WINDSOR, N.S. — Heading into play this weekend, the Avon River Rats were on the brink of elimination.
The Avon River Rats worked hard for a two-game sweep Feb. 24-25 against the Eastern Shore Thunder but they had to settle for just one win.
Heading into their game on March 3, the Thunder leads the Rats 3-1 in their Best-of-Seven Nova Scotia Regional Junior Hockey League semi-final series.
On Feb. 24, there was no scoring in the first period and the second period saw over 17 minutes of hockey played before Kyle Armsworthy put the River Rats up 1-0.
The Rats could not hang onto that lead as the Thunder struck back with a goal with only 25 seconds left in the second period. The Thunder did all their damage in the final period, winning 3-1 to take a 3-0 series lead.
But Feb. 25 in Windsor, the River Rats staved off elimination by defeating the Thunder 7-3 and forcing a fifth game in the series.
Logan Cleveland scored the only goal of the opening period. The Rats exploded for four goals and a 5-0 lead after 40 minutes. The first two Avon goals came from Armsworthy and Samuel Plourde 20 seconds apart before Armsworthy scored again, this time on the power-play. Will Trenholm added another power-play goal for the 5-0 Rats advantage.
The third began with Eastern Shore scoring before the Rats went up 6-1 on Cleveland’s second goal of the game. Eastern Shore then scored two more, one of which was on the power-play, to make the score 6-3 before Avon’s Alex Kelly scored with 3:42 to play to send the series back to the Eastern Shore March 3.
If they win their March 3 bout, the River Rats will play Game 6 in Windsor on March 4.
