Mark Arnone scored the go-ahead goal in the first period, and the Thorold Blackhawks held off the challenges of the St. Catharines Falcons in a tough 3-1 win.

A goal 1:55 into the the first period by Arnone proved to be the game winner, and powered Thorold to the victory Vince Dunn picked up the assist.

With the win, the Blackhawks evened the series at 1-1 in the best of seven showdown.

Thorold was led by goalie Vinny Merante, who finished with 30 saves while allowing one goal. The solid play of Merante will be reflected in his goals against average, which pre-game was 3.35.

The Blackhawks' penalty kill excelled, as Thorold gave up zero goals despite allowing six power plays.

The Blackhawks stifled St. Catharines' power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man.

Thorold was helped by Tanner Hildbrant, who registered one goal. Hildbrant scored on the power play 12:09 into the first period to make the score 2-0 Thorold. The Blackhawks had gotten the advantage when the Falcons' Brad Col was sent off for checking from behind. Brian Brosnan assisted on the tally. Thorold also got points from Arnone, who also grabbed one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Thorold also got a goal from Tanner Pagendam as well. More assists for Thorold came via Matthew Hoszko and Chris Goulet, who each chipped in one.

St. Catharines' offense rang up 31 shots on Thorold's net.

The Falcons were led by Luke Karaim, who scored the team's only goal. Karaim scored 14:44 into the second period to make the score 2-1 Thorold. Greg Jambrosich picked up the assist.

The Blackhawks incurred 14 minutes in penalty time with seven minors. St. Catharines' Stormer Santana stopped 22 shots out of the 25 that he faced. The Falcons incurred 30 minutes in penalty time with 10 minors. Team's Col and Ed Creighton were slapped with misconducts and ejected from the game.