The Exeter Hawks were firing on all cylinders against the Thamesford Trojans, and when the final buzzer sounded Hawks emerged with a 6-1 win.

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

The Hawks' Joe Metzger was a brick wall in net, as he came up with 54 saves and let only one puck past him. Despite the solid performance, Metzger will actually see his goals against average rise, as it stood at 1.0 entering the contest.

Exeter's penalty kill excelled, as the Hawks gave up zero goals despite allowing six power plays.

Exeter forced Trojans' goalies to work without much rest, taking 43 shots and forcing 37 saves. Jake Fonti made 29 stops and Alex Hutcheson made eight. The Hawks stifled Thamesford's power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man.

Exeter was helped by Tyler McNaughton, who racked up one goal. McNaughton scored 18:42 into the first period to make the score 2-1 Exeter. Braedon Van Hooydoak picked up the assist. Exeter also got points from Brodie Balcom, who also grabbed one goal and one assist, Trevor Thornton, who also tallied one goal and one assist, Kalvin Thornton, who also finished with one goal and one assist, and Chiristopher Pfaff, who also racked up one goal and one assist. Exeter also got a goal from Robert Campbell as well. Other players who recorded assists for Exeter were Matt Clarke, Joe Dykstra, Brandon Willis, and Jake Harrison, who each chipped in one.

The Trojans' offense rang up 55 shots on the Hawks' net.

Thamesford was led by Kyle Walker, who scored the team's only goal. Walker scored 5:33 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Thamesford. Liam Carson provided the assist.

Exeter totaled 35 minutes in penalty time with 10 minors and one major and went 2-for-9 on the power play. For the Hawks, Cam Jude was ejected from the game. The Trojans ended with 47 minutes in penalty time with 11 minors and one major. Thamesford ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Mitch Davies was ejected from the game.