The Pensacola Ice Flyers tried their best to erase a two-goal deficit, but the Knoxville Ice Bears would not be denied the victory and hung on to win, 5-4.

Knoxville made the score 5-3 on a goal by Danny Cesarz at 8:48 in the third period, and Pensacola got as close as 5-4 when Josh Cousineau scored 9:08 into the third period.

Cesarz had two goals to lead the Ice Bears to victory.

Knoxville was often in penalty trouble, totaling seven minors and one major for 19 minutes in penalty time. The Ice Bears had been averaging 16.0 minutes in penalties per game. Knoxville stifled the Ice Flyers' power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man. The Ice Bears surpassed their usual scoring output this season. This season, Knoxville averages 2.8 goals per contest.

Knoxville also got points from Mark Pustin, who also tallied one goal and one assist and Zack LaRue, who also racked up one goal and one assist. Knoxville also got a goal from John Clewlow as well. More assists for Knoxville came via Corey Hale, who had two and Andrew Bonazza, Jason Price, Trever Hertz, Dennis Sicard, and Brian Billett, who contributed one each.

Pensacola racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with nine minors and one major for 23 minutes in penalty time. The Ice Flyers surpassed its season average of 20.0 penalty minutes per game. The defensemen of Pensacola were also effective in the Ice Bears' zone, and came away with two goals. With 31 shots on target during the contest, the Ice Flyers exceeded the 27.8 shots they average per game this year.

Pensacola was helped by Steve Bergin, who had one goal. Bergin scored 12:52 into the first period to make the score 2-1 Knoxville. Ryan Kesti picked up the assist. Pensacola also had goals scored by Mark Rivera and Jeremy Gates, who scored one goal each. In addition, Pensacola received assists from Corey Banfield, who had one and Adam Pawlick, who had two.

Billett recorded 27 saves for Knoxville. The Ice Bears registered two goals on eight power play opportunities. Brent Troyan made 14 saves for the Ice Flyers on 19 shots. Pensacola registered zero goals on five power play opportunities.