The West Michigan Wolves came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Great Falls Americans, but did just enough to escape with a 3-1 victory.

West Michigan led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Wolves' Devin Farkas scored at 10 seconds in the second period to put West Michigan up 3-0.

The win gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead in the best of one series.

Michael Tratar had two goals and one assist to lead West Michigan. Tratar scored the first of his two goals at 6:19 into the first period to make the score 1-0 West Michigan. Corey Siwula assisted on the tally. Tratar's next tally made the score 2-0 West Michigan with 39 seconds left in the first period. Farkas picked up the assist.

Great Falls was stymied by the Wolves' netminder Hunter Vorva, who stopped 28 shots during the victory. Despite the solid performance, Vorva will actually see his goals against average rise, as it stood at 1.0 entering the contest.

West Michigan forced the Americans goalie Jordan Moran to work between the pipes, taking 32 shots.

West Michigan also got points from Farkas, who also grabbed one goal and one assist. More assists for West Michigan came via Dakota Ulmer, who had one.

Great Falls did not rack up many penalties in the contest, finishing with only one minor for two minutes in penalty time.

The Americans were led by Miles Giorgione, who scored the team's only goal. Giorgione scored on the power play 4:26 into the second period to make the score 3-1 West Michigan. Great Falls had taken the advantage when the Wolves' Brandon Benaglio got sent off for roughing. Reed Link assisted on the tally.

West Michigan incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors. The Americans' Moran stopped 29 shots out of the 32 that he faced. Great Falls registered one goal on three power play opportunities.