Gander Flyers finish first in CWSHL

The Gander Flyers won their final two games of the regular season to secure first place by one point and earn a bye to the final in the Central West Senior Hockey League.
The Flyers, skating on home ice at the Steele Community Centre, defeated the Clarenville Caribous 8-5 Sunday to punch their ticket to the league final.
It completes worst-to-first turnaround for Gander, which finished last in the three-team CWSHL in 2016-17 with just three wins in 14 games.
The Caribous, the defending Central-West champs, and Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts meet in the semifinals starting next weekend in Clarenville.
Jordan Escott, Mitch Oake and Brandon Hynes all scored two goals apiece for the Flyers Sunday, while Andrew Paul and Brett Shute, into an empty net, netted singles. Ryan Desrosiers had a pair of goals for the Caribous. Mike Dyke, Chris Sparkes and Kenny Mahoney also scored for Clarenville.
Saturday night, Escott scored twice — one into an empty net — and Ryan Matheson and Paul had singles as the Flyers doubled the Cataracts 4-2 on home ice. Rodi Short and Andrew Brennan had the Grand Falls-Windsor goals.
Friday night in Clarenville, the Caribous downed the Cataracts 4-3.