The St. Thomas Stars almost clawed their way back from a three-goal deficit, but the Strathroy Rockets managed to pull out a 4-3 win in the end.

Strathroy led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Rockets' Kurtis Sander scored at 8:57 in the first period to put Strathroy up 3-0.

Mark MacAulay was all over the ice for the Rockets, as he racked up two goals in the win. MacAulay scored at 5:24 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Strathroy and again while 8:25 into the first to make the score 2-0 Strathroy.

Strathroy forced St. Thomas' netminders to work between the pipes, ripping 34 shots and forcing 30 saves. Nikolas Dampier made 13 stops and Dan Black made 17.

Strathroy additionally got points from Sander, who also registered one goal and two assists to lead the team in points. Stuart King also scored for Strathroy. In addition, Strathroy received assists from Brett Dalton, Nick Griffin, Eddie Schulz, Andrew Martin, Nick Boyer, and Matt Knight-Bedour, who each chipped in one.

The Stars forced their penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up seven minors and one major for 29 minutes in penalty time. St. Thomas had been averaging 15.0 minutes in penalties per game. The Stars forced the Rockets goalie Mat Ouellet to work between the pipes, taking 31 shots.

St. Thomas was led by Zach Grzelewski, who grabbed three goals. More assists for St. Thomas came via Carson Moniz and Jordan Babb, who contributed one each and Dane Johnstone and Reed Horvat, who each chipped in two.

Mat Ouellet made 28 saves for Strathroy on 31 shots. The Rockets totaled 17 minutes in penalty time with six minors and one major and went 1-for-6 on the power play. Strathroy ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Griffin was ejected from the game. The Stars registered one goal on five power play opportunities. For St. Thomas, John Warren was ejected from the game.