The Guelph Hurricanes came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Cambridge Winter Hawks, but did just enough to escape with a 5-3 victory.

Guelph led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Hurricanes' Brandon Stewart's scored on the power play at 15:54 in the first period to put Guelph up 3-0.

The win gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.

Mike Charbonneau had two goals and one assist to lead Guelph. Charbonneau scored the first of his two goals at 10:05 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Guelph. Nic MacEachern assisted on the tally. Charbonneau's next tally made the score 2-0 Guelph with 7:08 left in the first period. The Hurricanes earned a power play opportunity when Brennon Pearce was put in the box for head contact. MacEachern picked up the assist.

Both teams had a hard time staying out of the box, and they combined for 15 penalties during the game.

Guelph's penalty killing units received substantial work throughout the game as the Hurricanes finished with 26 penalty minutes.

Other players who recorded assists for Guelph were Dylan Wood and Chris Taylor, who each chipped in one and Mike Iacocca and Shane Kinsella, who contributed two a piece.

Cambridge's offense rang up 38 shots on Guelph's net. The Winter Hawks found themselves short handed often, totaling 34 penalty minutes and allowing seven power plays.

Cambridge was led by Cody Gratton, who racked up one goal and two assists. Gratton scored on the power play 1:02 into the second period to make the score 3-1 Guelph. The Winter Hawks had gained a power play chance when Colin Furlong was whistled for roughing. Trevor Hache assisted on the tally. Darcy Meyer also scored for Cambridge. More assists for Cambridge came via Andrew Coupland and Josh Timpano, who each chipped in one.

The Hurricanes' Furlong stopped 35 shots out of the 38 that he faced. Brendan Gorecki made 20 saves for Cambridge on 25 shots. The Winter Hawks registered one goal on three power play opportunities. Cambridge ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Pearce was ejected from the game.