Calgary Inferno eye consecutive Clarkson Cup titles
Posted Feb 24, 2017 11:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Calgary Inferno begin defence of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League championship Friday night, opening a three-game semifinal series versus the Toronto Furies.
Calgary won all six regular season meetings against Toronto, but two of those games were decided by just a goal.
“I think our balanced attack will be a big key for the playoffs,” Inferno head coach Scott Reid explained. “Our defense is very solid and we have arguably three starting goalies. Our balanced attack has gotten us to where we are and hopefully it can keep us going to where we need to get to.”
The Inferno had an impressive 2016-17 campaign, finishing at the top of the CWHL standings with a record of 20-4-0-0.
Captain Brianne Jenner led the team in scoring, while the squad boasted two of the league’s best rookies in forward Iya Gavrilova and goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.
The winning team will advance to the Clarkson Cup championship game March 5 in Ottawa to face either Les Canadiennes de Montreal or the Brampton Thunder, playing this weekend in the second semifinal.
If both Calgary and Montreal move on, it will be a rematch of last year’s Clarkson Cup final, where the Inferno defeated the Les Canadiennes.
Schedule
Game 1 – Friday, February 24, 8:00 p.m., Carstairs Memorial Arena
Game 2 – Saturday, February 25, 3:30 p.m., Joan Snyder Arena at WinSport
Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, February 26, 12:45 p.m. Carstairs Memorial Arena
