Inferno address all three areas of the ice in CWHL Entry Draft

The Inferno made a couple of expected choices and included a couple of pleasant surprises Sunday at the 2015 CWHL Entry Draft.

Brianne Jenner and Hayley Wickenheiser went fourth and eighth overall, respectively, which boosted the power of the Inferno's offense to probably over one million at this point. I touched on what each of these players can do in my earlier preview of the draft, as well as in a post last month; basically, the Inferno are now the team everyone will have to beef up their blueline for.

Calgary also added Jill Saulnier of Cornell to their forward corps. Saulnier scored 44 points in 27 games for the Big Red, earning herself a Patty Kazmaier Award nomination (awarded to the top college player in the nation) in her senior season. She is also a member of Team Canada, debuting at last year's 4 Nations Cup as a member of the senior squad and also appearing at the Women's Worlds in Malmo this past spring.

Blayre Turnbull of Wisconsin (also a member of Team Canada) was the next selection. This is another good move by Calgary; Turnbull was a quiet yet strong force on the Badgers' squad, both as a captain and as an athlete (she was a point-per-game player last season). She and fellow Nova Scotian Saulnier spoke about being selected back-to-back in an article on the Chronicle Herald's website.

The Inferno then moved on to the blueline, snagging Brigette Lacquette of the University of Minnesota Duluth at pick number 20. As I mentioned in the draft preview, Lacquette is an amazing addition to the defense, as she can skate, move the puck well and score as well as cover the ice on her end.

Calgary rounded out its draft list with Team Japan defender Kanae Aoki, University of Calgary center Elana Lovell and left wing Janelle Parent, Queen's goalie Engi Lim, left wing Jennifer Moe of the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League, defender Brianne Tutt (who apparently did not have a university or club affiliation) and College of St. Scholastica blueliner Alexandra Blair. None of these players aside from Parent and Blair had any stats from this past season available.

To see the complete draft list in order, check it out on the CWHL's website.

by Angelica Rodriguez