The La Crosse Freeze tried their best to erase a two-goal deficit, but the St. Louis Jr. Blues would not be denied the victory and hung on to win, 5-4.

St. Louis took a 5-3 lead during the third period, only to have La Crosse storm back on a Jake Lipski goal 18:11 into the third period to pull to one goal down.

Adam Havener and Franky Melton provided the spark for the Jr. Blues, combining for three goals and one assist. Havener tallied two goals and Melton also added one goal and one assist.

St. Louis forced the Freeze goalie Andrew Wagner to work between the pipes, taking 33 shots.

St. Louis additionally got points from Melton, who also registered one goal and one assist and Cameron Brown, who also had one goal and one assist. St. Louis also got a goal from Andrew Wingbermuehle as well. In addition, St. Louis received assists from Tommy Heinzman, Zane OBryan, Chris Brown, and Brogan Walters, who each chipped in one and Trevor Thornton and Alex Klaesner, who contributed two each.

La Crosse kept the Jr. Blues' goalie busy throughout the game, and William Hindle made 30 saves on 34 shots.

The Freeze were led by Zach Lawson, who racked up two goals and one assist. Lawson scored the first of his two goals at 16:53 into the second period to make the score 3-2 St. Louis. Hunter Smith provided the assist. Lawson's next tally made the score 4-3 St. Louis with 7:31 left in the third period. Ethan Stafford picked up the assist. Jace Cseter also scored for La Crosse.

St. Louis incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors. La Crosse's Wagner stopped 28 shots out of the 33 that he faced. The Freeze totaled 35 minutes in penalty time with five minors and one major and went 0-for-2 on the power play. La Crosse ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Hunter Dragosh was ejected from the game.