The Brookings Blizzard could not stop the Bismarck Bobcats' Seth Blair, who tallied a hat trick in an 8-3 win.

Blair's first goal came 15:39 into the second period. He then added goals at 4:00 into the third and at 8:29 into the third.

The win gave Bismarck a 1-0 lead in the best of five series.

Brookings trailed by one after the first period, but the Bobcats went into the second intermission with a 5-1 lead and never looked back.

Bismarck made Blizzard's goaltenders to work without much rest, racking up 53 shots and forcing 45 saves. Drew Weigman made 26 stops and Chase Wilson made 19.

Bismarck additionally got points from Evan Giesler, who also racked up one goal and one assist and Cory Chapman, who also finished with one goal and one assist. Others who scored for Bismarck included Matt Anders, who had one and Patrick Moore, who had two. In addition, Bismarck received assists from Nate Repensky, who had three, Jeremy OKeefe, Stanislav Dzakhov, Joe Giordano, and Filip Starzynski, who contributed one a piece, and Adam Knochenmus, Bob Kinne, and Shane Omdahl, who each chipped in two.

The Blizzard were led by Thomas Williams, who registered two goals. Williams scored the first of his two goals at 7:22 into the first period to make the score 1-1. Tyler Cayemberg provided the assist. Williams' next tally made the score 7-3 Bismarck with 3:49 left in the third period. Connor Andrle assisted on the tally. Eetu Karvinen also scored for Brookings. More assists for Brookings came via Drew Brevig, Evan Hesse, Matt Youso, and Adam Cavalinni, who contributed one a piece.

The Bobcats' Aaron Nelson stopped 20 shots out of the 23 that he faced. Bismarck incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors. Brookings totaled 23 minutes in penalty time with four minors and one major and went 0-for-1 on the power play.