With the pressure on to get a win and, with it, a chance to avoid the preliminary round playoffs, the Georgian Bay River Rats got it done, on the weekend, coming from behind to down Shallow Lake.

The eighth and ninth finishers in the division have to play a best-of-three series to determine who goes on to the playoffs. Going into the weekend, the Rats were in ninth spot but only one point back of both Shallow Lake and Drayton.

It was an uphill challenge -- Shallow Lake and Drayton both had games Friday night before Shallow Lake hosted Georgian Bay Saturday and Drayton wound up their season against Milverton Sunday. A win for either Shallow Lake or Drayton would consign the Rats to the preliminary round.

But both Shallow Lake and Drayton lost Friday. The Rats downed Shallow Lake, Saturday, and Milverton applied the finishing touch, defeating Drayton on Sunday.

All of that lifted the Rats into seventh place.

The first period of Saturday's game in Shallow Lake ended in a 1-1 tie. Shallow Lake got the only two goals of the second period for a 3-1 lead.

The Rats came out determined to win the third period and the game and outscored the Crushers 4-0 in the third to come away with a 5-3 win and seventh place.

To hold onto seventh spot, the Rats still needed to have Milverton win in Drayton on Sunday. Milverton defeated Drayton 9-4.

In the A playoffs, the teams cross over to play in the opposite division, that is, fifth versus eighth, sixth versus seventh. Lucknow (5th in South) will play the winner of Drayton-Shallow Lake; Milverton (6th in South) will play the River Rats; Palmerston (5th in North) and Durham (6th in North) are waiting for the winners of the Goderich-Thedford and the Monkton-Wingham series.

In the AA playoffs Saugeen Shores, tops in the North, play fourth-place Exeter; Elora second in the North, play Lucan who finished third in the South; Ripley, third in the North, play Clinton, second in the South; and South Division leaders Tavistock play the North's fourth-place team Shelburne

The schedule for the Georgian Bay-Milverton series has not yet been set up but will not likely start until February 8.