The Alexandria Blizzard could not stop the Granite City Lumberjacks' Drew Otto, who tallied a hat trick in a 4-1 win.

Otto notched his first tally 18:02 into the second period. He then added goals at 5:39 into the third and at 19:37 into the third.

The win gave Granite City a 1-0 lead in the best of five series.

The Lumberjacks were led by goalie Scott Murray, who finished with 27 saves while allowing one goal. Despite the solid performance, Murray will actually see his goals against average rise, as it stood at 1.0 entering the contest.

Granite City additionally got points from Eric Miller, who also finished with one goal and two assists. In addition, Granite City received assists from Aaron Azevedo, who had one and Aidan Verbeke and Mitchell Gwost, who contributed two a piece.

Alexandria was led by Tanner Duffney, who scored the team's only goal. Duffney scored on the power play 7:46 into the second period to make the score 1-0 Alexandria. The Blizzard earned a power play opportunity when Nick Turbitt was put in the box for interference. Ian Eckland provided the assist.

Granite City incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors. Dom DeGuisseppi made 14 saves for Alexandria on 17 shots. The Blizzard incurred 18 minutes in penalty time with four minors.