River Rats prepare for Chester playoffs

Windsor - The Avon River Rats are now anxiously awaiting their playoff dates with the Chester Clippers in the Nova Scotia Junior "C" Hockey League so they can begin the 2009-2010 Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League Playoffs.

For local hockey fans who likely remember, the River Rats advanced all the way to the Maritime North Junior "C" Hockey Championships in Barrington last April.

This past Thursday evening at Hants Exhibition Arena, the Rats closed out their 2009-2010 regular season with a close 5-4 win over the North Shore Storm. It was a closer game than perhaps it should have been against the Cumberland County team who were also finishing their 2009-2010 regular season.

The River Rats with the 5-4 victory won their 15th game of the season against 10 losses and three overtime/shoot-out losses. The Storm meantime were losing their 22nd game in twenty-eight starts against only six wins. Kevin Burgess Jr. scored a pair of goals for the Royals with singles going to John Daniels, Justin Schofield and the team's top scorer Donnie Rogers who scored his 19th of the year. He ended up leading the team in scoring as he also collected 17 assists for a total of 36 points.

Brandyn Ross didn't finish far behind as he also put 19 behind league goalies while garnering 12 assists for 31 points. The Rats outshot the Storm 33-29. As of this writing, no playoff dates had been set between the Rats and Chester Clippers. The winner of this series will face off against the winner of the New Waterford-Eastern Shore Mariners series.

Rats Nibbles: The River Rats were the second least penalized team in the league this season totalling 439 minutes in penalties in 28 games.

Both Rats Goaltenders had save percentages above .900. #1 Goaltender Tyler Whynot faced 748 shots, allowing 65 goals for a 3.46 Goals Against Average and .913 save percentage. Axel Lawrence who appeared in nine games meanwhile allowed 27 goals on 278 shots for a 3.29 Goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

The team scored 122 goals and allowed 97 in twenty-eight regular season games, meaning they averaged 4.36 goals per game while allowing 3.46 goals a game.

Central Division Standings as of Friday, Feb 4/2010: GP W L OTL/SOL PTS

1. Eastern Shore Jr. Mariners 26 23 3 0 46

2. Chester Clippers 28 22 6 0 44

3. Avon River Rats 28 15 10 3 33

4. New Waterford 28 10 17 1 21

5. Fundy Phantoms 26 6 19 1 13

6. North Shore Storm 28 6 22 0 12