The Peoria Mustangs almost clawed their way back from a four-goal deficit, but the La Crosse Freeze managed to pull out a 5-3 win in the end.

La Crosse led by four goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Freeze's Jake Lipski scored on the power play at 1:05 in the second period to put La Crosse up 4-0.

The Freeze forced Mustangs' netminders to work in net, totaling 32 shots and forcing 27 saves. Marc Hayton made nine stops and Ross Lipic made 18.

La Crosse was helped by Ben Henderson, who racked up one goal. Henderson scored 19:36 into the third period to make the score 5-3 La Crosse. La Crosse additionally got points from Lipski, who also tallied one goal and one assist and Hunter Smith, who also had one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Others who scored for La Crosse included Justin Edwards and Jared Bromberg, who each put in one. Other players who recorded assists for La Crosse were Hunter Dragosh, who had two and Jace Cseter, Daniel Toycen, Taylor Trapp, and Tyler Gorniak, who each chipped in one.

Peoria forced the Freeze goalie Andrew Wagner to work between the pipes, taking 40 shots.

The Mustangs were helped by Austin Wisely, who finished with one goal. Wisely scored 4:50 into the third period to make the score 4-2 La Crosse. Marshall Gevers picked up the assist. Peoria also got points from Jason Hoehn, who also racked up one goal and one assist. Kai Barber also scored for Peoria. In addition, Peoria received assists from Joe Power Wayvon and Thomas Kolaz, who contributed one each.

La Crosse's Wagner stopped 37 shots out of the 40 that he faced. The Freeze incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors. Peoria totaled 25 minutes in penalty time with five minors and one major and went 1-for-2 on the power play. The Mustangs ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Clayton Layne was ejected from the game.