The Peoria Mustangs survived a determined comeback attempt by the La Crosse Freeze on the way to a 7-5 win.

Peoria made the score 7-4 on a goal by Nick Conner at 9:45 in the third period, and La Crosse got as close as 7-5 when Anthony Miller scored 15:17 into the third period.

Jason Hoehn had two goals and two assists to lead the Mustangs. Hoehn scored the first of his two goals at 10:32 into the second period to make the score 4-3 La Crosse. Thomas Kolaz assisted on the tally. Hoehn's next tally made the score 5-4 Peoria with 15:03 left in the third period. Kolaz picked up the assist.

Peoria forced Freeze's netminders to work hard to keep the puck out of the net, getting 40 shots and forcing 33 saves. Andrew Wagner made 29 stops and Cameron Scheuren made four. The Mustangs surpassed their usual scoring output this season. Peoria averages 4.1 goals per game.

Peoria additionally got points from Kai Barber, who also finished with one goal and two assists and Matt Blaszkiewicz, who also registered one goal and one assist. Mitchell McPherson also scored for Peoria. Other players who recorded assists for Peoria were Marshall Gevers, who had two and Nathan Scofield and Mark Candotti, who each chipped in one.

The Freeze found themselves short handed often, totaling 26 penalty minutes and allowing five power plays.

La Crosse was led by Tyler Gorniak, who racked up two goals and one assist. Gorniak scored the first of his two goals at 3:31 into the first period to make the score 1-0 La Crosse. Taylor Trapp assisted on the tally. Gorniak's next tally made the score 4-2 La Crosse with 14:34 left in the second period. The Freeze had gotten the advantage when the Mustangs' Candotti was sent off for slashing. Hunter Dragosh picked up the assist. Others who scored for La Crosse included Jake Lipski and Blake Olinyk, who scored one goal each. In addition, La Crosse received assists from Daniel Toycen, Jack Sterne, and Chong Hyun Lee, who contributed one each.

Marc Hayton rejected 22 shots on goal for Peoria. The Mustangs incurred 22 minutes in penalty time with six minors. La Crosse registered one goal on three power play opportunities.