for Air Force, who then began pulling away. Two more goals in the third gave the Falcons just enough cushion to withstand a late push by Western Michigan and send them to the quarterfinals.

Harvard’s remarkable season had to go through a rare true road game in the first round against the Friars.

As it turned out, playing in front of their home fans didn’t matter for the Friars. Not that they didn’t try: Providence finished with a 41-29 shot advantage and no goals to show for it. Harvard goalie Merrick Madsen was just that good.

And Harvard’s other stars were great, too. Tyler Moy, Alexander Kerfoot, Adam Fox and Ryan Donato all combined on Harvard’s three goals, setting up for what should be a fascinating quarterfinal game with Air Force.