The Inferno Advance to the Final

The Calgary Inferno needed all three games of the semi-final to edge the Toronto Furies out of the Clarkson Cup playoffs over the weekend.

Game One on Friday night saw the Inferno fire 49 shots on the Furies netminder, who turned away 47 of them. The only two that got by were off the sticks of Iya Gavrilova, assisted by Brianne Jenner, and Jessica Campbell, assisted from Sarah Davis, as the Inferno dropped the first game by a score of 5-2. Emerance Maschmeyer allowed 4 goals on 26 shots.

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Game Two on Saturday saw Inferno forward Bailey Bram accept the Joan Snyder award for community involvement prior to puck drop. After that it was all business for the Inferno. Toronto opened the scoring early in the game, but the INferno shut them down after that and tallied goals from Haley Irwin, Blayre Turnbull and Iya Gavrilova. Meaghan Mikkelson picked up 2 assists while Katelyn Gosling, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Davis and Brianne Jenner each picked up one assist in a 3-1 Inferno victory, forcing the third game. Genevieve Lacasse stopped 28 of 29 shots for the win.

The Inferno turned up the heat in the tie-breaker game on Sunday, putting 51 shots on goal up on the board and coming away with a 3-1 victory to advance to the Clarkson Cup final. Haley Irwin opened the scoring in the 2nd period, assisted from Brigette Lacquette and Genevieve Lacasse. Toronto scored before the end of the 2nd period, but the Inferno again shut them down and got goals in the 3rd from Brianne Jenner and Iya Gavrilova. Assisting on the goals were Katelyn Gosling, Brianne Jenner and Jill Saulnier. Genevieve Lacasse stopped 28 of 29 shots again for the victory.

Calgary Inferno Facebook page

The Inferno will now take on Les Canadiennes Montreal in the Clarkson Cup final from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Game time is 4:00pm EST (2:00pm MST) on Sunday, March 5th.

On a separate note, the nominations are in for the CWHL Awards, and the Calgary Inferno are well represented. Inferno Coach Scott Reid is nominated for Coach of the Year, Iya Gavrilova is up for Rookie of the Year, Meaghan Mikkelson-Reid is up for Defenceman of the Year, Genevieve Lacasse is nominated for Goalie of the Year, Brianne Jenner is nominated for Most Valuable Player and of course, Calgary won the Chairman’s Trophy already.

Check out the Calgary Inferno website for more news, scores, schedule and stats.