The New Hamburg Firebirds survived a determined comeback attempt by the Norwich Merchants on the way to a 3-2 win.

A goal by Taylor Wood put New Hamburg up 3-0 in the second period, but Norwich pulled to within one on Brandon Zimmermann's tally 14:05 into the third period.

The win by the Firebirds broke a deadlock and gave New Hamburg a 2-1 advantage in the best of seven series.

The Firebirds' offense rang up 34 shots on the Merchants' net. New Hamburg was held back by its power play unit, which tallied one goal on 10 chances.

The Firebirds were helped by Sam Murray, who finished with one goal. Murray scored 6:26 into the first period to make the score 1-0 New Hamburg. Brady Snyder provided the assist. Sean Kienapple also scored for New Hamburg. More assists for New Hamburg came via Jaden Goetz, Brandon Yantzi, Nick Pope, and Trevor Sweetland, who contributed one a piece.

Norwich was helped by Taylor Gosset, who grabbed one goal. Gosset scored on the power play 18:34 into the second period to make the score 3-1 New Hamburg. The Merchants had taken the advantage when New Hamburg's Eric Fischer got sent off for head contact. Gus Ford picked up the assist. In addition, Norwich received assists from Drake Morrell, who had one.

Eric Peicheff recorded 25 saves for the Firebirds. New Hamburg incurred 28 minutes in penalty time with nine minors. Norwich's Matt McGonigle stopped 31 shots out of the 34 that he faced. The Merchants incurred 26 minutes in penalty time with eight minors. For Norwich, Tom Brady was ejected from the game.