Decatur Blaze tried to dig itself out of a four-goal hole, but Traverse City Hounds held on for a 4-2 victory.

Traverse City Hounds made the score 4-0 on a goal by Greg Meuser at 8:38 in the third period, and Decatur Blaze got as close as 4-2 when Dylan Farmer scored 17:55 into the third period.

Traverse City Hounds' offense rang up 47 shots on Decatur Blaze's net.

Traverse City Hounds was helped by Howard Rose, who tallied one goal and one assist. Rose scored 12:57 into the second period to make the score 3-0 Traverse City Hounds. Jacob Gillis picked up the assist. Traverse City Hounds additionally got points from Gillis, who also had one goal and one assist. In addition, Traverse City Hounds received assists from David Krejcik, who had two and Austin Flores, Patrick Rogowski, and Grant McCormack, who contributed one each.

Decatur Blaze managed to stay out of the box better than usual, finishing with one minor for two minutes in penalty time. Decatur Blaze finished below its season average of 15.0 penalty minutes per game. Decatur Blaze's penalty kill was spotless, allowing no goals on three Traverse City Hounds power plays.

Nathan Zoellner also scored for Decatur Blaze. More assists for Decatur Blaze came via Curtis Schlereth, who had one and John Urmetz, who had two.

Krejcik recorded 22 saves for Traverse City Hounds. Traverse City Hounds incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors. Matthew Hatcher made 43 saves for Decatur Blaze on 47 shots. Decatur Blaze registered one goal on four power play opportunities.