In a game where neither team could get a cushion, the Knoxville Ice Bears escaped with a 3-2 victory over the Huntsville Havoc.

No lead was more than one goal during the contest, and the winning goal was scored by Garrett Vermeersch at 7:58 of the third period.

Knoxville got the win thanks to a great game by Trever Hertz, who had two goals and one assist. Hertz scored the first of his two goals at 8:28 into the first period to make the score 1-1. Corey Hale picked up the assist. Hertz's next tally made the score 2-1 Knoxville with 5:11 left in the first period. The Ice Bears found themselves down a man on Hale's tripping. Dennis Sicard provided the assist.

Knoxville's penalty kill excelled, as the Ice Bears gave up zero goals despite allowing six power plays.

Knoxville forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up eight minors and two majors for 26 minutes in penalty time. The Ice Bears had been averaging 16.0 minutes in penalties per game. Knoxville stifled Huntsville's power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man. The Ice Bears put 35 shots on net during the contest, more than the 23.6 they average per game.

In addition, Knoxville received assists from John Clewlow, who had two.

The Havoc's penalty kill was spotless, allowing no goals on four Knoxville power plays. Huntsville was forced to rely heavily on their penalty kill unit throughout the game, as it racked up 22 penalty minutes. The Havoc relied on a core group of players for most of their offense, as John Lidgett, Jeremy Beirnes and Nick Schneider took 12 of the team's 23 shots.

Huntsville also got a goal from Kyle McNeil as well. Other players who recorded assists for Huntsville were John McGinnis and Bo Driscoll, who contributed one each.

Bryan Hince recorded 21 saves for Knoxville. Huntsville's Kevin Genoe stopped 32 shots out of the 35 that he faced.