Dimond knocked off last-place Bartlett 14-1 at Ben Boeke Arena. No shocker there -- the Lynx won the two regular-season meetings, 14-0 and 12-0.
But Service squeaked past West 3-1 at the McDonald Center in Eagle River, and its victory was not assured until Jeremy Smith bagged an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left.
Opening-round winners in the CIC tournament earn a berth in the state championships. The first round continues tonight when third-seeded South entertains sixth-seeded Eagle River at Ben Boeke at 6:45, and fourth-seeded East takes on fifth-seeded Chugiak at the McDonald Center at 7:15.
Defenseman Braden Mitchell staked Service to a 1-0 lead just 96 seconds into the game and Glenn Corey's goal five minutes in pushed the lead to 2-0. But Dawson Ellingsworth's power-play strike for West midway through the period cut its deficit to 2-1, and that score held until the waning seconds because of the sterling effort of West goaltender Darien Dahl, who stopped 37 shots.
Service, which twice beat West 5-0 in the regular season, had to kill two West power plays in the third period, including one in the last five minutes.
Dimond was never threatened and stormed to a 5-0 lead in the first 13-plus minutes before Zack Perry scored the Golden Bears' only goal.
Shilo Vega and Ben Heafer each racked a hat trick for Dimond, and Daniel Roberts and Lucas Dubie each scored two goals. Dimond outshot Bartlett 73-8.
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