The New Hamburg Firebirds came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Norwich Merchants, but did just enough to escape with a 4-2 victory.

New Hamburg led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Firebirds' Jerry Ennett scored on the power play at 51 seconds in the second period to put New Hamburg up 3-0.

Tyler Kleine was all over the ice for the Firebirds, as he had two goals in the win. Kleine's tallies came at 14:01 into the first period to make the score 1-0 New Hamburg and 19:40 into the third to make the score 4-2 New Hamburg.

New Hamburg avoided man-down situations well, tallying one major for five minutes in penalty time. The Firebirds ended up below its season average of 21.0 penalty minutes per game. New Hamburg's offense rang up 40 shots on Norwich's net.

New Hamburg also got a goal from Josh Waters as well. Other players who recorded assists for New Hamburg were Ethan Adair and Chris Eckert, who contributed one each and Tyler Randerson and David Jennings, who each chipped in two.

The Merchants forced the Firebirds goalie Ryan Purcell to work between the pipes, taking 33 shots.

Norwich was helped by Zack Morrison, who tallied one goal. Morrison scored 13:35 into the second period to make the score 3-2 New Hamburg. Jordan Gillis provided the assist. Brandon Velda also scored for Norwich. More assists for Norwich came via Matt Caskanette, Michael Young, and Noah Burns, who contributed one each.

Ryan Purcell made 31 saves for New Hamburg on 33 shots. The Firebirds registered one goal on two power play opportunities. New Hamburg ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Garrett Pollock was ejected from the game. The Merchants' Andrew Lefebvre stopped 36 shots out of the 39 that he faced. Norwich incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors and had no power play opportunities.