The Norwich Merchants came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the New Hamburg Firebirds, but did just enough to escape with a 3-1 victory.

Norwich led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Merchants' Jamie Kelly scored on the power play at 14:49 in the second period to put Norwich up 3-0.

Kelly had two goals and one assist to lead the Merchants. Kelly scored the first of his two goals at 11:55 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Norwich. Kelly's next tally made the score 3-0 Norwich with 5:11 left in the second period. Norwich earned a power play opportunity when Jay Fried was put in the box for checking from behind. Mitchell Berzins assisted on the tally.

New Hamburg was stymied by the Merchants' netminder Jesse Schoeman, who stopped 34 shots during the victory. The solid play of Schoeman will be reflected in his goals against average, which pre-game was 3.05.

Norwich stifled the Firebirds' power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man.

Kurtis Lavis also scored for Norwich. In addition, Norwich received assists from Drake Morrell, who had one.

New Hamburg could not produce up to its normal offensive output. The Firebirds put an average of 4.5 pucks into the net per game. New Hamburg's offense rang up 35 shots on the Merchants' net.

The Firebirds were led by Carter Tracey, who scored the team's only goal. Tracey scored 19:21 into the second period to make the score 3-1 Norwich. Kory Nowak picked up the assist.

Norwich incurred 18 minutes in penalty time with four minors. Ryan Purcell recorded 22 saves for New Hamburg. The Firebirds incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors. For New Hamburg, Fried was ejected from the game.