![['The Avon River Rats get ready to head back out onto the ice during their home opener at the Newport and District Rink on Sept. 24, 2017.']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/ka-axx-25092017-river-rats0144.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=compress%2Cformat%2Cenhance)
Those games will be Friday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 8 at 2:00 p.m.
In between, the Rats will be in Lantz for a Saturday afternoon game on Oct. 7 against East Hants Ryson Construction for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Avon will be looking to get back some momentum after suffering two losses Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 to fall to 1-3-0 on the season.
On Sept. 30 in Eastern Shore, they faced the Thunder for a second consecutive weekend and were defeated 6-3.
The Thunder took a 2-1 first period lead as Justin MacLellan scored with a 1:17 left to pull the Rats to within a goal at 2-1.
The Thunder went up 4-1 in the third before the Rats Ben White-Davidson scored 19 seconds after the Thunder’s fourth goal to pull Avon back to within 4-2.
The teams then traded goals for the remainder of the game with the thunder going up 5-2, Adam Ferguson then scored on the power-play with 3:25 to play before the Thunder added their 6th and final goal to make the final 6-3.
On Oct. 1 in Brooklyn, the Rats were unable to stop the Spryfield Attack as the Metro team came in and defeated the Rats 8-3.
With a 30-game schedule in front of them, it may be too early to begin worrying about points, but players know how important the standings are after going down to the wire with the former Metro Jaguars for first place last season and coming in second.
