The Knoxville Ice Bears gutted out a close 3-2 win against the Augusta RiverHawks.

Each team kept the other at bay throughout the game, and Mark Van Vliet secured the win for Knoxville with a goal in the third period.

Van Vliet had a great game for the Ice Bears, netting two goals.

Knoxville relied on a core group of players for most of its offense, as Van Vliet, Jon Higgins and Berkley Scott took 14 of the team's 24 shots. The Ice Bears relied heavily on their defensemen to assist their forwards, and the blueliners responded by scoring two goals on 13 shots.

More assists for Knoxville came via Rich Ryan, Eric Satim, and Brett Valliquette, who contributed one a piece.

Augusta was helped by Matt Auffrey, who tallied one goal. Auffrey scored 6:31 into the second period to make the score 2-2. Shawn Skelly provided the assist. Augusta also got a goal from Ian Watters as well. In addition, Augusta received assists from Drew Baker, who had one.

Peter Skoggard rejected 23 shots on goal for Knoxville. The Ice Bears totaled 48 minutes in penalty time with four minors and two majors and went 0-for-2 on the power play. For Knoxville, Van Vliet and Dan Bremner were ejected from the contest. The RiverHawks' BJ OBrien stopped 21 shots out of the 24 that he faced. Augusta totaled 46 minutes in penalty time with three minors and two majors and went 1-for-3 on the power play. Team's Dennis Sicard and Auffrey were slapped with misconducts and ejected from the game.