GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR — The Eastlink CeeBee Stars finally got rewarded for their patience and hard work under tumultuous times.
Jordan Escott scored the winning goal in the shootout as the CeeBee Stars eked out a 6-5 victory over the first-place Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts Sunday afternoon at Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium.
Chris Hulit scored two goals for the CeeBee Stars, who pushed two points ahead of the expansion Gander Flyers in the battle for the fourth and final playoff berth after the Flyers lost a pair of games — 6-3 and 8-6 — to the Clarenville Caribous at the Clarenville Events Centre over the weekend.
Chris Sparkes, Terry Ryan and Ryan Delaney also scored for the CeeBee Stars, who won on home ice for the first time this season and put an end to a miserable 10-game losing streak.
Brandon Nicholas, Wes Welcher, Andrew Pearcey, Luke Gallant and Sam Hounsell scored for the Cataracts, who eked out a 3-1 victory over the CeeBee Stars Saturday night at Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium.
The CeeBee Stars wrap up the season with a big two-game showdown with the Flyers at the S. W. Moores Memorial Stadium this weekend. The Cats wrap up the regular season at home with two games against the Western Royals at Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium.
The following is a look at how things unfolded between the Flyers and Caribous in the two-game set played in Clarenville:
Caribous 8, Flyers 6 (Sunday game)
Scoring leader Andrew Sweetland had a two-goal game to lead the charge for the Caribous in Sunday’s triumph.
Ryan Desrosiers also had a two-goal game for the winners, while Brandon Roach, Steve Yetman, Blake Gallagher and Jordan Smith added single markers to the scoresheet.
Shawn Wadden had a natural hat trick for the Flyers in a losing cause.
Ryan Matheson, Tyler Gale and Steve Pearson also scored for the cellar-dwelling expansion squad.
Jason Churchill outduelled Pat O’Brien in the crease in the final game of the regular season for the Caribous.
Caribous 6, Flyers 3 (Saturday game)
Steve Yetman and Mike Stevens scored two goals apiece to lead the Caribous to victory on home ice Saturday night.
Ryan Desrosiers and Dale Sullivan also scored for the winners, while Andrew Sweetland padded his lead in the scoring race with four assists in Saturday’s contest.
Steve Brazil, Shane Boland and Chad Locke scored for the Flyers.
Roger Kennedy picked up the puckstopping win over counterpart Pat O’Brien.
