The Midland Flyers tried to dig themselves out of a two-goal hole, but the Erin Shamrocks held on for a 3-2 victory.

Erin made the score 3-1 on a goal by Sam Hisey at 19:13 in the second period, and Midland got as close as 3-2 when Steven Pickard scored 24 seconds into the third period.

The Shamrocks were paced by Hisey, who registered one goal and one assist.

Referees had their hands full with a major incident at 9:32 into the second period. Four fighting penalties were dished out along with two game misconducts.

Erin racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with eight minors and one major for 31 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 28.0 minutes per game the Shamrocks had been spending in the box.

Erin additionally got points from Moses Vaz, who also had one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Josh Sguigna also scored for Erin. More assists for Erin came via Mike Fournier, Wes Montgomery, Cameron DeFazio, and Johnathan Rose, who contributed one a piece.

The Flyers were often in penalty trouble, totaling six minors and one major for 47 minutes in penalty time. Midland had been averaging 22.0 minutes in penalties per game. The Flyers put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow Erin to score on any of its seven power plays.

In addition, Midland received assists from Bruce Brown, who had two and Ryan Hassall and Sean Crowe, who each chipped in one.

Tom Denstedt made 14 saves for the Shamrocks on 16 shots. Erin ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Matt Zuliani was ejected from the game. Midland's Andrew Best stopped 27 shots out of the 30 that he faced. The Flyers registered one goal on five power play opportunities. For Midland, Brandon Stratton was ejected from the game.