The St. Louis Jr. Blues tried to dig themselves out of a two-goal hole, but the Granite City Lumberjacks held on for a 2-1 victory.

Granite City made the score 2-0 on a goal by Trevor Ness at 12:39 in the second period, and St. Louis got as close as 2-1 when Trace Jablin scored 17:39 into the third period.

The win gave the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead in the best of one series.

Granite City was paced by Ness, who registered one goal.

The Lumberjacks forced the Jr. Blues goalie Mitchell Fernsler to work between the pipes, taking 34 shots.

Granite City also got a goal from Kyle Castle as well. More assists for Granite City came via Isaac Hoagland, Riley Bengtson, and Blayne Ellson, who each chipped in one.

Other players who recorded assists for St. Louis were Robert Hintz and Joe Bowler, who contributed one a piece.

Granite City's Matt Grove stopped 19 shots out of the 20 that he faced. The Lumberjacks totaled 11 minutes in penalty time with three minors and one major and went 0-for-1 on the power play. Fernsler rejected 32 shots on goal for St. Louis. The Jr. Blues totaled nine minutes in penalty time with two minors and one major and went 0-for-2 on the power play.