Wichita Jr. Thunder could not stop El Paso Rhinos' Matthew Plesa, who tallied a hat trick in a 14-2 win.

El Paso Rhinos made Wichita Jr. Thunder's netminders to work without much rest, ripping 62 shots and forcing 48 saves. Jake Larson made 34 stops and Dakota McDonald made 14. El Paso Rhinos put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow Wichita Jr. Thunder to score on any of its four power plays. El Paso Rhinos surpassed its usual scoring output this season. This season, El Paso Rhinos averages 6.8 goals per contest.

El Paso Rhinos additionally got points from Tom Bartel, who also had two goals and one assist, Krisztian Nagy, who also tallied one goal and two assists, Nick Plesa, who also registered three goals and two assists, Jeremy Rezaeepour, who also racked up one goal and one assist, and Austin Hoff, who also had one goal and two assists. Others who scored for El Paso Rhinos included Gabe Goodroe, Dakota Beaulieu, and Scott Oelkers, who scored one goal each. Other players who recorded assists for El Paso Rhinos were Peter Plesa, who had three, Daniil Karamushkin, Andrew Bradford, and Roman Konecny, who each chipped in one, and Eliot Herz, Brandon Edson, Kendal Craig, and Nick Wright, who contributed two a piece.

Penalties took their toll on Wichita Jr. Thunder, as its penalty kill unit let in three power play goals.

Wichita Jr. Thunder was helped by Jack McClelland, who tallied one goal and one assist. McClelland scored 17:54 into the first period to make the score 3-1 El Paso Rhinos. Layton Dornn picked up the assist. Alex Smith also scored for Wichita Jr. Thunder. In addition, Wichita Jr. Thunder received assists from Jordan Grywacheski, who had one.

Ryan Buttazzoni recorded 22 saves for El Paso Rhinos. El Paso Rhinos ended with 28 minutes in penalty time with four minors and two majors. El Paso Rhinos ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Karamushkin was ejected from the game. Wichita Jr. Thunder ended with 15 minutes in penalty time with five minors and one major.